Best Practices For Engineering Documentation

Have you ever written an important report at work that nobody reads? Maybe you worked really hard on it and shared valuable insights. This can be disappointing and frustrating. Next time, accessibility best practices can help you reach more of your colleagues. When sharing important insights or learnings, such as the results of a pilot project, consider creating multiple ways of sharing the information. 1. Publish a summary report with readable font, bolded text, lists instead of lots of paragraphs, graphics, key points summarized, etc. 2. Schedule a live presentation of the material by sharing slides. For those who want to read your report but may put it off without a deadline, a scheduled presentation can be supportive. Some people also learn information best when it's auditory, not visual. 3. Prepare a short 1-2 page executive summary of the report. This can help executive leaders as well as those with low capacity due to chronic illness, and many others. Will you try any of these strategies? What other tips do you have? #Accessibility #DisabilityInclusion #CognitiveAccessibility

Hate how boring and time-consuming documentation feels? Yeah, same. But here’s the thing: the more you avoid it, the more you hurt your future self and miss opportunities to showcase your skills properly. So if you want to make documentation less painful (and actually useful), here are 6 tips I use with my clients to make it faster, clearer, and more impactful: 1. Start with an overview What’s the purpose of your project? What problem did it solve? Just 3–4 lines to set the stage. Make it easy for anyone to understand why it matters. 2. Walk through your process Break down the steps: How did you collect the data? How did you clean, analyze, or model it? What tools or methods did you use? This shows how you think and how you solve real-world problems. 3. Add visuals A clean chart > a wall of text. Use graphs, screenshots, and diagrams to bring your work to life. (And bonus: you’ll understand it faster when you come back later.) 4. Show your problem-solving What roadblocks did you hit? How did you fix them? Don’t hide your struggles, highlight them. This is where your value really shines. 5. Summarize your results What did you find? Why does it matter? What’s next? Answer these three questions clearly and your audience will instantly get the impact of your work. 6.  Use a structure that makes sense Try this flow: Introduction → Objectives → Methods → Results → Conclusion → Future Work Simple. Clean. Effective. P.S: After every milestone, take 5 minutes to update your notes, screenshots, or results. Turn it into a habit. ➕ Follow Jaret André for more data job search, and portfolio tips 🔔 Hit the bell icon to get strategies that actually move the needle.

Project managers are the memory of a project Stakeholders are busy. Priorities shift. Teams change. Months from now, decisions get forgotten, context fades, and what seemed obvious becomes unclear. That's where you, the project manager, create above-and-beyond value. You're not just tracking tasks. You're preserving the story (and details) of the project so the team and stakeholders don't lose their way. Here's how you can do it well: 👉 Document decisions immediately and share them regularly Don't rely on memory or casual notes. Capture who decided what, why, and when. Then share it out repeatedly for awareness and dependencies. 👉 Maintain a single source of truth Ideally in one specific place (repository). Centralize project notes, timelines, updates, RAID log, etc. Make it easy for anyone to find the info that they need. 👉 Summarize key learnings After milestones or sprints, create a brief recap. Highlight what worked, what didn't and lessons for the next phase. Share them with the team so they can be implemented. 👉 Connect past to present When new stakeholders join, onboard them with context. This prevents the team from wasting time revisiting old conversations. And gets your new team members off on a good foot. 👉 Keep things accessible and actionable Use clear language, bullet points, and visual aids. Make the history of the project easy to consume. This makes next steps palatable too (and usually quite obvious). Effective project managers don't just manage the work. They safeguard the memory of the project. So that it can be used to progress it every step of the way. 🤙

The closer technical writers are integrated with engineering teams, the better the documentation becomes. When writers are treated as essential members of the development process rather than an afterthought, they can create more accurate, timely, and valuable documentation that truly serves both users and developers. Docs-as-code is one of the most effective ways to achieve this integration. By using the same tools and workflows as developers, technical writers can participate directly in the software development lifecycle, catch documentation needs earlier, and maintain docs with the same rigor as code. For teams looking to get started with docs-as-code, here are some excellent tools to consider: Static Site Generators: - Jekyll (particularly with GitHub Pages) - MkDocs - Hugo - Sphinx (especially for Python projects) Documentation Linters: - Vale for style/grammar checking - markdownlint for Markdown consistency - awesome-lint for README files Version Control & Collaboration: - GitHub/GitLab for repository management - Pull request workflows for doc reviews - GitHub Actions for automated doc testing - LEARN GIT VIA COMMAND LINE The investment in learning these tools pays off quickly in improved #documentation quality, better collaboration with developers, and more efficient workflows. Most of these tools are open-source and well-documented, making them perfect for teams just starting their docs-as-code journey. #TechnicalWriting #DocsAsCode #Documentation #TechComm #DeveloperDocs #TechnicalCommunication

Is your AI approach truly augmenting your team's capabilities, or just creating different work? Fascinating research from the University of Central Florida reveals something counterintuitive: Teams using generic AI tools were no more successful at creating acceptable technical documentation (30% success) than teams using no AI at all. Meanwhile, teams using specialized AI documentation tools achieved 84% success rates. The key difference? Generic AI waits for prompts, while specialized AI like Narratize: 💡 Proactively asks engineers for critical information 💡 Applies industry-specific standards and formatting 💡 Prompts deeper thinking about the innovation itself Effective AI implementation isn't about replacing human expertise—it's about augmenting it in domain-specific ways. https://hubs.la/Q03rk1Fl0 #AIStrategy #TechnicalDocumentation #InnovationTools #documentation #narratize #newproductdevelopment #manufacturing #digitalmanufacturing #innovation #productengineering #researchanddevelopment #aiforbusiness #productdevelopment

