Test Documentation: Why so Technical?

As a technical documentation manager, I navigate the perennial challenge of making software documentation truly accessible. Documenting software products is always a challenge. In fact, writing any kind of instructions that will be helpful to others, is a major challenge.

Because we are not them, we lack their exact experience. So context and meaning can be missing. Testing documentation often misses this mark, drowning users in technicalities without explaining the ‘why’ behind the ‘how’. Testing documentation can, and should, be both technical and relatable. This talk is about breaking down the walls of abstraction, making documentation not just useful but also relatable, and easier to understand.

And what better way to try to make things easier to understand than using examples? We’ve all done it, and we’ve seen others doing it with us since we were kids. Testing documentation is often missing concrete examples, daily usage scenarios, and real-life stories. This isn’t about adding another fancy section; it’s about giving more soul to documentation. We’ll share experiences and methods that strip away the unnecessary jargon, leaving users with a clear understanding of not just how things work but why it matters to them.

It’s not just about saying we have a tool for exploratory testing that allows us to write a charter, but about explaining how you should write a charter, and why it’s important and helpful for you and for your team members to write it. From exploring testing sessions to crafting charters, we’ll delve into real-life stories, daily usage scenarios, and concrete examples.

Attendees can expect practical insights on transforming documentation into a user-friendly, relatable resource. The future of testing documentation lies in being technical yet relatable, and we’re here to show you how: by adding concrete examples, relatable scenarios, and an extra focus on the why.