I'd Rather Be Writing, by Tom Johnson

Podcast: How valuable are agent skills? Conversation with Larah Vasquez and Fabrizio Ferri-Benedetti

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 -0700

In this podcast, I chat with Larah Vasquez and Fabrizio Ferri-Benedetti about using skills to extend AI capabilities, the future of agentic engineering, local models like Qwen and Gemma, and whether the tech writer role is shifting into automation architecture. We get into the memory problem in LLMs (and why some of us actually prefer the no memory to extended memory), the progression from prompt engineering to context engineering to compound engineering to orchestrating whole agent systems, and how skills are quietly forcing engineers to write down knowledge they'd never documented before.

The Emerging Picture of a Changed Profession: Cyborg Technical Writers — Augmented, Not Replaced, by AI

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 -0700

I recently gave a presentation to students and faculty in person at Louisiana Tech University on March 30, 2026, focusing on what I call the cyborg model of technical writing. The idea is that the emerging model for tech writing isn't one in which AI replaces tech writers but rather one in which AI augments tech writers. Tech writers interact with AI in a continuous back-and-forth, conversational, iterative manner. This post contains the recording, slides, transcript, summary, notes, and more from my presentation.

Will tech writers survive AI? Perspectives from two professors, Nupoor Ranade and Jeremy Merritt

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0700

In this podcast, I chat with two professors — Nupoor Ranade (Carnegie Mellon) and Jeremy Merritt (James Madison University) — about how AI is reshaping the technical writing profession from the academic side. We discuss dropping enrollments, misconceptions about what tech writers do, historical parallels to past disruptions, agentic AI and organizational restructuring, the cyborg model of human-machine collaboration, and how academics and practitioners can bridge the divide to solve real problems together.

AI Book Club recording of 'If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies'

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0700

This is a recording of our AI Book Club discussion of If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Will Kill Us All by Nate Soares and Eliezer Yudkowsky, held March 15, 2026. Our discussion touches on a variety of topics, including whether the book's use of parables strengthens or weakens its argument, the question of whether AI can develop genuine intentions, the competitive dynamics that prevent any single company from pumping the brakes, the limits of recursive self-improvement, and what ordinary people should make of wildly conflicting predictions from leading AI thinkers. This post also includes discussion questions, key themes, and a full transcript.

Recording of Automation Engineering 101 for Tech Docs presentation at WTD West Coast Supermeetup

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0700

I recently gave a presentation titled Automation Engineering 101 for Tech Docs at the Write the Docs West Coast Supermeetup. I was one of two presenters. The talk covers seven principles for designing repeatable doc processes that AI can execute, using release notes automation as a running example. This post has the recording, slides, transcript, and a narrative summary of the talk.

Cracking the code on corporate visibility

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0800

If you create content and share it with people around you, whether it's blog posts and podcasts on the web, or educational offerings internally at your company, you become much more visible to those around you. That visibility can be helpful in opening doors and expanding opportunities.

Podcast: Doc testing, skills files, and the guardians of knowledge -- with Manny Silva

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0800

In this podcast, Fabrizio Ferri-Benedetti (passo.uno) and I chat with Manny Silva (instructionmanuel.com), head of documentation at Skyflow and author of Docs as Tests. Manny is working on a follow-up book that incorporates AI, covering validated generation, trusted agents, and self-healing documentation.

Nobody knows what it will look like in 2 years

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0800

Nobody knows what programming will look like in two years by Charles Humble (published Feb 18, 2026, on LeadDev.com) is an honest, refreshing take from a programmer wrestling with the uncertainty of the future of programming. He looks at historical trends of new technologies (terminals) replacing old ones (punchcards) and grapples with what programming skills are still relevant. The article connects nicely with what I was exploring in 10 principles of the cyborg technical writer.

Good shot, GUS!!!! How to win at pickup basketball even if you're not all that great

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0800

Combining praise with names can have a powerful effect on performance. On the pickup basketball court, the effect can be transformative, making everyone play their best. But it also creates a transformative effect for the one doing the praising, perhaps because it prompts your mind to filter to see more of the good.

10 principles of the cyborg technical writer -- brief notes and bullet points on how to use AI to augment your role

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 00:00:00 -0800

In my post The Emerging Picture of a Changed Profession: Cyborg Technical Writers — Augmented, Not Replaced, by AI, I mentioned an upcoming presentation I'm giving to students and faculty. I argue that the future of the profession is the cyborg model, where machines augment our capabilities rather than replace us. In this post, I share notes about what skills a tech writer would need to learn to thrive in this world of augmentation.

