As a technical content material author for Cisco ThousandEyes, I’ve to confess, my biggest worry is to get replaced by a generative AI algorithm. Within the spirit of “protecting my associates shut and my enemies nearer,” I made a decision to befriend my potential adversary. On this article, I’ll share how utilizing Cisco’s inner AI assistant has augmented my skill as a technical author to maintain up with the fast tempo of change in our business.
Fast context switching
I work on a number of merchandise for ThousandEyes and, because of my earlier lives as a NOC Engineer (Community Operations Heart) and Backend Software program Developer, my technical experience means I’m typically referred to as upon when the workforce wants further protection. Whereas I’ve a broad and deep understanding of many applied sciences, the focus required to successfully write about them is on par with the focus I as soon as wanted as a developer to construct them.
In engineering, “rubber ducking” means to speak out an issue both at somebody or one thing with the intention to manage one’s ideas (not essentially for a response). I exploit Cisco’s inner AI assistant as a rubber duck in context switching conditions. With a generative AI chat, I’m in a position to preserve a dialog the place I can current concepts and ask it to summarize the important thing factors I must refresh on. The conversational model strikes me shortly into the headspace vital for making tough context switches. Reasonably than needing half a day to get again within the stream, I can pivot to a brand new job inside half-hour.
Shorter SME interviews
One thing I get pleasure from about being a technical author is attending to find out about new stuff. As a lot as I like studying, nevertheless, given our present pace (and quantity) of innovation, I typically really feel like I’m consuming from a firehose. Cisco’s inner AI assistant gives me with a quiet house the place I can safely ask dumb questions on unfamiliar applied sciences. This maximizes the worth I can deliver to SME (Topic Matter Knowledgeable) interviews.
When an SME has to stroll me by way of the fundamentals, interviews can take as a lot as an hour and will even span a number of periods. Even once I put together alone, I spend plenty of time gathering the data I would like and discerning what’s really helpful. With the assistance of Cisco’s inner AI assistant, the data is introduced to me in a summarized kind that’s straightforward to digest. I can shortly assess it for accuracy and I can ask questions for clarification, in addition to reply with corrections to enhance my outcomes. It even reveals me what sources it used, so I can go deeper alone. This considerably reduces the time I must ramp up on a brand new know-how. On account of utilizing Cisco’s inner AI Assistant to ramp up on unfamiliar applied sciences, my SME interviews are extremely concentrated and environment friendly, usually lasting a mere 15-20 minutes.
Lowered repetitive duties
The Documentation Group at ThousandEyes makes use of a “docs-as-code” strategy. For us, this implies our documentation lives in Github and we format it utilizing markdown. Markdown tables are very tedious and error-prone. When I’ve to create a brand new markdown desk, I exploit Cisco’s inner AI assistant to create it with the values I present. Then, all I’ve to do is copy and paste. It’s additionally helpful once I must summarize content material, resembling offering a one-sentence description or writing a brief introductory paragraph to a technical article. Cisco’s inner AI assistant can present me with the summaries I would like immediately, sourced from our personal documentation, and all I’ve to do is evaluate them.
Immediate contextual data
The toughest factor to doc isn’t the technical stuff. It’s the stuff that connects the technical stuff to what the consumer actually wants and needs. That is the a part of the writing course of that depends upon the author’s expertise and instinct. Technical writing isn’t simply making a bunch of screenshots and describing them. It’s determining what the consumer needs to do after which determining one of the simplest ways to current the data to attenuate the consumer’s cognitive load.
Suggestions gathered by one among our product managers reported that clients appreciated ThousandEyes’ documentation higher than our opponents’. Caring about our customers is an enormous precedence for my workforce. For instance, I perceive how difficult making sense of documentation might be within the midst of a high-severity outage, particularly whenever you’ve been woken up in the midst of the evening. Once I’m figuring out how one can doc one thing, I do plenty of background analysis, together with perusing instructional supplies on the ThousandEyes weblog and user-contributed content material on websites like Reddit and StackOverflow. Asking Cisco’s inner AI assistant why somebody may use one thing makes a part of the writing course of a lot sooner (though it does take finesse to phrase my prompts successfully).
The advisable listing of use instances and descriptions I get from the AI not solely permits me to extra deeply empathize with our customers, but in addition helps me to craft my content material to make sure relevancy and ease of use.
Embracing GenAI
Embracing generative AI has remodeled my strategy to technical writing at Cisco ThousandEyes, turning what may have been a frightening adversary into a robust ally. By streamlining context switching, accelerating studying for SME interviews, automating repetitive duties, and offering immediate contextual insights, Cisco’s inner AI assistant has not solely boosted my effectivity however continues to raise the standard of our user-focused documentation. Reasonably than changing the human contact, Cisco’s inner AI assistant amplifies my skill to empathize with customers and ship clear, related content material that meets their wants, even in high-pressure situations. Because the tempo of innovation continues to speed up, integrating AI into technical writing is not only a sensible alternative—it’s a strategic one which empowers writers to remain forward in a quickly evolving business.
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