Judging beautiful docs, AI fatigue, and tool slop | I'd Rather Be Writing Blog and API doc course
Judging beautiful docs, AI fatigue, and tool slop | I’d Rather Be Writing Blog and API doc course
Tom Johnson" />
Tom Johnson" />
Email newsletter
Get the latest posts delivered right to your inbox
Newsletter signup
Close
AI Book Club
Join us for the AI Book Club, where we discuss popular books about AI and the human-in-the-loop<br>perspective.
Next meeting: June 28, 2026
The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, and the Quest for Superintelligence
Learn<br>more »
Sponsored content
Recent posts from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance series
The importance of using the right tools (Nov 26, 2023)
Bleeding my brakes (ZAMM series) (Nov 26, 2023)
Main takeaway: How to incorporate intuitive thinking (ZAMM series) (Dec 1, 2023)
Seeing invisible details and avoiding predictable, conditioned thought (Jun 26, 2024)
Why I decided to reread Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (ZAMM series) (Nov 26, 2023)
-->
Recent posts from my AI tech comm series
Use cases for AI: Synthesize insights from granular data (Aug 27, 2023)
Use cases for AI: Arrange content into information type patterns (Jul 6, 2023)
Use cases for AI: Develop build and publishing scripts (Jul 19, 2023)
AI and APIs: What works, what doesn't (Sep 28, 2023)
Use cases for AI: Summarize long content (Sep 6, 2023)
Use cases for AI: Understand the meaning of code (Jul 25, 2023)
Use cases for AI: Seek advice on grammar and style (Aug 4, 2023)
Use cases for AI: Create glossary definitions (Sep 4, 2023)
Use cases for AI: Distill needed updates from bug threads (Aug 6, 2023)
Use cases for AI: Compare API responses to identify discrepancies (Aug 28, 2023)
-->
Recent blog posts
Judging beautiful docs, AI fatigue, and tool slop (May<br>31, 2026)
Review of Max Tegmark's 'Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence' (May<br>17, 2026)
AI Book Club discussion recording of 'Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence', by Max Tegmark (May<br>17, 2026)
Developing internal skills for recurring documentation processes like release notes (May<br>4, 2026)
Looking back at the AI Book Club one year in (Apr<br>28, 2026)
On pace and value -- why is moving slow boring? (Apr<br>27, 2026)
Frenetic thinking (Apr<br>26, 2026)
Work expands to fill the space allotted (Apr<br>26, 2026)
Too much coffee? (Apr<br>24, 2026)
AI Book Club discussion recording of 'Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future', by Dan Wang (Apr<br>23, 2026)
Some thoughts after using AI to help with taxes (Apr<br>20, 2026)
Podcast: How valuable are agent skills? Conversation with Larah Vasquez and Fabrizio Ferri-Benedetti (Apr<br>12, 2026)
The Emerging Picture of a Changed Profession: Cyborg Technical Writers — Augmented, Not Replaced, by AI (Apr<br>5, 2026)
Will tech writers survive AI? Perspectives from two professors, Nupoor Ranade and Jeremy Merritt (Mar<br>21, 2026)
AI Book Club recording of 'If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies' (Mar<br>17, 2026)
Recording of Automation Engineering 101 for Tech Docs presentation at WTD West Coast Supermeetup (Mar<br>12, 2026)
Cracking the code on corporate visibility (Mar<br>8, 2026)
Podcast: Doc testing, skills files, and the guardians of knowledge -- with Manny Silva (Mar<br>8, 2026)
Nobody knows what it will look like in 2 years (Mar<br>3, 2026)
Good shot, GUS!!!! How to win at pickup basketball even if you're not all that great (Mar<br>1, 2026)
Popular series
Prompt engineering for tech comm
Use<br>cases for AI
Reflections on Zen and the Art of Motorcycle<br>Maintenance
Journey away from smartphones
Trends to follow or forget
Simplifying complexity
Value arguments for docs and tech comm
See all<br>series
Archives
2026 •<br>2025 •<br>2024 •<br>2023 •<br>2022 •<br>2021 •<br>2020 •<br>2019 •<br>2018 •<br>2017 •<br>2016 •<br>2015 •<br>2014 •<br>2013 •<br>2012 •<br>2011 •<br>2010 •<br>2009 •<br>2008 •<br>2007 •<br>2006 •<br>Browse posts by year
Browse by tag
Browse posts by tag
Search tomjoht.github.io with DeepWiki
tomjoht.github.io is indexed by DeepWiki.
Other tech writing blogs
See the tech writing blog webring:<br>Previous<br>Next<br>Random
Search results
Judging beautiful docs, AI fatigue, and tool slop
by Tom Johnson on May 31, 2026
categories:<br>ai
podcasts
writing
technical-writing
In this podcast, I chat with Fabrizio Ferri-Benedetti about a variety of topics related to AI and docs, such as applying Italo Calvino's literary principles of lightness and quickness to evaluate docs, the reality of AI review fatigue versus creator fatigue, whether vibe-coded tools are tools slop, developing internal skills for repeatable doc processes, and the utility of running local AI models.
Audio-only version
Links mentioned
Topics covered in this podcast
Narrative essay version of the conversation
Transcript
Audio-only version
Listen here:
Links mentioned
What makes docs beautiful? (Fabrizio Ferri-Benedetti, passo.uno)
Most vibe-coded tools are not for you (Fabrizio Ferri-Benedetti,...