5 critical documentation best practices for docs-as-code

As the founder and creator of Hyperlint, a tool designed to help developer content teams write and maintain high-quality documentation, I’ve witnessed firsthand how effective documentation transforms the software development process. Great documentation is crucial for onboarding new users, guiding developers through complex features, and ensuring the long-term success of any software product.

The importance of documentation in software development

Let’s face it - comprehensive documentation is essential for software teams. It helps users understand how to use your product effectively, enables developers to collaborate more efficiently, and ensures your software remains maintainable over time. Without good docs, users struggle to get value from your product, and development teams waste precious time deciphering undocumented features or hunting down bug fixes.

The emergence of the “docs-as-code” approach

In recent years, the “docs-as-code” approach has gained significant traction in the software industry. This philosophy treats documentation like code, using the same tools and processes that developers already use to manage, version, and collaborate on documentation. By embracing this approach, technical writers and content teams can leverage the power of version control, automation, and collaboration to streamline their documentation workflows.

Purpose of the blog post

In this post, I’ll share my personal experiences with adopting the docs-as-code approach and how it has transformed my work as a technical writer. I’ll explore key best practices for implementing docs-as-code effectively and show how Hyperlint can support these practices to help teams deliver high-quality, up-to-date documentation with greater efficiency and collaboration.

What is docs-as-code?

The “docs-as-code” concept represents a fundamental shift in how we approach technical documentation. It involves treating documentation like source code, using the same tools, processes, and workflows as software development.

Defining docs-as-code

At its core, docs-as-code means documentation is stored, versioned, and managed alongside the actual codebase. Just like developers use version control systems (like Git) to manage their code, technical writers can leverage these same tools to collaborate, track changes, and ensure consistency in their documentation.

Benefits of adopting a docs-as-code workflow

When you embrace the docs-as-code philosophy, you unlock several key benefits:

1. Improved Version Control and Change Management: Integrating documentation with source code repositories allows for seamless tracking of changes, easy rollbacks, and better collaboration between writers and developers.
2. Streamlined Collaboration: The docs-as-code approach enables technical writers to work alongside developers, using the same tools and processes to ensure documentation stays in sync with the codebase.
3. Automated Documentation Workflows: Incorporating documentation into the CI/CD pipeline allows for automated building, testing, and publishing of documentation, reducing manual effort and errors.
4. Enhanced Documentation Quality: Tools like Hyperlint, which I created to solve my own documentation challenges, can help maintain consistency, improve readability, and ensure documentation quality through automated reviews and suggestions.

Challenges in implementing docs-as-code

While docs-as-code offers numerous benefits, it does come with some challenges:

1. Adoption and Cultural Shift: Transitioning from traditional documentation workflows to a docs-as-code mindset can be a significant cultural change, requiring buy-in and training.
2. Technical Complexity: Integrating documentation into the development toolchain and CI/CD pipeline can be technically challenging, especially for teams new to these practices.
3. Maintaining Consistency: Ensuring consistent formatting, tone, and style across a large, distributed documentation set can be more complex in a docs-as-code environment.

To overcome these challenges, you need the right tools, processes, and training. That’s where Hyperlint can play a vital role in helping teams successfully implement and maintain a docs-as-code workflow.

Best practice #1: use version control

One of the critical best practices I’ve adopted in my docs-as-code journey is the use of version control. This has been a game-changer for my documentation workflow.

Integrating documentation with source code repositories and leveraging version control systems like Git has transformed how I work. By treating documentation as code, I use the same version control tools and workflows that our development team already knows well. This includes features like branching, merging, and pull requests, which make it much easier to collaborate with the team and track documentation changes over time.

The adoption of version control for documentation has brought several key benefits:

1. Improved Collaboration: The ability to easily review, comment on, and merge changes has fostered a more collaborative environment between technical writing and development teams.
2. Enhanced Change Management: With version control, I can clearly track the history of documentation changes, making it easier to revert or identify the source of any issues.
3. Streamlined Workflows: Integrating documentation into the same version control system used for source code allows me to seamlessly incorporate documentation updates into our existing development and deployment processes.
4. Increased Accountability: Having a clear record of who made what changes and when improves accountability and transparency around the documentation maintenance process.