World Brain: No Experts podcast - Three tech writers and a photographer walk into a bar (with Tom Johnson and Floyd Jones)

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 -0800

I recently appeared as a guest on the World Brain: No Experts podcast, episode 5, titled 'Three tech writers and a photographer walk into a bar (with Tom Johnson and Floyd Jones).' We chat about a range of AI-related topics in a fun, conversational way. The podcast tries to answer the question of whether AI is a rough beast, benevolent angel, or boring super appliance. But we also get into capitalism, cognition + judgement, automation reality, the slow movement, and more.

Using curiosity to decenter

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 -0800

Although I don't write much about psychology, I've recently become fascinated by a technique I learned, similar to cognitive decentering but with a slight variation. The technique works quite well, though I'm still refining it and understanding it. So this is a brief sketch of the idea. At a future point, I might unpack this in a more researched way, but for now, this is the napkin sketch.

AI Book Club recording, notes, and transcript for Sarah Wynn-Williams's Careless People

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 -0800

This is a recording of our AI Book Club discussion of Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams, held February 15, 2026. Our discussion touches on a variety of topics, including whether criticisms of the author's complicity are fair, the ethical dilemmas we face working in tech, whether the parallels between social media and AI hold up, the Streisand effect of Meta's attempt to suppress the book, and more. This post also includes discussion questions, key themes, and a full transcript.

Bakhtin and model collapse: How to use AI with expressive writing without generating AI slop

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0800

In this post, I explore ways to use AI to improve the quality of expressive writing without resulting in AI slop, and without robbing writers of the value of the writing process itself. I use Bakhtin and heteroglossia to argue that incorporating diverse voices into writing (with research help from AI) can help give writing a sense of liveliness and human soul.

Podcast: Tech comm predictions for 2026 (Phase One)

Sun, 25 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0800

In this episode, Fabrizio and I discuss our predictions for tech comm in 2026, focusing on two posts: Fabrizio's My day as an augmented technical writer in 2030 and my 12 predictions for tech comm in 2026. Some of the specific topics we cover include the evolution of writers into automation engineers, the increasing necessity of systems thinking, the economic paradox where high tech valuations are contrasting with stagnant hiring, the risk of the Reverse Centaur dynamic (where humans merely approve AI output), and the growing value of authentic human connection and humanity.

AI Book Club recording of God, Human, Animal, Machine

Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0800

This post provides a recording of our AI Book Club discussion of God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning by Meghan O'Gieblyn, held Jan 18, 2026. Our discussion touches upon a variety of parallels between religion and AI, such as the black box nature of AI and the incomprehensibility of divine will, transhumanism and resurrection, predictive algorithms and free will, and more. This post also provides discussion questions, a transcript, and other resources.

Podcast: Writing as telepathy: AI tools, automation, and an intentionally offline life -- conversation with CT Smith

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0800

In this episode, Fabrizio (passo.uno) and I talk with CT Smith, who writes on a blog at docsgoblin.com and works as a documentation lead for Payabli. Our conversation covers how CT uses AI tools like Claude in her documentation workflow, why she builds tooling that doesn't depend on AI, her many doc-related projects and experiments, and how she balances a tech writing career with an intentionally offline life in rural Tennessee. We also get into reading habits, the fear of skill atrophy from AI reliance, and where the tech writer role might be headed.

Book review of 'If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies'—why AI doom isn't as visceral as nuclear war

Sat, 03 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0800

In If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies, Eliezer Yudkowsky, founder of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI), and Nate Soares, its president, argue that superintelligent AI will lead to humanity's extinction. In the same way that humans used their intelligence to dominate all other forms of life, so too will superintelligent AI surpass and dominate humans. As a dominant entity, AI will likely operate with an alien set of preferences and values, and humans won't be important to superintelligent AI's goals.

12 predictions for tech comm in 2026

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0800

As we head into the new year, I'd like to make a few tech comm predictions for 2026. I'm focusing my predictions within tech comm and also basing them off my own experience. In this post I also broaden out my scope a bit and comment on some wider issues and trends in a more opinionated way. While I'm basing these ideas on emerging research, this is a blog post, not a peer-reviewed journal article, so my predictions are speculative and based on general vibes.

A hodgepodge of ideas spewing in my head

Fri, 26 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0800

As I sit down to write, I have a hodgepodge of ideas spewing in my head, but none that has taken hold in any immersive way. Usually a blog post has a single topic of focus, and I try to go somewhat deep into it. But this approach can be problematic: If I don't have an idea that catches my attention, I feel I have nothing to write about. Hence, I'll skip my writing time “until the muse strikes” or something. But then days pass without the muse striking, and I start to wonder if I've gone about the creative process all wrong.