What Makes Technical Writing Actually Useful

I’ve read thousands of technical posts. Most are useless. Here’s what makes docs actually helpful.

What Doesn’t Work

• Walls of theory without examples
• “Hello World” tutorials that don’t scale
• Copy-pasted API docs
• No context about when/why to use something

What Works

Show, then explain. Code first, theory after.

Real examples. Not contrived demos. Actual use cases.

Trade-offs. When to use this vs. alternatives.

Gotchas. What will break and how to fix it.

Why, not just how. Context matters.

My Template

1. Problem: What are we solving?
2. Solution: Quick code example
3. Explanation: How it works
4. Gotchas: What can go wrong
5. Alternatives: When to use something else

The Test

If someone can’t use your doc to solve their problem, it’s not good enough.

Write for people who need to get work done, not people who want to learn theory.

Be useful. That’s all that matters.