One of my colleagues asked this question on LinkedIn:

At which part of the process do you add your unique value? [...] I want to pin-point ONE specific thing that is uniquely ours, that can't be easily outsourced or replaced. A non-negotiable. Something that genuinely happens today, rather than potential.

After I read it, the cogs in my head started moving faster and faster. I couldn't stop thinking about it so I decided to write down my thoughts. I was hoping to find an answer by going through different reasoning paths that would eventually crystallize for me what this one unique thing is.

I'm a technical writer turned software developer so I tried to address this question from an ultra technical and practical perspective. I'd even say I adopted a very de-humanized approach to the tech writer profession.

When I got my first job as a tech writer, I was like a new LLM agent. I didn't know anything about this profession. I wasn't even aware that there was so much to learn. I only had my previous experience from other jobs (technical support agent) and language skills acquired during my studies (English philology).

So, what enabled me to transform over the years into a valuable tech comm professional? In the search for this one secret ingredient that makes tech writers not easily replaceable by AI, I analyzed what happened with me and my career. Let's explore what else is out there.

The writing part​

I became "valuable" because I learnt the following things:

• Adjusting content to the audience
• Rules of minimal writing
• Rules of style (style guides)
• Types of documentation
• Information architecture
• Distilling and simplifying knowledge received from experts
• Getting to the point quickly
• Technical jargon

All these skills allowed me to write clearly and concisely. It took me years to hone those skills... Because I'm a human being. So, I have some bad news. Right now, an agent can probably learn all these things in a matter of minutes. You just need to pump all this info into it in the form of MD files. Maybe I exaggerate, but you get my point. Additionally, contrary to the common misconception about the job of a tech writer, writing is a relatively small part of all the things they do.

The technical part​

The next thing that comes to my mind is tools. This area is especially dear to my heart, that's why a few years ago I moved to the doc tools developer role. Since I started in tech comm in 2012, I've learned many different tools - help authoring tools, component content management systems, static site generators, DITA and Markdown, programming languages, just to name a few.

Despite my love for these things, I have to admit very reluctantly that knowledge of tools is an even weaker argument for staying relevant as a tech writer than all the things I mentioned so far. LLMs are already very good at using tools. Plus, they know all of them. Ok, maybe not all of them, but definitely many more than I do. And they can learn new tools much quicker than human beings. By giving them access to MCP servers, you can expand their capabilities in a matter of minutes.

Another lost battle.

The reviewing part​

I'm hearing voices that tech writers will become curators of content. I agree. This shift is happening now. Tech writers (and developers too) do more reading than writing. They spend a lot of time reviewing and coordinating the content creation process. These are important tasks, but I think they will eventually be outsourced to agents. The amount of content and pace of its creation will make it impossible for a human being to review everything. LLMs will do it and the tech writer will just put a stamp of approval on it. Actually, they are already doing it to some extent.

The managing part​

Another shift that is happening because of AI is that tech writers need more leading and coordinating skills earlier in their careers than before. They must be able to coordinate the content creation process. It's important, but in my opinion standard project management isn't this one unique thing that will secure the tech writer's future. We already have AI agents that delegate tasks to other agents. This logistical part will be automated more and more to squeeze the "productivity lemon" as much as possible.

You can also argue that coordination requires decision-making, which LLMs can't always do well. If you make a decision without data, you just guess. Making an informed decision requires knowledge. If an LLM has it, it can assess what the best solution is because it analyzes all the available data faster and in all combinations. The human factor plays a role when the decision isn't purely data-driven and requires things like negotiating deadlines, convincing stakeholders, and so on. But again, to me it isn't this one unique thing.

I know it all sounds very pessimistic but let's not give up.

The X factor​

A tech writer is a technical communicator. I think that I've already proven that the technical part can be easily replaced by automated solutions. But the communicator part is the human domain. It's multi-dimensional:

• Communicating with other people in your company
• Communicating with users (understanding their needs, collecting, analyzing and responding to feedback)
• Communicating with machines (translating human intent into precise instructions, guidelines, and prompts)
• Communicating with stakeholders (getting buy-in, gathering requirements, showing results)

A tech writer is like a communication hub. They collect information (passengers) from different sources (inbound and outbound traffic) and then use the right tools (means of transportation) to make sure it gets to the right audience (destination).

To a large extent, the flow of passengers at a hub is orchestrated automatically thanks to predefined procedures, routes, and patterns. It's the same in the tech writer's role. Many information flows are automated, like extracting data from one application, transforming it and passing it to a publishing system. But it's just part of the picture because communication isn't about mechanical delivery of data from point A to point B. At a hub, when people have questions, get lost or encounter a cancelled flight, assistance is required. In the tech writer's job, interpreting sentiment, reading between the lines, spotting nuances, connecting people and so on are the ingredients that differentiate mindless transfers of information from valuable and effective communication.

Many years ago, I realized that "communication is the key" on so many levels and in so many dimensions. It's the cornerstone of becoming a successful employee, especially in a large and diverse organization. But it seems to play an even bigger role in tech writing. You may have all the knowledge in the world, but if you don't know how to communicate in a meaningful way you won't be able to transfer this knowledge effectively. The fact that most tech writers have a non-technical background confirms my theory, I hope.

The (short) conclusion​

It's not the first technical revolution that tech writers (and other professions) are going through. Make sure that you're a communicator, not a writer, because communicators are here to stay.

Photo by Matthew Inamdar on Unsplash