Knowledge & documentation
Runbooks, ADRs, onboarding tracks — written, current, useful.
Knowledge & documentation is runbooks, adrs, onboarding tracks — written, current, useful.
Why this work matters
The fastest way to lose institutional knowledge is to not write it down. The second fastest is to write it down and let it rot. Most docs are out of date within a quarter; we fix the process, not just the docs.
The work, in detail.
- Operational runbooks per service
- Architecture decision records
- Onboarding tracks (engineering, ops, support)
- Internal AI search over docs
- Decision logs
- Customer-facing API docs
- →Runbook per critical service
- →Architecture decision repository
- →Onboarding tracks
- →Internal AI search over docs
Real documentation, not 'someday' artifacts. Runbooks that work at 3 AM, onboarding tracks that get a new hire shipping in week 2.
The approach.
Docs in the repo
Markdown next to code. Updated in the same PR as the change. Stale docs fail review.
Searchable + AI-assisted
Internal AI search over docs + Slack history. New hires get answers in 30 seconds instead of 30 minutes.
Onboarding as code
First-week, first-month, first-quarter checklists per role. Measurable onboarding speed; new hires shipping in week 2 instead of month 2.
Knowledge & documentation — common questions
What documentation do you produce?
Operational runbooks per service, architecture decision records, onboarding tracks for engineering, ops, and support, decision logs, customer-facing API docs, and internal AI search over your docs. These are real artifacts meant to be used, including runbooks that work at 3 AM, not 'someday' documents.
Documentation always goes stale. How is this different?
We fix the process, not just the docs. Documentation lives in Markdown next to the code and is updated in the same PR as the change, and stale docs fail review. That's how we stop docs from being out of date within a quarter.
How does the AI search work and who is it for?
We set up internal AI search over your docs and Slack history so people get answers in roughly 30 seconds instead of 30 minutes of hunting. It's aimed at engineers, ops, and support, and is part of why new hires ramp faster.
How does this speed up onboarding?
We treat onboarding as code: first-week, first-month, and first-quarter checklists per role, with measurable onboarding speed. The target is new hires shipping in week 2 instead of month 2. The onboarding tracks are a standard deliverable.
Why pay an agency for documentation we could write ourselves?
Most teams can write docs but can't keep them current, and the fastest way to lose institutional knowledge is to not write it down — the second fastest is to write it and let it rot. We bring the process and tooling, docs-in-the-repo discipline, and AI search that make documentation durable rather than a one-off effort.
What are the concrete deliverables?
A runbook per critical service, an architecture decision repository, onboarding tracks, and internal AI search over docs. The deliverables are paired with the in-repo update process so they stay accurate after we set them up.
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