The Not-Boring Tech Writer

In this solo episode, I share my latest content updates progress and reflect on my takeaways from Florian Lefebvre’s interview (S3:E36). I also share some thoughts on how documentation leads can reduce stress for contributors or reviewers.—I’ve been continuing to update docs as part of the article editor redesign, though somehow despite updating a lot, the total number hasn’t changed much. I've also helped with docs on a few new features, including small updates to our API endpoint documentation, writing some best practices for using URL redirect articles and categories, major changes to our URL checker, and writing some guidance on robots.txt customizations to prevent certain types of user agent traffic. I also reviewed docs someone else updated when we finally transitioned Advanced search to being a full find-and-replace feature. And, of course, I kept quite busy with Write the Docs Portland, serving as the Writing Day Coordinator!I reflect on my interview with Florian Lefebvre, co-maintainer of Astro. I love Florian’s story arc of going from someone who self-described as “lazy” and “not enthusiastic” about docs to becoming someone for whom docs are an essential part of building a feature. And I love how Astro Docs uses "talking and doc-ing" meetings to work through core concepts rather than turn them into grammar nitpick fests, lowering the barrier for non-native English speakers and folks who aren’t professional writers to produce clear, accurate documentation.I close by reflecting on the ways that the processes Sarah Rainsberger, docs lead at Astro Docs, has built processes that have reduced stress for her contributors, including the talking and doc-ing meetings but also the single page for experimental features, taking on the responsibility of content hierarchy, multiple pages, and cross-references for herself. I use a vaguely similar approach here at KnowledgeOwl but I haven’t tried the single page approach, and I may have to try this out with my team. In my own experience, decisions about naming pages and deciding where they live in the content hierarchy are some of the most stressful tasks for my team, and removing those as tasks has made them a lot more excited to contribute to documentation.In this episode:[00:00:44]: Progress updates[00:03:25]: Reflections on Florian’s story arc[00:05:06]: Reflections on Astro Docs’ talking and doc-ing meetings[00:07:59]: Reflections on how we can reduce stress for SMEs, contributors, or reviewersResources discussed in this episode:Writing docs as an open source developer with Florian Lefebvre (S3:E36)Empathy advocacy: Designing docs for all emotional states with Ryan Macklin (S3:E16)Kate sounds off on cognitive capital and learning (S3:E17)Astro Docs Docs (AD2)Join the discussion by replying on Bluesky —Contact The Not-Boring Tech Writer team:We love hearing your ideas for episode topics, guests, or general feedback:Email: tnbtw@knowledgeowl.comthenotboringtechwriter.comLinkedInBlueskyGuest suggestions formContact Kate Mueller:knowledgewithsass.comLinkedInBlueskyContact KnowledgeOwl:knowledgeowl.comLinkedIn

In this episode, I talk with Florian Lefebvre, a core maintainer of the open source Astro framework, about what it looks like to write and contribute to docs as a developer. We discuss his mindset shift from being reluctant about docs to seeing them as essential to shipping a feature, how he collaborates with a dedicated docs lead through "talking and doc-ing" calls, the importance of writing changesets from the user's perspective, and how reviewing community contributions doubles as a way to teach new contributors your project's docs conventions.—Florian and I discuss his path into the Astro core team, which started with answering questions on the project's Discord as a user and eventually led to being invited to join the core team. He shares how he was initially reluctant about writing docs, but his perspective shifted as he came to see docs as inseparable from shipping a feature. As Florian puts it, if you build something and nobody knows it exists or how to use it, your feature doesn't really exist.A central thread of our conversation is Florian's collaboration with Sarah Rainsberger, the Astro docs lead. We dig into their "talking and doc-ing" calls, where Sarah reads back her understanding of a feature and the two iterate together until the docs are technically accurate. Florian highlights how having a dedicated docs lead removes a lot of pressure, especially as a non-native English speaker. He can focus on getting the technical content right and trust Sarah to handle phrasing. We also discuss the value of asking "Is this what you meant?" as a confidence check, rather than making edits based on assumed understanding.Beyond the collaboration with Sarah, we also cover the practical side of contributing docs as a developer, including reviewing community PRs, writing user-focused changesets, and handling docs for experimental features. Florian explains his approach to coaching new contributors through review comments rather than pointing them to guidelines, why he writes changesets focused on what the user cares about rather than what the developer did to fix something, and how Astro keeps