Mastering Content: Tips for Technical Writers and User Guides

Loved the masterclass today with Mercer and Ben! 🎉 Hopefully we can all thank AI one day for the downfall of the endless FAQ page?! Is that too much wishful thinking? If you know me, you know I get a little excited, if not giddy, around the topic of support and content. And I especially wanted to share some resources in relation to the last question about multiple articles on the same topic. It really is hard to keep content concise when you have a lot to say about one thing - I like comparing the issue to looking for one quick yet broadly useful recipe about making a lasagna from scratch. Sometimes there are just a lot of steps and things to know. Diátaxis addresses that exact issue for technical writers, and I created my own adaptation for general user audiences last year. At it's core, it provides a visual framework for determining article types based on the user needs that your content is attempting to meet. I recently gave a talk about clarifying article types using this approach that gives a few visuals and a decision tree that's been very useful for me in deciding what to write/who should write it. (Because, as was mentioned, there's definitely some overlap of informative content across teams.) I'd created this page with the slides and additional resources if anyone wants to check it out - I've also linked my 'novela' on the subject if you're interested in how I worked through the idea and put it into practice. If anyone has any questions, thoughts, whatever, please do let me know! https://contentbymfe.com/help-center/clarify-article-types-talk/