top of page
Search

Documentation Debt Is the New Tech Debt

  • kimgullion
  • May 1
  • 2 min read

And Yes, It's Also Sneakier, Moodier, and Probably Lurking in Your SharePoint Folder.

You’ve probably heard of technical debt—that pile-up of "we’ll fix it later" shortcuts developers take under deadline pressure. And let’s be honest—later is can sometimes turn into "never" as critical paths change and adjust.


But lurking just beyond the codebase is its equally sinister sibling: 👉 Documentation debt.


Documentation debt doesn’t cause outages or throw errors. No flashing red lights. Just a slow, steady siphoning of time, energy, and dollars. Your team spins its wheels, users get annoyed, and support calls pile up like laundry on a teen’s floor.


Because that one simple answer? Yeah—it was buried on page 73 of a dated document hidden in your SharePoint folder.



What Is Documentation Debt?

Documentation debt is what happens when your user guides, internal SOPs, training manuals, or product help content are:

→ Outdated

→ Incomplete

→ Hard to find

→ Or written by someone who once watched a YouTube video for technical writing


Like tech debt, doc debt accrues interest. Every day it’s left unaddressed, the cost goes up—in lost productivity, customer frustration, support load, and missed revenue.




Tech Debt vs. Doc Debt: A Showdown

Feature

Tech Debt

Documentation Debt

Causes developers stress

✅

🚫 (but it should)

Frustrates users

✅

✅✅

Slows employee onboarding

✅

✅

Increases support requests

✅

✅

Shows up in Jira

✅

❌ (buried in a meeting rant)

Easy to ignore… until it’s not

✅

🔥🔥🔥



What Is Documentation Debt Costing You?

Here’s what documentation debt looks like in real dollars:

🧯Training Time Explodes

  • New Hires flounder w/o clear onboarding materials.

☎️ Support Tickets Increase

  • Users can't self-service answers that don't exist.

🧷 Compliance Risk

  • In regulated industries, out-of-date documentation = bad news bears.

🚪Customer Churn

  • If your product needs a decoder to understand, users bounce.



7-Point Documentation Health Check

Let’s see how your docs stack up:

1. Is it FINDABLE? Can users or employees locate docs within 3 clicks or 1 search?

2. Is it ACCURATE? Has it been reviewed in the last 6 months?

3. Is it COMPLETE? Does it cover all current features and workflows?

4. Is it CONSISTENT? Are the tone, style, and formatting unified?

5. Is it USER-FRIENDLY? Are there visuals, examples, or clear structure?

6. Is it ACCESSIBLE? Works on all devices, screen-reader friendly?

7. Is it MAINTAINED? Is there someone responsible for keeping it current?


🟢 Score 6–7? Nice job.

🟡 Score 4–5? Let’s talk.

🔴 Score 0–3? Don’t panic, but yeah—we should really talk.




How to Fix It

The good news? Unlike a full system refactor, documentation debt is easier to clean up.


  • Start with your top-used content.

  • Archive outdated docs clearly.

  • Assign ownership (someone who isn’t “everyone”).

  • Bring in a professional (hi, that’s us 👋).







Time to Pay Down Your Doc Debt?

If your documentation is scattered, dusty, or hiding behind broken links, you’re not alone. But the longer you wait, the more it costs.


At Writer Resource, we specialize in turning doc chaos into clear, current content that users actually read—and internal teams actually use.





Let’s Get Your Docs in Shape

📩 Contact us today and let’s clear out that debt for good.


 
 
 

Comments

bottom of page