Docs as Tests: A Strategy for Resilient Docs
- Presentation
- AI and New Technologies in TC
- 23. April
- 06:00 PM (CEST) - 06:40 PM (CEST)
- finished
-
Manny Silva
- Head of Docs at Skyflow/Founder at Doc Detective
Contents
Outdated docs break user trust. Sometimes it's small—a screenshot that doesn't match the UI. Sometimes it's a one-and-done broken relationship—a critical procedure that fails at a key moment. You don't always get a second chance.
When product updates are frequent, it's easy to accept that outdated docs are a sad reality of our work, but that doesn't have to be the case. "Docs as Tests" is a strategy that transforms docs from a liability to a trusted asset by *literally* treating documentation as testable assertions of product behavior.
This talk demonstrates how to implement Docs as Tests to catch issues before your users do. I'll show you:
- How to identify testable assertions in your docs, from simple UI procedures to complex API workflows
- Practical examples of testing docs against web interfaces, APIs, and CLIs using tools you likely already have or could easily adopt
- How to build support across engineering, product, and leadership teams
You'll leave with concrete steps to start testing your own docs, whether you're a solo writer or part of a larger team. The result? Documentation that stays accurate as your product changes, building and maintaining user trust.
Takeaways
This talk is for anyone who's tired of finding out their docs are broken from their users. No programming experience required—just a desire to make your docs more resilient.