How to keep onboarding docs current without big doc pushes
Docs rot because they’re treated as a side project. Replace doc days with small, repeatable updates tied to real work.
Tie updates to real events
- After every incident, update one runbook step.
- After every new hire, add one onboarding gotcha.
- After every major release, update the first checks list.
Small, forced updates beat big rewrites.
Keep ownership explicit
Every onboarding artifact should have an owner and a review cadence. No owner means no trust.
Keep entries short
If a doc can’t be summarized as owner + source links + first checks, it’s probably doing too much. Split it.
Make updates part of the handoff
During post-incident debriefs and on-call handoffs, add one question: “What doc should be updated right now?”
Measure the smallest signal
Track one metric: how many questions were answered by a doc in the last week. If it’s near zero, the docs are already stale.
Small updates compound faster than large doc rewrites.