Overall, using version control for documentation has been a crucial best practice that has significantly improved my workflow, collaboration, and content quality. As the creator of Hyperlint, I’ve designed the tool to seamlessly integrate with version control systems, making it easy for technical writing teams to adopt this best practice.

Best practice #2: automate documentation workflows

As a technical writer, I quickly realized that maintaining high-quality documentation in a fast-paced software environment meant automating as much of the workflow as possible. By incorporating documentation into the CI/CD pipeline, I streamlined the entire process, from building and deploying documentation to reviewing and updating it.

This was the inspiration for Hyperlint. I wanted to create a tool that would help developer content teams automate their documentation workflows, ensuring that documentation remained accurate, up-to-date, and aligned with the latest software developments.

Incorporating documentation into the CI/CD pipeline

One of the first steps I took was to tightly integrate documentation with the software development process. I worked closely with the engineering team to ensure that codebase changes were automatically reflected in the corresponding documentation. This meant that whenever a developer submitted a pull request, the documentation would be automatically updated and reviewed as part of the CI/CD pipeline.

Automating documentation build, deployment, and publishing

With documentation integrated into the CI/CD pipeline, I automated the entire build, deployment, and publishing process. Whenever changes were merged into the main branch, the documentation would be automatically built, tested, and deployed to the appropriate channels, such as the company website or the product’s online documentation portal.

This level of automation not only saved significant time and effort but also ensured that documentation was always up-to-date and readily available to users.

Integrating Hyperlint for automated documentation reviews and updates

To further streamline documentation workflows, I integrated Hyperlint, a powerful tool designed specifically for developer content teams. Hyperlint’s AI-powered features have been a game-changer, allowing me to automate many tedious tasks that used to consume a significant portion of my time.

Automated documentation reviews with Hyperlint

With Hyperlint, I set up automated reviews of documentation changes. Whenever a pull request was opened, Hyperlint would analyze the proposed changes, checking for grammar, spelling, readability, and compliance with our established style guide. It would then provide detailed feedback and suggestions for improvement, ensuring that documentation maintained a high level of quality.

Keeping documentation up-to-date with Hyperlint

But Hyperlint’s capabilities go beyond just reviewing changes. It also monitors the codebase and associated resources, such as OpenAPI specifications, for updates. Whenever it detects changes that may impact documentation, Hyperlint automatically suggests edits to keep the documentation in sync.

This has been particularly valuable, as it frees me from constantly monitoring the codebase and manually updating documentation. Hyperlint’s AI-powered monitoring and update suggestions have allowed me to focus on more strategic and impactful documentation initiatives.

By automating documentation workflows and integrating Hyperlint into my process, I’ve streamlined my work, improved documentation quality, and ensured that it remains up-to-date with the latest software developments. This has not only made my life as a technical writer easier but has also resulted in a better experience for our users, who can always rely on accurate and helpful documentation.

Best practice #3: maintain documentation consistency

As a technical writer, I’ve learned that consistency is key to creating high-quality documentation. Maintaining a consistent style, tone, and formatting across your documentation enhances the user experience and reflects professionalism and attention to detail.

Establishing a consistent documentation style and tone

One of the first steps in ensuring documentation consistency is establishing a clear and cohesive style guide. This guide should outline your preferred writing style, including grammar, punctuation, and terminology usage. It should also define the overall tone of your documentation, whether formal, conversational, or a blend of both.

By adhering to a consistent style and tone, you create a seamless and familiar experience for readers, making it easier for them to navigate and understand your documentation.

Developing and enforcing documentation guidelines and templates

In addition to a style guide, it’s essential to develop and enforce comprehensive documentation guidelines and templates. These guidelines should cover everything from the structure and organization of your documentation to the formatting of code snippets, images, and other multimedia elements.

Implementing standardized templates for your documentation can also help maintain consistency. These templates can include pre-defined sections, formatting, and even placeholder text to ensure that all documentation follows a similar structure and layout.

Leveraging Hyperlint’s style guide integration

To simplify the process of maintaining documentation consistency, I’ve found Hyperlint’s style guide integration to be incredibly valuable. With Hyperlint, you can easily define and enforce your organization’s style guide, ensuring that all changes to your documentation adhere to your established standards.