experimental feature docs as a single page until the feature stabilizes. Florian closes with a small but powerful philosophy from the Astro Docs team: every contribution just has to be "not worse than what we had before."About Florian Lefebvre:Fullstack developer. Freelancer. Astro core maintainer & TSC member. Open-Source lover. French. Two-time winner of the Astro Community Award.In this episode:[00:01:38]: Florian's origin story: from coding his high school orchestra's website to joining the Astro core team[00:03:22]: Astro's governance: maintainers, core maintainers, and how community involvement leads to those roles[00:05:19]: Astro features Florian has contributed: Astro Env and the Fonts API[00:11:01]: From reluctant docs contributor to seeing docs as essential to shipping a feature[00:13:50]: How Astro's docs work: a dedicated docs lead plus community contributions[00:14:58]: Community contributions and the "banner everywhere" problem[00:17:10]: Astro Docs Docs and coaching new contributors through review comments[00:22:44]: Writing changesets that focus on what the user cares about, not what the developer did[00:32:57]: Docs for experimental features: the single-page approach[00:40:44]: Using existing pages as templates for new docs[00:42:45]: Writing docs as a non-native English speaker[00:46:55]: The "talking and doc-ing" call process: drafts, iteration, and confidence checks[00:52:51]: Resource recommendations: Astro Docs Docs, Diátaxis, and Sarah's 50 docs tips[00:54:21]: Florian's best advice: every contribution should be "not worse than what we had before"Resources discussed in this episode:Astro DocsAstro Docs Docs - Astro's docs about contributing to and writing for their docsAstro Env - The environment variables feature Florian contributed to AstroAstro Fonts API - The fonts feature Florian worked onStarlight - A docs framework built on top of AstroThe Diátaxis framework50 docs tips in 50 days - Sarah Rainsberger's blog seriesAlso recommended by Florian:Supporting the future of AstroJoin the discussion by replying on Bluesky —Contact The Not-Boring Tech Writer team:We love hearing your ideas for episode topics, guests, or general feedback:Email: tnbtw@knowledgeowl.comthenotboringtechwriter.comLinkedInBlueskyGuest suggestions formContact Kate Mueller:knowledgewithsass.comLinkedInBlueskyContact Florian Lefebvre:florian-lefebvre.devLinkedInBlueskyContact KnowledgeOwl:knowledgeowl.comLinkedIn

In this solo episode, I share my latest content updates progress and reflect on my takeaways from Eric Holscher’s interview (S3:E34). I also share some thoughts on supporting institutions we care about and how to keep “community” from being an unpleasant word.—KnowledgeOwl just released a major redesign of our article editor, so I’ve been spending a lot of time testing that redesign and preparing documentation updates for its release. Since the editor is initially opt-in for existing customers, I had to handle both the existing editor layout and the new editor layout in our documentation. I chose an introductory snippet to explain the difference and then manually built tabs for the instructions for each editor layout. I believe this gradual rollout before we move everyone over is a great experience for our authors, but it has definitely made the documentation process a lot more involved, since I know I’ll have to revisit these pages and update them again once we complete that forced rollout.I reflect on my interview with Eric Holscher, co-founder of the Write the Docs conference. The conference had very humble, minimal roots: the founders all wanted a space for people passionate about documentation to come together and share ideas and then just decided to launch a conference. It grew organically over time. I finally tracked down where I got the idea of “supporting the institutions you care about” from my interview with Eric. Turns out it came from Timothy Snyder’s book On Tyranny: 20 Lessons from the 20th Century, from his lesson titled “Defend Institutions.” Volunteering for something like Write the Docs is a form of defending an institution I care about, and I hope you can similarly find ways to defend the institutions you care about.I also dig into the idea of community, especially on the fact that community exists on a spectrum between value-adding and value-extracting, which Eric mentioned in his interview. I introduce some ideas from Ari Weinzweig’s newsletter that recast this dichotomy as making and taking, and I explore ways that building community is like building documentation, tying these ideas to a quote from Wendell Berry.In this episode:[00:00:44]: Progress updates[00:06:40]: Reflections on how Write the Docs first began[00:09:46]: Reflections on supporting the institutions we care about[00:12:42]: Reflections on the idea of community and building communities centered around making rather than takingResources discussed in this episode:KnowledgeOwl Support KBBuilding a home for documentarians with Eric Holscher (S3:E34)How to Make Sense of Any Mess by Abby CovertThe Sensemakers ClubOn Tyranny: 20 Lessons from the 20th Century by Timothy SnyderLife Is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition by Wendell Berry “What It Means to Make Democracy in the Day to Day: Why the power of making tops the power of taking” by Ari WeinzweigJoin the discussion by replying on Bluesky —Contact The Not-Boring Tech Writer team:We love hearing your ideas for episode topics, guests, or general feedback:Email: tnbtw@knowledgeowl.comthenotboringtechwriter.comLinkedInBlueskyGuest suggestions formContact Kate Mueller:knowledgewithsass.comLinkedInBlueskyContact KnowledgeOwl:knowledgeowl.comLinkedIn

