Defining and Documenting Top API Use Cases| Steph Mills | API The Docs Virtual 2020

"A Path Through the Woods: Defining and Documenting Top API Use Cases" by Steph Mills, API The Docs Virtual 2020

Talk Description:
"Philip Pullman, author of The Golden Compass, describes a storytelling process in which authors guide readers along a metaphorical trail through the woods, never straying into the extraneous details of the fantasy world. This is more or less the exact opposite of the Tolkien method of storytelling.

So if your autogenerated API specs are The Silmarillion, or perhaps a large, dense forest of information, how do you create the best possible golden paths through the API woods? How do you reduce the need for users to stray from the path into the wilds?

To answer this question, I advocate using a variety of tools: usage data for your docs, direct customer feedback, frequent topics of support calls, and information from sales about customer requests. With some combination of these sources of information, you can figure out where to place your paths, and what form they should take, such as tutorials, charts, or procedures."

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API the Docs is an event for tech writers, API developers, product owners and developer evangelists who embrace documentation as a crucial aspect of a great developer experience. The conference is a great opportunity to share and discuss the latest best practices, strategies and new trends relevant to API documentation and developer portals.