As a technical content material author for Cisco ThousandEyes, I’ve to confess, my best concern is to get replaced by a generative AI algorithm. Within the spirit of “maintaining my pals shut and my enemies nearer,” I made a decision to befriend my potential adversary. On this article, I’ll share how utilizing Cisco’s inside AI assistant has augmented my skill as a technical author to maintain up with the speedy 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 a view to set up one’s ideas (not essentially for a response). I exploit Cisco’s inside AI assistant as a rubber duck in context switching conditions. With a generative AI chat, I’m in a position to keep a dialog the place I can current concepts and ask it to summarize the important thing factors I must refresh on. The conversational type strikes me rapidly into the headspace essential for making tough context switches. Somewhat than needing half a day to get again within the circulation, I can pivot to a brand new process inside half-hour.
Shorter SME interviews
One thing I take pleasure in about being a technical author is attending to study 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 inside AI assistant offers me with a quiet house the place I can safely ask dumb questions on unfamiliar applied sciences. This maximizes the worth I can convey to SME (Topic Matter Knowledgeable) interviews.
When an SME has to stroll me by the fundamentals, interviews can take as a lot as an hour and should even span a number of classes. Even once I put together alone, I spend a variety of time gathering the knowledge I want and discerning what’s really helpful. With the assistance of Cisco’s inside AI assistant, the knowledge is introduced to me in a summarized type that’s simple to digest. I can rapidly assess it for accuracy and I can ask questions for clarification, in addition to reply with corrections to enhance my outcomes. It even exhibits 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 inside AI Assistant to ramp up on unfamiliar applied sciences, my SME interviews are extremely concentrated and environment friendly, sometimes lasting a mere 15-20 minutes.
Lowered repetitive duties
The Documentation Workforce at ThousandEyes makes use of a “docs-as-code” method. 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 inside 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, akin to offering a one-sentence description or writing a brief introductory paragraph to a technical article. Cisco’s inside AI assistant can present me with the summaries I want immediately, sourced from our personal documentation, and all I’ve to do is evaluation them.
Prompt contextual info
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 desires. 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 best ways to current the knowledge to reduce the consumer’s cognitive load.
Suggestions gathered by one in all our product managers reported that clients appreciated ThousandEyes’ documentation higher than our rivals’. Caring about our customers is a giant precedence for my workforce. For instance, I perceive how difficult making sense of documentation will be within the midst of a high-severity outage, particularly while you’ve been woken up in the midst of the night time. After I’m figuring out how you can doc one thing, I do a variety of background analysis, together with perusing academic supplies on the ThousandEyes weblog and user-contributed content material on websites like Reddit and StackOverflow. Asking Cisco’s inside 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 beneficial checklist of use circumstances 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 reworked my method 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 prompt contextual insights, Cisco’s inside AI assistant has not solely boosted my effectivity however continues to raise the standard of our user-focused documentation. Somewhat than changing the human contact, Cisco’s inside 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 isn’t just a sensible selection—it’s a strategic one which empowers writers to remain forward in a quickly evolving business.
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