A content manager's guide to crowdsourcing the docs
summary
Shows that crowdsourcing works only with process: build a writing toolkit, templates and checklists, run edits in pull requests, and coach volunteers. Reports a common participation split of ~1% active contributors and ~9% occasional editors. Describes a case where a support team launches with 50–60 articles at launch and grows to 300+ articles in 15 months, then switches tooling because an engineering workflow proves too heavy for content management.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (25)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:58What makes documentation good
- 3:00Technical writers
- 4:35What is crowdsourcing
- 6:39Advantages of crowdsourcing
- 8:56crowdsourcing isnt a magic bullet
- 9:48Beckys story
- 11:03Starting with different objectives
- 11:35Software development lifecycle vs content lifecycle
- 12:26Content strategy
- 13:02Best practices
- 13:12Writing toolkit
- 13:54Style guide
- 14:47Three simple rules
- 15:04Writing for the user
- 16:24When they use it
- 18:23Procedural checklists
- 19:45Planning checklists
- 21:00Feedback
- 21:56Example
- 23:27Planning
- 23:52What was cool
- 24:24What did they do
- 25:21Crossdepartment collaboration
- 26:00Conclusion
related talks
40mAll together now: Turning technologists into documentarians
33mThe Wisdom of Crowds: Crowdsourcing Minimalism in an Open Organization
37mTaking a step back: Analysing your documentation
19mDocumentation as Empathy
40mFrom resistance to adoption: navigating the challenges of docs-like-code
25mCrowdsourcing platform engineering
39mLower the Barrier of Entry: Empowering Non-writer Contributions To Docs
40mRelease-ready Docs: How a 2-person team keeps a help center consistently accurate