Hyperlint’s AI-powered editor automatically reviews your documentation for style, grammar, and formatting issues, providing real-time feedback and suggestions for improvement. This helps eliminate inconsistencies and ensures that your documentation remains polished and professional.

By embracing these best practices for maintaining documentation consistency, you can create a cohesive and user-friendly experience for your readers. Coupled with the powerful features of Hyperlint, you’ll be well on your way to delivering high-quality, well-structured documentation that reflects the professionalism of your organization.

Best practice #4: ensure accessibility and usability

As a technical writer, one of my top priorities is ensuring that documentation is not only informative but also highly accessible and user-friendly. This is where Hyperlint’s capabilities really shine, as it helps implement best practices for accessibility and usability throughout the documentation process.

Writing clear, concise, and user-friendly documentation

When it comes to documentation, clarity and conciseness are key. Hyperlint’s AI-powered editor helps identify areas where writing can be improved, suggesting ways to simplify complex language, eliminate jargon, and present information in a more logical and easy-to-understand manner.

By leveraging Hyperlint’s readability analysis, I ensure that documentation is written at a level accessible to a wide range of users, from seasoned developers to those new to the product. This not only improves the overall user experience but also helps reduce cognitive load on readers, allowing them to focus on the content rather than struggling with the language.

Optimizing documentation for different devices and screen sizes

In today’s mobile-centric world, it’s crucial that documentation is optimized for various devices and screen sizes. Hyperlint helps achieve this by providing guidance on formatting, layout, and media usage to ensure that documentation remains responsive and easy to navigate, regardless of the user’s device.

For example, Hyperlint’s recommendations on image sizing, table formatting, and code block presentation help create a seamless reading experience across desktops, tablets, and smartphones. This level of optimization not only enhances usability but also demonstrates commitment to providing a high-quality experience for all users.

Incorporating accessibility best practices

Accessibility is a fundamental aspect of effective documentation, and Hyperlint assists in incorporating best practices throughout the writing and publishing process. From ensuring proper use of headings and alt text for images to optimizing content for screen readers, Hyperlint’s guidance helps create documentation that is inclusive and accessible to users with diverse abilities.

By following Hyperlint’s recommendations, I improve the overall accessibility of documentation, making it easier for users with visual, auditory, or motor impairments to engage with and understand the content. This not only aligns with a commitment to inclusivity but also demonstrates dedication to providing a truly user-centric experience.

Overall, Hyperlint has been an invaluable tool in my journey to ensure that documentation is not only informative but also highly accessible and user-friendly. By leveraging its capabilities, I deliver documentation that truly meets the needs of our diverse user base, ultimately enhancing their overall experience with our product.

Best practice #5: encourage collaboration and feedback

As the founder of Hyperlint, I’ve always believed that documentation is a collaborative effort. After all, the documentation we create isn’t just for our own benefit, but for the entire community of users and contributors. That’s why fostering a collaborative culture around documentation is one of the critical best practices I’ve embraced in my own docs-as-code journey.

Fostering a collaborative culture around documentation

When it comes to documentation, collaboration is key. By encouraging everyone involved in the software development process to contribute and provide feedback, we can create documentation that’s more comprehensive, accurate, and user-friendly.

At Hyperlint, we’ve made it a priority to break down the silos between the development team, the technical writing team, and the end-users. We’ve found that by actively soliciting input and feedback from all stakeholders, we can identify and address gaps, inconsistencies, and areas for improvement in our documentation.

Enabling contributors to submit changes and improvements

One way we’ve fostered this collaborative culture is by making it easy for anyone to submit changes and improvements to our documentation. We’ve integrated Hyperlint, our AI-powered documentation assistant, with our version control system (GitHub) to enable seamless contribution workflows.

With Hyperlint, contributors can easily submit pull requests with suggested edits, corrections, or new content. Hyperlint’s AI-powered review process ensures that these changes are automatically checked for grammar, spelling, readability, and adherence to our style guide before being merged. This not only streamlines the contribution process but also helps maintain the high quality of our documentation.

Gathering user feedback and incorporating it into the documentation

But collaboration doesn’t stop at the internal team level. We also actively seek feedback from our users, the people who rely on our documentation to understand and use our products effectively.

