Writing Docs That Other Engineers Will Actually Read

Writing Docs That Other Engineers Will Actually Read

Technical writing is a core skill for engineers, but in a Nigerian tech scene that often moves fast and stacks of tickets pile up, good docs can feel like a luxury. The reality is different: clear, practical docs save days, prevent rework, and keep teammates aligned—whether you’re planning a new microservice, documenting an API, or outlining a deployment runbook for a Nigerian production environment with limited internet reliability. Here’s how to write docs that engineers will actually read, with Nigeria-specific scenes and concrete steps you can take starting today.

Start with the practical why

When you sit down to write, ask yourself: what problem does this doc solve? Engineers skim for value, not for polish. If your doc doesn’t clearly answer who benefits and what action should be taken, it will be skipped or skimmed and filed away forgotten.

Example: you’re documenting a new authentication flow for an internal service. Instead of a long feature list, lead with the actionable impact:

• what changes for developers integrating the service

• what to test in staging

• how to roll out securely with the least disruption

In Nigeria, where teams often work with intermittent connectivity, include offline-friendly checklists and links to downloadable artifacts so readers can grab what they need without staying online for long stretches.

Frontload the essentials

Engineers have short attention spans. The best docs get to the point in the first few sentences and provide just enough detail to act. Think of your doc as a business card for your feature or project: who it helps, what to do, and where to find more if needed.

• Start with a one-paragraph executive summary: what is changing and why it matters.

• Include a quick start or minimal viable steps right after the summary.

• Put everything else in collapsible sections or an attached runbook to avoid overwhelming readers.

Practical tack: for a new API, in the first section you might write: This API enables user event tracking with a client library in Node.js. It improves observability by exposing a /events endpoint. To start, install the client, obtain an API key from the dev portal, and send a sample event. Then link to your full API spec.

Use real-world, Nigerian-friendly examples

Generic examples travel poorly in our context. Nigerian developers relate to production realities—wifi instability, limited access to external services, and teams spread across Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt. Use examples that reflect this.

• Instead of a generic user id, show a practical example like creating a user in Lagos data center and handling network latency between Lagos and Ibadan.

• Mention deployment constraints common in our region, such as temporary DNS propagation delays or VPN-only environments for certain teams.

• Include error messages that engineers actually see in Nigeria’s cloud providers or on-prem setups, so the doc feels familiar rather than abstract.

Concrete approach: when describing an API error, include a Nigerian telemetry scenario. For example: If a 429 rate limit occurs, show how to implement exponential backoff with jitter, and include a note that in our environment where outbound traffic can be flaky, you might retry with a shorter timeout on the client side for internal services.

Be explicit about who should read it—and when

Docs can drift into being useful for the entire universe. Be selective and targeted:

• Developer onboarding docs for a new service

• API reference for internal teams

• Deployment runbooks for on-call engineers

• Troubleshooting guides for common Nigerian cloud hiccups

For each doc, add a quick audience tag at the top, and a suggested reading flow:

• Audience: Backend engineers in Lagos and Abuja

• When to read: during onboarding or when integrating the service

• What to do after reading: run the quickstart in staging, then proceed to integration steps

Make it scannable: structure that respects reading habits

Most engineers won’t read every word. They skim and jump to sections relevant to their task. Build your doc to support that behavior:

• Use short, descriptive headings. Avoid vague phrases like "+Overview" unless it adds value.

• Break up dense sections with bullet points, not long paragraphs.

• Put critical steps in numbered lists so readers can follow without losing place.

• Include a dedicated troubleshooting section with a clear path: problem -> likely cause -> fix steps -> next steps.

Example structure for a microservice doc:

• What it does and why it matters

• Quickstart: how to run locally or in staging

• API surface: endpoints, auth, rate limits

• Deployment and operational runbook: how to deploy, rollback plan, monitoring

• Troubleshooting

• Next steps and references

Write with empathy for your on-call and maintenance culture

In Nigeria and beyond, on-call culture matters. Your docs should help engineers fix issues quickly and safely:

• Include a paging-friendly runbook with escalation steps and links to dashboards.

• Describe the most common failure modes and how to detect them early with concrete metrics.

• Provide a safety checklist before deploys: backups, rollback plan, and a test suite expectation.

Real-world tip: in a small fintech team in Lagos, a runbook for a payment gateway failure reduced MTTR (minimum time to recovery) by 40 percent because on-call engineers could pull the exact remediation steps without pinging a senior engineer for guidance.

Be precise with language and avoid ambiguity

Ambiguity kills productivity. Use precise terms and avoid vague phrases. If a feature relies on a particular version of a library, state the version explicitly. If a function is deprecated, say so and provide a recommended alternative.

