Docs for Developers: An Engineer's Field Guide to Technical Writing

What it is

Docs for Developers is a field guide to writing documentation, by Jared Bhatti, Sarah Corleissen, Jen Lambourne, David Nunez and Heidi Waterhouse, all of whom have led documentation work at well-known technology companies and open source projects. The first edition came out from Apress in 2021. A second edition was published by Apress in 2026 with updated content, including material on AI, automation and LLMs.

The book follows the documentation lifecycle in order: understanding your audience, planning documentation, drafting, editing, integrating code samples, adding visual content, publishing, gathering and integrating feedback, measuring documentation quality, organising documentation and maintaining it over time. It uses a running example of a small team documenting a product, which keeps the advice concrete.

Is it worth buying?

If you want one book on developer documentation, this is a strong choice. It is short enough to finish, practical rather than academic, and written for developers as much as for technical writers, which makes it useful for developer advocates and product managers who write specs and launch docs.

If you are on a free budget, you can cover much of the same ground with Google's free technical writing courses, the Write the Docs guide and Diátaxis. The book's advantage is that it puts the whole lifecycle, including measurement and maintenance, in one coherent sequence.

Prerequisites

None beyond basic familiarity with software. Knowing roughly what an API and a code sample are helps.

How to read it

Read it once straight through, then return to the chapters that match your current work: the audience and planning chapters before a portfolio project, the code sample chapter before an API docs sample, and the measurement and maintenance chapters before interviews, because those topics separate beginners from people who have thought about docs as a product.

Free vs paid

Paid. Prices vary by format, retailer and region; check the Springer page or a local retailer for the current price. University libraries often provide access to Apress books through SpringerLink, so check yours before buying.

Common questions

First or second edition? Either teaches the core craft. The second edition is newer and covers AI and automation.

Is it for technical writers or developers? Both. The title says developers, but the lifecycle it describes is what technical writers do.