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Writing for "you, but three years ago" is excellent advice.
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Or "you, but three years from now" in some cases. Logging my random OS changes or what were at the time "one-time shell scripts" in my journal has proven invaluable in some cases.

"You, before you embarked on this project" is another good target.

Much of the technical documentation I've written was effectively how I got from prior-to-current-project-me to after-current-project me. And is often written for future-me-who's-forgotten-what-I-learned-in-the-process.

What TFA fails to address is the option of either specifically naming prequisite knowledge OR basic prerequisite references. The number of sysadmin / tech manuals which re-iterate, e.g., basic bash/shell/editor commands, networking concepts, etc., etc., rather than simply pointing at a good definitive guide is ... frankly embarrassing. I'd rather see one good continuously-updated reference than thousands of writers reimplementing poorly-written, outdated, and very one-sided references.


Totally! I like the bit about writing for a colleague, because this gives you a much more relatable concept I think.



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