• Prefer concrete numbers over vague statements. E.g., set timeouts to 5 seconds in staging, 10 seconds in production if latency is an issue.

• Describe edge cases clearly. If your API returns 200 with an empty payload, specify how clients should handle it.

• Define acronyms on first use, especially for cross-team readers who might not share all the same vocabulary.

Include visuals only when it adds value

A diagram can save dozens of sentences, but not every doc needs one. When you add visuals, ensure they actually convey a point:

• Architecture diagrams showing how services interact

• Sequencing diagrams for flows like token exchange or retry logic

• Simple charts showing error rate trends during a rollout

In places with slower connectivity, keep image sizes small and provide text-only fallbacks or link to a downloadable version.

Annotate with practical, action-oriented detail

People love checklists, decisions, and links to concrete actions. A few practical tricks:

• Add a Read this first section with the essential actions to take in the first 15 minutes after reading.

• Include a How to test locally subsection with exact commands or steps your team actually uses.

• Provide a Backups and rollback plan with commands and expected outcomes in simple terms.

Concrete example: documenting a new Redis cache layer. Don’t just say aster access. Include:

• Prerequisites and versions

• Local testing steps with a sample dataset

• How to switch from the old cache to the new one in staging

• Rollback steps with a safety window and the exact commands to run

• Observability hooks: which dashboards to watch and what thresholds trigger alerts

Collaborate and iterate with a low-friction process

Docs get better when you treat them as living artifacts, not one-off outputs. Build a lightweight review and update rhythm:

• Use a simple template that prompts authors to answer the essentials: what, why, how, constraints, test plan

• Schedule quarterly reviews of core docs with the team to refresh versions and remove deprecated sections

• Encourage engineers to add comments or improvements in the same doc rather than creating separate notes

In Nigerian teams, this iterative approach pays off when you have cross-functional squads with members who bounce between front-end, mobile, and backend work. A shared, evolving doc helps keep everyone on the same page without endless meetings.

Real-world scenarios: concrete examples you can apply

1. API integration guide for a partner in a fintech sandbox

• Audience: backend developers integrating the API

• Quickstart: obtain sandbox key, hit /ping, then call /transactions with sample payload

• Common pitfalls: clock skew between services, improper timeouts, and missing payload validation

• Troubleshooting: list of logs to check in Lagos data centers, and how to contact support with a reproducible quickstart link

• Runbook: how to promote from sandbox to production with staged feature flags

2. Kubernetes deployment runbook for a small team

• Audience: on-call engineers across three cities

• Steps: deploy, verify pods, check logs, scale policy, roll back if errors

• Observability: which metrics to watch, what dashboards show healthy vs degraded state

• Local testing: how to replicate production using minikube or kind, with exact commands

• Recovery plan: how to revert to previous image tag and validate

3. Migration plan for a legacy service to a new tech stack

• Rationale: why the migration reduces cost and improves reliability

• Cutover plan: phased approach, with a clear rollback path

• Risk register: high-priority risks and mitigations, with owners

• Communication: how to inform internal teams and customers about the changes

Practical takeaways you can implement this week

• Start every new doc with a one-liner that answers: what changes, who benefits, what to do first.

• Add a quickstart section right after the summary and keep it to 6-8 bullet points.

• Use bullets and numbered lists liberally to guide the reader through action steps.

• Include at least one concrete, Nigeria-specific example in each document to help readers relate.

• Build a lightweight review habit: a 30-minute monthly doc health check with your team.

Conclusion: docs that engineers will actually read

Documentation that sticks is practical, tightly scoped, and deeply usable in real-world workflows. By frontloading value, using Nigeria-relevant examples, and maintaining a lean, action-oriented structure, you create a resource that saves time, reduces friction, and earns trust across teams. Remember, you’re not writing for the wiki or for the senior architect alone—you’re writing for the engineer who will copy-paste steps, run the commands, and keep the system running smoothly.

Actionable steps to get started today

• Pick two ongoing projects and write or update their core docs with a clear quickstart and a 5-step deployment or test flow.

• Add a Nigeria-specific example to each doc, even if it’s a small note about local latency or connectivity realities.

• Create a simple runbook template and use it for your next major release so you can reuse it across teams.

• Schedule 20 minutes with a peer to review one doc and give actionable feedback focused on clarity and actionability.

• Keep iterating. Treat your docs as live products that evolve with your system and your teams.

If you put these habits into practice, your docs won’t be an afterthought. They’ll become the first tool engineers grab when they’re building, debugging, or deploying—and that’s when you know you’ve built something truly useful for the Nigerian tech community.