Most teams don't have a documentation problem. They have a documentation access problem. Docs are written, but they're scattered. They're updated, but no one can find them. They exist, but they don’t work for the team. That's why I built Company Docs MCP → a free, open-source tool that turns your existing documentation into an AI-powered assistant. → Point it at your Markdown repo (no need to duplicate your source of truth). → Spin up a FREE, branded, single-tenant, remote MCP server in 15 minutes. → Access your docs anywhere: Chat UI, Slack, Claude Desktop, Cursor. And best of all: Feed your own best practices directly into AI workflows to enrich the results!! This is for any organization that wants: →Faster, easier access to documentation →A way to reduce onboarding time and support burden →A safe, low-barrier way to start testing how AI can leverage internal knowledge to enhance workflows 👉 Blog article: https://lnkd.in/gnHDXXA7 📂 Public repo: https://lnkd.in/gZpZ4p7W It's free, it's open, and it's ready to use. Clone it, fill it with your docs, and see what happens when your documentation starts working for you. Special thanks to Grammarly for sparking the idea, and to Workday for providing documentation I used during testing. If this resonates with you, I'd love to hear your thoughts. And if you’d like to talk through how this could work inside your org, I'm happy to meet up and dive deeper. #documentation #ai #designsystems #MCP

In regulated industries, if it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen. 📝 Good Documentation Practice (GDocP) isn’t just about neat handwriting or filing protocols — It’s a critical foundation for compliance, data integrity, and audit readiness. Here’s what GDocP truly means: 🔹 What is GDocP? It’s the standard for creating, completing, and managing controlled documents — ensuring every action in production, commissioning, validation, and manufacturing is traceable and credible. 🔹 When does GDocP apply? Anytime you prepare, complete, review, file, archive, or dispose of controlled documents. (In other words: always.) 🔹 Principles of GDocP: ✅ Clear, accurate, and timely entries ✅ Permanent and legible records ✅ Truthful and complete documentation ✅ Standardized formats (dates, times, units) 🔹 Critical Dos and Don’ts: ✅ Sign only with authorized signatures (log them properly) ✅ Record data at the time of action (never before, never after) ✅ Fill every blank space (use N/A, N/R if needed) ✅ Correct errors with a single line, initial, and date 🚫 Never erase, overwrite, use whiteout, or leave blanks 🔹 Good documents are: Permanent. Legible. Accurate. Prompt. Clear. Consistent. Complete. Truthful. 💡 GDocP isn't bureaucracy. It's trust on paper — and without trust, there’s no compliance. Save this as a reminder for yourself, your team, or your next project kickoff. Mastering GDP isn’t just good practice — it’s the heart of regulatory success. 🔵 #GDP #GoodDocumentationPractice #Validation #GMPCompliance #DataIntegrity #CQV #QualityAssurance #LifeSciences #Pharma #Biotech #AuditReadiness

In today's world, where it’s hard to distinguish between AI-generated content and real facts, solid documentation is more important than ever. In the power industry, context is everything, and effective communication between engineering teams, site personnel, and management is essential to maintaining accurate records. As new technologies are introduced, how are you tracking changes, modifications and upgrades to your facilities? From protection systems and inverter settings to data center additions, we've seen it all. Being able to document these changes along with the reasoning behind decisions is critical. Its more than just ticking a box - its about keeping record of **why** certain actions were taken. I am especially proud of my team for focusing on the 'what happens next' aspect of compliance. Some examples of this - when electrotechnical relays are switched to solid state ones at a hydroelectric unit, what engineering studies need to be updated? Another example, when adding BESS(Grid scale storage) - how do we ensure all needed checks are done? Clear documentation makes the compliance process so much easier and ensure that no small change is overlooked. Its like what I tell my kids - cleaning up small messes now prevent bigger problems later. Good documentation doesn't just assist the compliance process - it allows us to track trends and spot larger portfolio performance issues and saves the rationale behind decisions for the next person stepping into a role. At the end of the day, its these small things, checklists, qualifying questions and RFI's that contribute to a stable, reliable grid. #NERC #Engineering #InternalControls #Compliance

Ever feel like you’re decoding an ancient scroll when you open old documentation? But instead of searching for lost treasure, you’re hunting for how your MQL Process is getting triggered randomly. Here’s how we can break the cycle and leave a legacy of clear, useful documentation: 🎥 Videos: A quick walkthrough or explainer video can save hours of reading and clarify complex points in minutes. 🔗 Links: Connect the dots by linking to related documents, tools, or resources for deeper dives without cluttering the main narrative. 📋 Organized Descriptions: Structure is your friend. Use headings, bullet points, and numbered lists to make information easy to scan and find. 🔄 Regular Updates: Make it a habit to review and refresh documentation periodically. Outdated info leads to confusion and inefficiency. 🌿 Prune the Old: If something’s no longer relevant, archive it. Keeping only the current makes navigation and understanding way easier. By leaving behind resources that are engaging, accessible, and above all, useful, we pave the way for smoother journeys for everyone who comes after us. #Documentation #Knowledge #FutureProofing