Tech Writing in the AI Era – A Deep Dive with Josh Bean from Amazon

In this episode of the Knowledgebase Ninjas Podcast, we have Josh Bean, Principal Technical Writer at Amazon, he reflects on his journey in technical writing, how AI is changing the face of documentation, and future possibilities. With Josh’s transition from IT support to tech writing and how AI transforms alt text and research, he shared a wealth of experience and practical insights for both writers and the documentation professionals.

Watch the full podcast episode video here

About Josh Bean

• Josh LinkedIn
• Josh Bean has over 11 years of experience in the field currently at Amazon as a Principal Technical Writer. He began his career in IT support and system administration but then soon discovered his propensity to write and made his way into technical documentation. In this development journey with Amazon, he has worked across multiple teams and learned various documentation processes and tools.

Key Takeaways

• AI Is a Support Tool Not a Replacement: AI can supplement technical writing in terms of summarizing content, drafting descriptions, and generating alt text; however, it is still far from being fully equipped to take over the whole documentation process, as it utterly lacks needful context and nuance to produce even close-to-high-quality technical content, especially for complex B2B products. The best usage of AI lies in making it cooperate with human judgement and analysis.

• Writers must rework on the AI content: The writers still spend a significant amount of time polishing the content before it meets the standards of an organization. AI might speed things up at the beginning portions of documentation like outlining or the first draft, but it surely cannot replace the time thought process of editing and validation.

• Collaboration Rather Than Automation: Good documentation is not generated alone by AI software. It is a collaborative effort between writers and engineers, product managers, and support teams to ensure accuracy, integrity, and clarity. AI can assist but, at the end of the day, it is people who make documentation powerful.

• Experimentation is the Key: There is no single solution to AI for documentation, and teams test different workflows, tools, and best practices to see what fits their context. The methodology should be iterative and flexible, test, learn, and adapt.

• Documentation is a strategic asset: Documentation goes beyond its purely technical aspects; it is also strategic in the customer experience provided by the product. If well done, it eliminates support tickets, fast-tracks onboarding, and builds trust among customers. It is not merely a task but one that sets the product apart.

Rapid Fire

• What are some valuable resources you would recommend to the viewers?
  Every Page is Page One by Mark Baker

• One word that comes to mind when you hear “documentation”? 
  Brevity

• A piece of advice you would give your 20-year-old self?
  Don’t be afraid to try something new.

You can listen to the full episode on Apple, Spotify and YouTube.