A software developer explores Simplified Technical English (STE), a technical writing standard emphasizing clarity and directness. They compared ten instruction sentences converted to STE by ChatGPT, finding the results generally clearer but noting potential loss of engaging tone in casual blogging contexts.
The article critiques 'documentation theater'—creating docs merely to check boxes rather than addressing user needs. It argues that performative documentation done for compliance or following frameworks without purpose is worse than having no docs, and calls on tech writers to prioritize user needs over form and templates.
After 15 years of reading rather than writing, the author overcomes long-standing fears of public mistakes and inadequate expertise to begin technical writing. Prompted by AI-generated content saturation and equipped with new tools for learning, the author now views writing as a valuable process for testing understanding regardless of audience size.