Hyperlint’s integration with GitHub allows us to easily track and respond to user-reported issues and suggestions. We encourage our users to submit feedback, report any inaccuracies or gaps in the documentation, and suggest improvements. By incorporating this user feedback into our documentation, we ensure that our content truly meets the needs of our audience.

Additionally, Hyperlint’s AI Monitor feature helps us stay on top of changes in our software and APIs, automatically suggesting updates to the documentation to keep it in sync. This allows us to proactively address user needs and maintain the accuracy and relevance of our documentation over time.

By fostering a collaborative culture, enabling contributors, and actively gathering user feedback, we’ve been able to create documentation that’s not only high-quality but also truly responsive to the needs of our community. This is a critical best practice that has been instrumental in our docs-as-code journey with Hyperlint.

Implementing docs-as-code with Hyperlint

As the founder of Hyperlint, I designed this tool to seamlessly integrate with the docs-as-code workflow. Hyperlint addresses the very challenges I faced in maintaining high-quality documentation in my own work as a technical writer.

How Hyperlint supports the docs-as-code approach

Hyperlint is built from the ground up to complement the docs-as-code philosophy. By treating documentation as code, Hyperlint enables you to leverage the same tools and processes that your development team uses, ensuring a cohesive and efficient workflow.

One of the key ways Hyperlint supports docs-as-code is through its integration with version control systems like Git. Hyperlint operates as a GitHub bot, monitoring your repositories for changes to documentation files. It then provides feedback and suggestions directly on pull requests, ensuring that every update to your documentation is reviewed and maintained to the highest standard.

Integrating Hyperlint into Your Documentation Workflows

Getting started with Hyperlint is straightforward. Simply install the Hyperlint GitHub app in your repository, and it will begin monitoring your documentation files for any changes or updates.

Hyperlint seamlessly integrates with your CI/CD pipeline, allowing you to incorporate documentation reviews and updates as part of your automated build and deployment processes. This ensures that your documentation is always up-to-date and aligned with the latest changes in your codebase.

Leveraging Hyperlint’s Features for Improved Documentation Quality and Maintenance

Hyperlint offers powerful features that significantly enhance the quality and maintainability of your documentation. The Hyperlint AI Editor reviews documentation changes for grammar, spelling, readability, and SEO optimization, providing actionable suggestions to improve the clarity and effectiveness of your content.

Another valuable feature is the Hyperlint AI Monitor, which continuously watches your documentation for changes in your SDKs and OpenAPI specifications. It then suggests relevant updates to your documentation, ensuring it remains accurate and up-to-date with the latest developments in your software.

By integrating Hyperlint into your docs-as-code workflow, you can free your team from the burden of manual documentation maintenance, allowing you to focus on creating high-impact content that truly benefits your users.

Conclusion

As we’ve explored throughout this blog post, the docs-as-code approach offers a transformative way for technical writers and developer content teams to streamline their documentation workflows. By embracing the principles of version control, automation, consistency, accessibility, and collaboration, you can elevate the quality and efficiency of your documentation.

Recap of the Key Best Practices

To summarize the key best practices we’ve discussed:

1. Use Version Control: Integrate your documentation with source code repositories and leverage version control systems like Git to track changes, collaborate, and manage documentation versions.

2. Automate Documentation Workflows: Incorporate documentation into your CI/CD pipeline, automating the build, deployment, and publishing processes. Utilize tools like Hyperlint to automate documentation reviews and updates.

3. Maintain Documentation Consistency: Establish a consistent documentation style and tone, develop guidelines and templates, and leverage Hyperlint’s style guide integration to ensure formatting consistency.

4. Ensure Accessibility and Usability: Write clear, concise, and user-friendly documentation, optimize for different devices and screen sizes, and incorporate accessibility best practices.

5. Encourage Collaboration and Feedback: Foster a collaborative culture around documentation, enable contributors to submit changes and improvements, and gather user feedback to continuously enhance your documentation.

The Importance of Adopting a Docs-as-Code Approach

In today’s fast-paced software development landscape, the docs-as-code approach has become increasingly crucial. By aligning your documentation workflows with the same tools and processes used by your development team, you can ensure that your documentation remains up-to-date, accurate, and in sync with the evolving software.