In this episode, I talk with Eric Holscher, co-founder of Read the Docs and Write the Docs, about building and sustaining a community for people who care about documentation. We discuss the origin story of Write the Docs, how the conference and community have evolved over 13 years, the value of Lightning Talks and Unconference sessions for fostering organic connection, how AI is reshaping the role of technical writers and developers, and why supporting the institutions you care about matters now more than ever.—Eric and I discuss his path into caring about documentation, which started as a computer science student reading the Django documentation on a family vacation and discovering how well-written docs could transform his understanding. This experience, combined with his deep roots in the Python and Django open source communities, eventually led him to co-found Read the Docs in 2010 and Write the Docs in 2013. We talk about how Write the Docs was originally conceived as a conference for Read the Docs users but quickly took on a life of its own and eventually became a global community for anyone who cares about documentation. We also discuss the origin of the term "documentarian" as an identity for people who are passionate about docs regardless of their job title, and the value that comes from having a single word to describe that identity.We explore the conference elements that make Write the Docs feel different from other events, including Lightning Talks as an on-ramp for first-time speakers, Unconference sessions that let attendees organize discussions around what they're excited about, and Writing Day as a hands-on collaborative experience. I share how Writing Day is evolving this year to include skill-based tracks like Git workshops and resume/portfolio reviews to address the community's changing needs. We also discuss how the community's makeup has shifted over the years from a more developer-heavy audience to one that's primarily tech writers, and the intentional work that goes into keeping the conference broadly welcoming.We dig into Eric's values-driven approach to conference organizing, including keeping sponsors off the main stage, avoiding tool-specific talks that can feel like sales pitches, and defaulting to openness with resources like talk recordings and the Write the Docs topic index. We also touch on AI's impact on the tech writing profession, where Eric offers an optimistic perspective: because writing quality is harder to objectively test than code, the depth of understanding and explainability that writers bring may become even more valuable. The episode wraps up with a discussion of supporting the institutions you care about and the challenges of building sustainable community organizations.About Eric Holscher:Eric Holscher is the co-founder of Read the Docs, Write the Docs, and EthicalAds. While studying computer science at the University of Mary Washington, Eric's passion for documentation was sparked by reading the Django documentation on a family vacation and discovering how transformative well-written docs could be. He co-founded Read the Docs in 2010 as an open source documentation hosting platform, which has grown into his full-time work for over a decade. In 2013, he co-founded Write the Docs, which began as a conference for Read the Docs users but quickly evolved into a global community for anyone who cares about documentation, with conferences on multiple continents, a thriving Slack community, and local meetups worldwide. He also co-founded EthicalAds, a privacy-focused ad network, and helped start PyCascades, a Pacific Northwest Python conference. Eric lives in Bend, Oregon, and spends as much time as possible exploring the outdoors on foot or by bike. If you run into him at an event, remember the Pac-Man Rule: always leave room for someone else to join the circle.In this episode:[00:01:20]: Eric's origin story: discovering the power of documentation through Django docs on a family vacation[00:04:11]: Read the Docs, Write the Docs, and the confusing naming story[00:05:26]: The Write the Docs elevator pitch: a community for anyone who cares about documentation[00:09:20]: The origin and meaning of "documentarian" as a professional identity[00:12:09]: How Write the Docs got started in 2013[00:15:02]: The power of community in professional life and finding your people[00:20:49]: Conference structures that foster connection: Lightning Talks, Unconference sessions, and Writing Day[00:24:29]: Lightning Talks as a gateway to public speaking[00:29:03]: How the conference and community have evolved since 2013[00:33:14]: Navigating AI and the future of technical writing[00:34:36]: Why writers may be less at risk from AI than developers[00:38:48]: Writing Day's evolution: adding skill-based tracks like Git workshops