Tools and Systems

I use tools to improve a documentation system, not to collect a longer skills list. The useful question is always: where is the friction, and what combination of structure, process, and tooling will make the work easier to maintain?

The documentation system I work in

source material + product change
              │
              ▼
     author and structure content
     Markdown · XML/DITA · CMS · page models
              │
              ▼
       review, publish, and deliver
     GitHub · Docusaurus · help systems · PDFs
              │
              ▼
       measure, govern, and improve
     Tableau · SQL · Excel · freshness tracking
              │
              ▼
      automate repeated work when it proves useful
     scripts · internal tools · AI-assisted workflows

Each layer affects the next. A clean authoring model makes review easier; reliable publishing makes content easier to trust; useful measurement shows where maintenance belongs; and automation is only worthwhile after the manual process is understood.

Tool families

Authoring and structure

Creating content that can be reused, navigated, and maintained.

MarkdownXMLDITAHTMLCSSoXygen XML EditorTridion DocsWiki and CMS environments

Publishing and delivery

Making documentation available through predictable, versioned workflows.

GitHubVS CodeDocusaurusGitHub PagesOnline helpPDFsAPI guides

Measurement and operations

Making documentation work visible enough to prioritize and improve.

ExcelPower QueryTableauPower BISharePointPresto SQLDocumentation-health metrics

Workflow automation

Reducing repeated work while preserving review, quality, and accountability.

Scripts and templatesInternal web toolsAI-assisted workflowsAutomated checksChange monitoringDiff triage

What that looks like in practice

Need	What I have done
Make an evolving documentation environment easier to navigate	Reorganized and standardized high-traffic content, created page and terminology standards, and supported migrations to more structured systems.
Make operational work visible	Built tracking for 400+ products, seven automated Tableau dashboards, and SQL-backed documentation-health metrics.
Reduce recurring friction	Built documentation tooling and AI-assisted workflows around repeated review, change, governance, and task-management work.
Keep the system maintainable	Built a 234-page freshness-tracking system and used content governance to make maintenance work easier to identify and prioritize.

The related case studies provide the evidence behind those examples: Documentation Tooling and Automation, Analytics and Reporting, and Migrations and Information Architecture.

A practical technical range

I am not a full-time software engineer, and I do not present myself as one. I am a documentation engineer who can work productively in technical environments: understand enough of the stack to improve the documentation, use data to find the real problem, and build or guide the right amount of tooling when the workflow warrants it.

This site is one public example: it uses Docusaurus, Markdown, GitHub, and static-site publishing to make a portfolio behave like documentation. For more on that decision, see Personal Site. For public build work, see GitHub.

The standard I use

A tool earns its place when it improves clarity, consistency, speed, or maintainability for the people using the documentation system.

The documentation system I work in​

Tool families​