Nobody Wants To Read Your Docs

published on 14 March 2022

The first thing you need to know before writing docs is that nobody wants to read your docs.

People hate reading docs. People are frustrated that they can't use your product so they come to the docs desperate. Sometimes doc writers feel like the world is waiting to read what they've written. In the real-world, nobody is waiting to read what you've written. It isn't that your customers are mean or cruel, it's just that they're busy.

Your customer gives you their time and attention. Your job as a doc writer is to go through the process of using the feature and thinking deeply about your experience, so you can document the process in a way that’s easy for your customers to understand.

When you understand that nobody wants to read your docs, you develop empathy. You acquire the skill that's essential to all doc writers–switching between your own point of view and the point of view of the customer.

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