They don’t.
You know it. I know it.
And yet here we are, pretending the knowledge buried in a 45-page PDF is actually helping anyone.
Let’s face it: the real problem isn’t that nobody reads the documentation. It’s that the documentation wasn’t worth reading in the first place.
Documentation is always someone else’s problem — until it’s yours. It’s that mythical last step we promise to finish “when things slow down.”
Spoiler: they never do.
The result? A sprawling maze of outdated wikis, cryptic READMEs, and file names like
FINAL_DOC_V2_REAL_FINAL_THIS_ONE.docx
We don’t hate documentation because it’s unnecessary.
We hate it because it’s bad.
The Lost Art of Clarity
Here’s a fun exercise: pick a random section of your company’s internal wiki and try to follow it word for word. I’ll wait.
Chances are, you found:
Jargon nobody outside the original author understands.
Steps missing because “everyone knows that.”
Screenshots from a UI three versions ago.
Great documentation is like great code: concise, precise, and designed for humans first.
It doesn’t just tell you what to do — it shows you how to think.
Bad documentation doesn’t just slow you down. It costs you:
- Time: Every minute spent guessing is a minute not solving problems.
- Trust: Teams lose faith when the docs fail them.
- Money: Yes, those extra support tickets add up.
When someone says, “Nobody reads the docs,”
what they really mean is: “I tried, but I couldn’t find what I needed.”
Fixing the Problem
Write Like You’re Explaining to a Friend
Skip the jargon.
Pretend the reader knows nothing — not because they’re dumb, but because they’re busy.
Keep It Small
Break docs into bite-sized chunks.
Nobody wants to scroll through an essay just to figure out how to reset a password.
Test It in the Wild
Have someone unfamiliar with the process follow your doc step by step.
If they get stuck, so will everyone else.
Update Ruthlessly
A doc is only as good as its last update.
Set reminders to review and revise regularly.
Nobody Reads… Until They Do
The best documentation isn’t the one that’s perfectly polished on a Confluence page.
It’s the one that saves the day at 2 AM when your phone won’t stop buzzing.
Write for that moment.
Because when someone finally does read the docs, they’ll be counting on you to get it right.