Insights

Perspectives on content strategy, information architecture, DITA, metadata strategy, iiRDS, and the future of technical communication.

Information Architecture The Strategic Value of Information Architecture for Growth-Stage SaaS

Growth-stage SaaS companies scale revenue faster than they scale onboarding headcount, and most can’t tell whether that gap is costing them expansion revenue, because nobody has instrumented the question. The problem isn’t documentation volume. It’s whether onboarding content is structured to work without a person standing beside it.

Lief Erickson July 16, 2026 8 min read

AI & Knowledge Management EPPO is Not Dead: Every Page Is Page One in the Age of Generative AI

EPPO still matters as an information architecture principle in the age of LLMs. But the meager paragraph has to do more. While the page is still the container, each paragraph, list, or table must be able to stand on its own out of context. It might be just the answer your customer is looking for.

Lief Erickson April 20, 2026 8 min read

Content Strategy How Big Is a Topic? Sizing at the Source and at Delivery

Topic size isn’t just a stylistic choice; it’s a financial and technical one, and it’s really two questions. How big should a topic be where it’s authored, and how big should the page be once it reaches a reader? Here is the strategic case for the 250-word target, and why it can still fall apart at delivery.

Lief Erickson February 17, 2026 6 min read

Content Strategy Rabbit Holes vs. Rescue Ropes: Designing for Reader Intent

A Wikipedia reader and a support agent or service technician are in two different worlds. One is following curiosity; the other is fighting a fire. Here is how to know when a sub-topic needs to stand on its own.

Lief Erickson April 1, 2025 3 min read

Information Architecture Every Topic Is a Microstory

Your reader is the hero of this story, not your product. A microstory puts them in that role: a real problem, a guide who gets them through it, a visible win. Apply that structure to your technical writing.

Lief Erickson March 11, 2025 7 min read

Information Architecture The Strategic Value of Management Information Architecture

Management information architecture (also called back-end IA) models the structures that govern how content is created, stored, and published, and often depends on coordination with delivery IA and the content strategist.

Lief Erickson February 18, 2025 9 min read

Information Architecture The Strategic Value of Delivery Information Architecture

Delivery information architecture (also called front-end IA) expresses the requirements for a specific channel’s user experience, and often depends on coordination with management IA and the content strategist.

Lief Erickson January 28, 2025 6 min read

Content Strategy The Strategic Value of Every Page Is Page One

The information architecture principle of Every Page Is Page One is a strategic lever you should use to improve customer satisfaction and increase revenue. Seventy percent of B2B buyers say online content shapes their purchase decision before they ever talk to sales.

Lief Erickson January 7, 2025 5 min read

Content Strategy Ctrl+F Means You Fail

When readers press Ctrl+F on your content pages, they are not using typical search. They are hope-searching: scanning for an exact word and hoping it appears. Unlike a typical search engine, there is no synonym matching. That behavior is worth noticing. It usually points to a structure problem, not a writing problem.

Lief Erickson December 4, 2024 6 min read

Technical Writing Your Experts Need Your Deepest Documentation

Novice users need short, structured content they can act on immediately. Expert users need depth, reference detail, and edge cases. Here’s the five-level pattern behind that split and how to design for it.

Lief Erickson November 12, 2024 9 min read

Content Strategy The Strategic Value of User Assistance Content

The business case for user assistance content depends on where your product sits in its lifecycle. Growing products need to accelerate revenue. Mature products need to protect margin. Most content teams are making the wrong case to the wrong person.

Lief Erickson October 22, 2024 5 min read

Content Strategy What Do You Need Your Content to Do?

Most documentation teams are measured on output, not business outcomes. Your technical writers are looking to you to answer one question. Can you?

Lief Erickson October 3, 2024 4 min read