Many organisations assume that the person who knows the product best should also write the documentation.
On the surface, that makes sense.
If someone designed the software, built the equipment or created the process, surely they’re the best person to explain it.
In reality, that’s only half of the equation.
The best documentation is created when subject matter experts and technical authors work together, each contributing a different set of skills.
What is a subject matter expert?
A subject matter expert (SME) is someone with specialist knowledge of a particular product, system or process.
Depending on the organisation, this might be a:
- Software developer
- Engineer
- Product manager
- Business analyst
- Consultant
- Scientist
- Technician
- Customer support specialist
Their role is to understand the product in depth. They know how it works, why it was designed that way and how it should be used.
Without their expertise, accurate documentation would not be possible.
What is a technical author?
A technical author specialises in communicating complex information clearly.
While they develop a good understanding of the product, their expertise lies elsewhere.
A technical author knows how to:
- organise information logically
- understand different audiences
- ask the right questions
- identify gaps in information
- simplify complex concepts
- create intuitive navigation
- maintain consistency across documentation
- ensure information remains accurate over time
Their focus is not on being the world’s leading expert on the product.
Their focus is making the product understandable for everyone else.
Why subject matter experts don’t always write the best documentation
This isn’t a criticism of subject matter experts.
They’re experts because they spend years building knowledge that most users don’t have.
The challenge is that it’s often difficult to remember what it’s like not to know something.
When you’re deeply familiar with a product, it’s easy to:
- skip important steps
- assume prior knowledge
- use internal terminology
- explain how something works without explaining why
- overlook the questions new users are likely to ask
This is known as the “curse of knowledge”. Once you’ve mastered a subject, it becomes surprisingly difficult to view it through the eyes of a beginner.
Technical authors bridge that gap.
Why technical authors ask so many questions
Counterintuitively, not knowing everything about a product can be an advantage. A technical author who is new to a subject approaches it from the same perspective as the people who will eventually read the documentation.
They ask the questions that a first-time user would ask, challenge assumptions and identify gaps that subject matter experts may overlook. While the subject matter expert provides the technical knowledge, the technical author ensures that knowledge is complete, accessible and easy to understand.
Developers sometimes joke that technical authors ask endless questions. There’s a good reason for that. Every question a technical author asks is likely to be a question a future customer will ask. If the answer isn’t obvious during an interview, it probably won’t be obvious when someone reads the documentation.
By asking those questions early, technical authors help identify missing information before it becomes a support ticket.
Documentation is more than writing
One of the biggest misconceptions about technical authoring is that the role is simply writing documents.
In reality, writing is only one part of the process.
A technical author also considers:
- Where should this information live?
- Who is the audience?
- What are they trying to achieve?
- What should they read first?
- Can information be reused?
- Is anything missing?
- Will users be able to find this later?
- How will this content be maintained?
This is information architecture.
It’s the discipline of organising information so that people can find what they need quickly and understand it with minimal effort.
A subject matter expert provides the knowledge.
A technical author designs how that knowledge is presented.
The best documentation comes from collaboration
The strongest documentation rarely comes from a single person working alone.
Subject matter experts contribute technical accuracy and product knowledge.
Technical authors contribute structure, clarity and an understanding of how people consume information.
Together, they create documentation that is accurate, easy to navigate and genuinely useful.
Why this matters for businesses
Many organisations ask developers, engineers or consultants to write documentation alongside their day job.
Sometimes this works well for small projects.
As products grow, however, documentation becomes increasingly difficult to manage.
Without someone responsible for information architecture, organisations often end up with duplicated content, inconsistent terminology, outdated procedures and documentation that is difficult to maintain.
Hiring a technical author isn’t about replacing subject matter experts.
It’s about allowing experts to focus on building great products while someone else ensures customers can understand and use them effectively.
Different expertise. Shared goal.
Subject matter experts and technical authors bring different skills to the same objective.
One understands the product.
The other understands how people learn.
When those skills are combined, businesses produce documentation that reduces support requests, improves customer confidence and creates a better overall product experience.