What this is
This is not a software project — it’s the working folder for a nonfiction book about software documentation. There is no code, build system, or tests here.
book.md is a saved transcript of an early brainstorming conversation about the book’s title and positioning. Treat it as reference material and project history, not a file to edit in place — append new brainstorming or drafts as new files rather than rewriting it, so the original decision trail stays intact.
Current state of the project
What started as a choice between two titles is now two separate, companion books, each with its own chapter outline:
- The Docs Layer (
the-docs-layer-outline.md) — the technical/architecture book. Audience: engineers, tech leads, DevRel, technical writers. Thesis: documentation is infrastructure, not an afterthought — covers docs-as-code, then goes deep on the AX (Agent Experience) era: AGENTS.md, llms.txt, SKILL.md/Agent Skills, MCP as a live docs interface, and context rot. Deliberately does not re-cover writing craft, since Docs for Developers / Docs Like Code already own that ground. - The Docs Factor (
the-docs-factor-outline.md) — the business/ROI book. Audience: founders, VPs of Product/Eng, CS/DevRel/GTM leaders. Thesis: docs are a P&L variable across acquisition → activation → retention → expansion, argued in dollars (ticket deflection, sales-cycle compression, churn) rather than in writing-quality terms. Closes with AI agents reframed as a new evaluation/distribution channel competing for.
Both outlines follow the same skeleton — 5 parts, ~16 chapters, 2 appendices — and were built from live research (current as of mid-2026) rather than assumption; sources are cited inline in each outline’s relevant sections. Treat the two outline files as the current source of truth for scope and chapter order; book.md remains historical record of how the positioning was decided and should still be left as-is.
Next natural step (not yet started): drafting chapter content, starting wherever the user picks first — no chapter has been written yet, only outlined.