How to Write Clear, Effective Technical Documentation Without the Jargon

Good documentation should feel like a conversation—not a compliance exercise.

But too often, documentation is packed with corporate jargon, outdated screenshots, and walls of text that nobody wants to read (let alone update). I’ve seen it firsthand: even the most talented teams can get stuck because the resources meant to guide them actually slow them down.

So, how do you fix that?

You start with clarity, empathy, and good design.

1. The Problem with Traditional Docs

In my past roles managing regulatory and technical projects, I inherited my fair share of documentation. Some were written for auditors, not humans. Others lacked structure, or worse—conflicted with the real processes teams were following.

This kind of misalignment causes more than frustration. It leads to compliance gaps, delayed rollouts, and duplicated work. One team I supported had three overlapping compliance projects… all documented differently.

2. My Approach: Clear, Visual, Human-Centered

When I create documentation, I treat it like a product. It needs to serve a real user (often a stressed-out PM or engineer) and help them get to the “aha” moment fast.

My method includes:

• Plain language: I strip out unnecessary jargon and explain concepts the way I’d explain them to a new hire.

• Visual flow: I break complex ideas into diagrams, timelines, or dashboards using tools like Power BI or Notion.

• Just enough detail: Documentation should help you take action—not bury you in theory.

I used this approach to simplify governance procedures and align 17 cross-functional teams. We weren’t just more compliant—we were more confident in what we were doing.

3. The Tools I Use

Great tools support great communication. Here’s what I reach for most:

• Notion for structured, collaborative guides and handbooks

• Confluence for project plans and policy tracking

• Power BI + Power Automate for dashboards and low-code process docs

• Jira for action-oriented documentation tied to live projects & project story-mapping & task tracking

Each tool is only as good as how it's used. The key is to choose what's easiest for the team to maintain and access.

4. What Better Docs Actually Do

Here’s what I’ve seen happen when documentation works:

• A compliance project team I supported reduced blocker escalations by 75%—because everyone had clear next steps.

• Quality control checkpoints I introduced, which cut report turnaround time by 30%.

• Better IT project documentation helped ship 4 internal applications ahead of deadline.

In every case, clarity wasn’t a “nice to have.” It was a multiplier for delivery, morale, and accountability.

Want Better Docs?

If your team is drowning in unclear documentation, I’ll create one for free this month—just DM me or reply.

Let’s turn your chaos into clarity.