Implementing Docs-as-Code with Hyperlint

To help you seamlessly implement these best practices, I encourage you to explore Hyperlint, the AI-powered documentation tool I created. Hyperlint streamlines the docs-as-code workflow, providing features like automated reviews, style guide integration, and SDK/OpenAPI monitoring to keep your documentation consistently high-quality and up-to-date.

By embracing the docs-as-code approach and leveraging the capabilities of Hyperlint, you can free your team from the burden of manual documentation maintenance, allowing you to focus on creating impactful, user-centric content that truly benefits your audience.

FAQs

Here are answers to some common questions I’ve received about the docs-as-code approach and using Hyperlint:

What are the key advantages of using Hyperlint for docs-as-code?

Hyperlint streamlines the docs-as-code workflow in several powerful ways:

1. Automated Documentation Reviews: Hyperlint’s AI-powered editor reviews documentation changes for grammar, spelling, readability, and SEO, providing suggestions for improvement without manual effort.

2. Integrated Style Guide: Hyperlint’s upcoming style guide integration will let teams define and enforce their own documentation standards, ensuring consistent formatting and tone across the entire documentation set.

3. Automated Change Monitoring: The Hyperlint AI Monitor tracks changes in SDKs and OpenAPI specifications, automatically suggesting updates to the corresponding documentation to keep everything in sync.

4. Seamless CI/CD Integration: Hyperlint easily integrates into any CI/CD pipeline, automating documentation build, deployment, and publishing processes.

5. Collaborative Workflow: By treating documentation as code, Hyperlint enables teams to leverage version control, pull requests, and other collaborative features to streamline the documentation process.

How does Hyperlint help ensure documentation consistency?

Consistency creates a positive user experience, and Hyperlint provides several features to maintain documentation consistency:

• Style Guide Integration: Hyperlint’s upcoming style guide integration will let teams define and enforce their own documentation standards, ensuring consistent formatting, tone, and language usage.

• Automated Suggestions: Hyperlint’s AI-powered editor identifies and suggests corrections for inconsistencies in grammar, spelling, and formatting, helping maintain a consistent style throughout.

• Version Control and Collaboration: By integrating documentation with version control systems like Git, Hyperlint enables teams to collaborate, review changes, and maintain a consistent documentation history.

• Automated Change Monitoring: The Hyperlint AI Monitor tracks changes in related resources and suggests updates to the corresponding documentation, keeping everything in sync with the latest product changes.

How can Hyperlint help improve the accessibility of documentation?

Accessibility is crucial for technical documentation, and Hyperlint provides several features to improve documentation accessibility:

• Readability Analysis: Hyperlint’s AI-powered editor analyzes the readability of your documentation and suggests improvements for clarity and understandability, making content more accessible to a wider audience.

• Formatting Guidance: Hyperlint helps ensure your documentation follows accessibility best practices for formatting, such as proper headings, alt text for images, and clear, concise language.

• Collaboration and Feedback: By fostering a collaborative approach to documentation, Hyperlint enables users and contributors to provide feedback on accessibility, which can be incorporated to continuously improve the documentation.

What are the common challenges in implementing docs-as-code, and how can Hyperlint help?

Implementing docs-as-code can present challenges, but Hyperlint is designed to help overcome them:

1. Resistance to Change: Transitioning from traditional documentation workflows to docs-as-code can meet resistance. Hyperlint’s seamless integration with existing tools demonstrates the benefits of this approach.

2. Lack of Collaboration: Docs-as-code relies on effective collaboration between writers and developers. Hyperlint’s integration with version control systems and support for pull requests fosters better collaboration.

3. Maintaining Documentation Quality: Ensuring consistent quality across a large documentation set can be challenging. Hyperlint’s automated review and style guide features help maintain high-quality documentation.

4. Keeping Documentation Up-to-Date: Keeping documentation in sync with rapidly changing software is a constant struggle. Hyperlint’s AI Monitor helps automate updating documentation based on changes in related resources.

5. Integrating into Existing Workflows: Adopting a new tool can be disruptive. Hyperlint’s compatibility with various CI/CD pipelines and documentation formats makes it easy to integrate into existing workflows.

By addressing these common challenges, Hyperlint helps teams successfully implement and maintain a docs-as-code approach, freeing up time and resources to focus on creating high-quality, user-friendly documentation.