Developer documentation
Turning technical knowledge into user-friendly documentation that is easy to scan and understand.
Platform:
Scope:
UX writing, documentation design, policy
Partners:
Engineering, policy, legal, stakeholders
The problem
Developer documentation needs to be technically accurate, accessible and clear to your audience. However, the source materials to work from are often dense, hard to follow or organised around internal systems rather than real developer tasks you are looking to support.
As a result, documentation was frequently hard to understand and slowed down onboarding. Users struggled to get started quickly or risked missing important steps or requirements.
The process
In order to make documentation more user friendly I worked with cross functional teams in engineering, legal and product marketing to best understand the tasks the user needed to complete, then restructured the content around those tasks.
My role went beyond writing and editing. I restructured the content into a template with clear, scannable sections and a strong hierarchy that prioritised key features. Complexity was introduced progressively, rather than all at once.
I also used AI-assisted drafting where useful, then applied content design judgement to reduce duplication, improve scanability, and keep the guidance more consistent across topics.
The result
Introduced a clearer, task-based documentation structure that supported gradual onboarding (essential → advanced)
Enabled faster developer onboarding by guiding users through a consistent, templated content flow
Improved discoverability of key steps and reduced risk of missing requirements
Established reusable documentation patterns to support consistent future content
Supported more scalable production of documentation through standardised templates and structured guidance
Reduced manual effort in content creation by enabling AI-assisted drafting within defined template
Improved alignment with stakeholders by giving product, engineering, and content teams a shared structure for documentation