Writing for robots

All the technical and financial complexities and concerns aside, I think many of you reading this agree that a “docsbot” solves a lot of problems. Creating menu structures that make sense to everyone has always been a challenge for documentarians with a constantly moving definition of success. We add search on top of this to fill the gaps and hopefully allow people to find what they need. But all of this is fraught and non-ideal, as while we organize documentation around our internal ideas of the project or product and how we think people should access it, in reality, all most people want to do is find a way of answering a question they have and possibly don’t even fully understand how to ask or what the right answer is. Implemented well, the idea of a “docsbot” that can answer these questions is incredibly helpful and worth considering.

Where is the place for the humble writer in all of this change? Actually, we’re better...