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title: About Me
description: Principal Technical Writer & AI Knowledge Architect.
---

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# About Me

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I'm a principal technical writer and knowledge architect with 20+ years of experience in the tech industry and a master's degree in technical communication. [I've long believed](https://richardrabil.com/2017/10/20/get-into-technical-writing/) that a culture like ours needs conscientious communicators who can craft quality documentation about the things we build, and deliver knowledge to the right people at the right time.

## Creating Quality Docs

Documentation is only useful if people can discover and apply it to perform their tasks correctly. That not only means writing content that's findable, structured, consistent, accurate, and all the other adjectives typically applied to good writing. It also means designing content so it is visually approachable through methods like scannable layouts, thoughtful formatting, and design choices that invite trust. Every day it's my goal to bring about this combination of form and function to achieve *deep* quality, not just *functional* quality. (I even made this philosophy the [subject of a podcast](https://document360.com/blog/why-aesthetics-matter-in-technical-docs-with-richard-oracle/).)

## From Pages to Systems

In addition to developing quality content, I am keenly interested in *systems*, *structure*, and *scale*: how to build knowledge so it can grow, how to organize it so it flows, and how to keep it healthy over time. I'm constantly asking questions like:

* How do we keep this content up-to-date after publishing the first version? How should it be organized to grow and expand over time as the product or service evolves? What if we need to migrate to a different repository or format?
* What does the next writer or editor who maintains this documentation need to know? What style guidance should they use? What templates and content rules should they follow? What experts should they rely on for review?
* How do we track ad-hoc requests and prioritize new documentation needs? How do we monitor the health of the enormous volumes of information under our responsibility? When and how do we need to retire information when it is no longer necessary?

These questions have led me into many overlapping disciplines, from technical writing and information architecture to content engineering and knowledge management. I frequently take on "team lead," "editorial director," and "architect" roles for large documentation projects in the organizations I work for: setting up information models and governance, designing templates and status dashboards, defining the content strategy for content lifecycles, and sharing best practices and articles about the latest techniques and trends in the field.

## Where AI Comes In

The explosive growth of AI has taken technical writing and knowledge management in all sorts of new directions. It's critical right now for writers to think holistically about how to cultivate content in systems that are responsive to AI tools and agents without losing sight of what human users really need.

Research shows that what works well for human users—such as structured pages, clear sentences, and consistent patterns—is what makes content retrievable by AI agents. With that in mind, I regularly apply my systems thinking and editorial judgment to develop prompts, skills, agents, metadata, and workflows that are based on time-tested best practices in creating and sustaining knowledge systems over the long run. Because in many ways, writing the first version is the easy part. Keeping the content healthy and scalable for years to come is the real art.

In this portfolio I have focused on putting the principles of content quality and AI-driven sustainability into practice using an actual docs-as-code pipeline. See [how I built this site](/how-i-built-this) for more information.

For a closer look at my published work and my experience, see my [portfolio samples](/docs/portfolio/samples) and my [resume](/resume). If you would like to get in touch with me, please reach out on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rrabil/).