Episodes

  • Podcast: Task decomposition and complex tree diagrams

    Podcast: Task decomposition and complex tree diagrams
    Jul 28 2024
    This tutorial will help you understand task decomposition by guiding you through the process of creating a complex tree diagram that's too sophisticated for an AI tool to create at once. Whether you're creating tree diagrams or not, it doesn't matter. This is just an example of how to break down complex information into smaller chunks and pass it into AI.
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    19 mins
  • Podcast: Using long-token contexts to quality check an entire API doc set

    Podcast: Using long-token contexts to quality check an entire API doc set
    Jul 28 2024
    One of the advantages of recent Gen AI updates is the massive token input context. When you can pass in an entire set of documentation as an input, you have a much stronger possibility for powerful prompts. In this tutorial, I share some quality-control prompts you can use that deal with entire doc sets as inputs, as well as explain some of the challenges in passing in an entire doc set.
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    22 mins
  • Podcast: Using file diffs for better release notes in reference docs

    Podcast: Using file diffs for better release notes in reference docs
    Jul 28 2024
    You can use AI prompts when creating release notes for APIs by leveraging file diffs from regenerated reference documentation. The file diffs from version control tools provide a reliable, precise information source about what's changed in the release.
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    18 mins
  • Podcast: Populating documentation templates using AI

    Podcast: Populating documentation templates using AI
    Jul 28 2024
    In this tutorial, you'll learn how to use AI to populate documentation templates with the source material you've gathered. For example, API overviews often follow a highly structured template. This technique can be a quick way to get an initial draft of documentation, which you can then edit and review with SMEs.
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    23 mins
  • Podcast: Gathering source material for context input

    Podcast: Gathering source material for context input
    Jul 28 2024
    One of the most successful strategies for using AI is to pass in an abundance of source material that can augument and inform the AI's responses. In this tutorial, I cover strategies for gathering this material, including what types of documents to look for, optimal ordering, pitfalls to look out for such as outdated or slanted information, and more.
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    18 mins
  • Podcast: Creating high-fidelity, thematically organized notes from engineering meetings using AI

    Podcast: Creating high-fidelity, thematically organized notes from engineering meetings using AI
    Jul 28 2024
    For AI tools to generate accurate information for documentation you're writing, you need to pass in source material. This usually means meeting with engineers and product managers to gather information about the product. In this tutorial, I share prompts for turning those meeting transcriptions into organized, readable meeting summaries. These cleaned up summaries can then function as input context for documentation-oriented prompts.
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    15 mins
  • [Podcast] Uncovering and communicating the value of your tech comm teams' work, with Keren Brown

    [Podcast] Uncovering and communicating the value of your tech comm teams' work, with Keren Brown
    May 30 2024
    In this podcast episode, I talk with Keren Brown, VP of Marketing and Value at Zoomin Software, about strategies for technical writers to demonstrate their value within their organizations, especially in light of recent layoffs in the tech industry. We discuss aligning documentation work with high-priority initiatives, quantifying the impact of technical writing, and making this work visible to executive leaders. Keren also shares insights on the changing landscape of technical writing skills in the age of AI and the role of translation in modern documentation workflows. Overall, this podcast will show you how to establish yourself as a highly...
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    48 mins
  • [Podcast] Breaking ground: New API documentation course at UW, with Bob Watson

    [Podcast] Breaking ground: New API documentation course at UW, with Bob Watson
    Jan 5 2024
    In this podcast, I chat with Bob Watson about an upcoming API documentation course he'll be teaching at the University of Washington. Bob has extensive experience working as an API technical writer at big tech companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. The UW reached out to Bob to develop this new course offering. The 14-week evening course will cover fundamentals like understanding developer behaviors, working with various types of APIs, publishing workflows, as well as hands-on practice. A key component is having students create API documentation portfolios they can use to demonstrate their skills.
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    53 mins