Users form a verdict on software fast. What documentation and onboarding need to accomplish in that first hour — before frustration sets in.
Release notes are a touchpoint with every user, and most are wasted. Small changes that turn a changelog into something people actually open.
GIS APIs increasingly get used by analysts, not just developers. Writing API docs that serve both audiences without patronizing either.
A documentation style guide can be three pages or three hundred. Where the useful middle sits, and how to build one people will actually follow.
Training teaches a path; reference answers a question. Trying to make one document do both jobs usually means it does neither well.
Screenshots date fast, clutter easily, and are often the wrong tool. When to use them, how to keep them maintainable, and what to use instead.
Undocumented software accrues debt exactly like uncommented code. Why the bill always comes due — usually at the worst possible moment.
Software ships continuously; documentation can’t be rewritten every sprint. Strategies for writing docs that survive the next release.
Increasingly, the people using GIS software aren’t cartographers — they’re planners, surveyors, field crews. Documentation has to meet them where they are.
