163. Discovering what different users think of your documentation

High-quality documentation reduces support costs and drives product adoption, but traditional feedback methods often fail to capture the full user experience.

This episode explores how modern documentation teams are combining AI simulation with human research to understand how different users interact with their docs.

Key topics

1. The problem with traditional feedback
2. Understanding your user archetypes
3. Traditional testing methods that still work
4. AI user simulation: The new frontier
5. AI limitations to remember
6. The winning strategy: Hybrid approach

Resources mentioned

• Reader-simulator by Casey Smith (open-source): github.com/caseyrfsmith/reader-simulator
• Impersonaid by Fabrizio Ferri: github.com/theletterf/impersonaid
• Cherryleaf course: Managing and Mastering Documentation Projects with AI