and resume reviews[00:44:22]: Sponsor relationships and creating value without being extractive[00:47:41]: Lessons learned from building a values-driven community[00:52:27]: Finding product-market fit and letting the community shape itself[00:55:23]: Eric's advice: you need the cloudy days to appreciate the sunny ones[00:58:12]: Resource recommendation: the Write the Docs topic index[01:01:11]: Supporting the institutions you want to see existResources discussed in this episode:Write the Docs topic indexWrite the Docs SlackWrite the Docs Portland 2026Write the Docs Berlin 2026Definition of "documentarian" from Write the DocsThe Pac-Man Rule at Conferences by Eric HolscherRead the DocsPyCascadesPyCon USDjangoCon USRelated TNBTW episodes:S1:E5: Getting involved in a community with Eric HolscherS3:E14: Docs as Tests: Keeping documentation resilient to product changes with Manny SilvaKate Mueller's Write the Docs Portland 2022 talk: Beating the Virginia Blues: Thru-hiking strategies for your next big projectJoin the discussion by replying on Bluesky —Contact The Not-Boring Tech Writer team:We love hearing your ideas for episode topics, guests, or general feedback:Email: [email protected]

In this solo episode, I share my latest content updates progress and reflect on my takeaways from Jacob Moses’ interview (S3:E32). I also share some thoughts on applying concepts about lovable neighborhoods to documentation.—I updated the KnowledgeOwl Support Knowledge Base (Support KB) to create all the documentation for our new Owl Analytics Export API, including API endpoint documentation and a public Postman collection of the endpoint. I also wrote a release note and documentation for several new import tools, including HubSpot and a generic CSV importer. My change management toolkit is more or less ready for release, which will happen in two phases: a larger toolkit released for KnowledgeOwl customers only, and a more streamlined version released to the general public. I’ll share more once that streamlined version is available so you can check it out if you’d like!I reflect on my interview with Jacob Moses, especially all the skills he took from his tech writing career and used in his real estate development work at Care Block. I share five ideas that came up in our discussion around neighborhoods and community development that are equally applicable to documentation:You don’t necessarily have to plow a lot of resources into big changes to have a big impact on your reader experience.Have conversations–or at least, bear witness to conversations–where your readers are most comfortable having those conversations.Don’t just copy and paste best practices or templates from other places; use them as starting points and iterate as you go.Incorporate documentation into your customer and employee onboarding.Support readers who have differing levels of engagement styles.I also dig a lot deeper into the idea of lovable neighbors and lovable documentation, sharing some insights from Henrik Kniberg’s blog post on earliest testable/usable/lovable products and trying to apply those principles to documentation. I argue that documentation can be one of the most lovable parts of your product or company, and that if we recognize that premise, we should identify ways that readers will feel loved by our documentation to focus our efforts on. I tie this to Kelton Noyes’ changes to new employee orientation and ramp-up time shared in S3:E28, where he reduced onboarding and ramp-up from three weeks of training plus a three month ramp-up period down to two weeks total.I also argue that the idea of reciprocity can help guide us toward more lovable docs, quoting Jacob: “If you build a lovable place, it will be loved in return by whomever you’re leasing the home to.” Our readers won’t love our docs unless we do, so we should focus on building documentation we know our readers need and doing it in a way that is thorough and lovely.I close by reflecting on the idea of if my documentation is a neighborhood, what kind of neighborhood would it be and how does that change what I prioritize?In this episode:[00:01:03]: Progress updates[00:03:47]: Reflections on how Jacob Moses has transferred his tech writing skills to real estate development[00:08:22]: Five principles of building good neighborhoods that apply to building good documentation[00:16:09]: Reflections on the idea of lovabilityResources discussed in this episode:KnowledgeOwl Owl Analytics Export API documentationKnowledgeOwl import documentationFrom tech writing to building lovable neighborhoods with Jacob Moses (S3:E32)Skill #3: Creating Just-in-Time Documentation (S1:E3)Advocating for docs and choosing tools with Kelton Noyes (S3:E28)Making sense of MVP (Minimum Viable Product) – and why I prefer Earliest Testable/Usable/Lovable by Henrik KnibergDiátaxisThe Seven-Action Documentation Model by Fabrizio Ferri-BenedettiJoin the discussion by replying on Bluesky —Contact The Not-Boring Tech Writer team:We love hearing your ideas for episode topics, guests, or general feedback:Email: tnbtw@knowledgeowl.comthenotboringtechwriter.comLinkedInBlueskyGuest suggestions formContact Kate Mueller:knowledgewithsass.comLinkedInBlueskyContact KnowledgeOwl:knowledgeowl.comLinkedIn