This article covers strategies for keeping your documentation accurate and valuable over time, from automated checks to content lifecycles.

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Automate what you can

Documentation rot happens when you rely too much on manual effort to update content.

Try to introduce automations where you can, such as:

  • Track stale content: Run a script to flag important docs that haven’t been updated in X days.
  • Detect product changes: If your documentation relies on artifacts from engineering (e.g., OpenAPI specs), set up a job to detect when key objects change and notify the team. Or, use a documentation provider that auto-generates APIs and automatically updates.
  • Enforce standards with linters: Use Vale.sh or a documentation provider to automatically catch formatting issues, writing style deviations, or missing metadata on every pull request.

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Set up realistic review processes

Documentation will never be perfect, and that’s okay. You should have a threshold of acceptance—a level where docs are functional and useful.

Instead of aiming for 100%, balance efficiency with quality:

  • Trigger reviews based on relevance, not just time. Rather than setting periodic updates, prioritize content based on usage, search demand, or product changes.
  • Focus on high-impact docs. Not every page needs regular updates, but the 10 most viewed pages for users should get extra attention.
  • Lean on your community. If your docs are open-source, empower users to flag issues or submit fixes via pull requests—it builds trust and keeps content fresh. Incorporate feedback mechanisms in your docs when you can.

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Know when to rewrite

Over time, documentation naturally accumulates caveats and workarounds, leading to “spaghetti docs.” When incremental fixes create more confusion than clarity, a full overhaul may be the best option.

  • Plan for periodic resets. Every 1-2 years, consider a major cleanup, especially if best practices or the product itself has evolved significantly.
  • Start with a structured audit. Interview support teams, analyze user feedback, and document what’s missing, misleading, or redundant before rewriting.
  • Tackle rewrites in focused sprints. A full overhaul doesn’t have to happen all at once—prioritize sections with the biggest impact.

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Wrong docs can be worse than no docs

Outdated or misleading documentation wastes users’ time and erodes trust. In cases where a doc is completely inaccurate and unfixable in the short term, it’s often better to remove it entirely. Users will appreciate having less information over having wrong information.

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