Leading documentation system improvements for Saas organizations
I define and lead documentation systems, governance models, and content strategy for complex SaaS products by:
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Aligning content across teams and products
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Standardizing content structure
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Maintaining consistency as organizations evolve
My process
I approach documentation as a system that works across teams, products, and constant change.
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Systems
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I build documentation systems that support multiple products and teams by defining structure, ownership, and the processes for creating, updating, and maintaining content.
Governance
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I establish clear standards and workflows so that documentation stays consistent and doesn’t drift. My process includes defining ownership, establishing review processes, and ensuring cross-functional partners can contribute without creating chaos.
Strategy
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I look at documentation at the organizational level—how it supports the product, the user experience, and the business. This strategy often includes stepping back, identifying what’s not working, and redefining how content is structured and delivered across teams.
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Impact
My impact on documentation systems
Most documentation systems don’t fail because of tools—instead, they fail in how content is structured, written, and maintained. My work focuses on fixing those gaps bymaking content easier for audiences to locate and understand.
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Making documentation usable—not just available
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Transformed long, chapter-style help topics into shorter, task-based and conceptual content that users could scan and act on.
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Eliminated unnecessary wordiness and “throw-away” language to improve clarity and searchability.
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Reduced the need for users to scroll through or expand large sections of content to find answers.
Applying structured content principles
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Shifted teams from print-oriented writing to user-centered, online-first content design.
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Introduced guidelines for structured content (concept, task, reference) and plain language usage.
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Reinforced user-centered best practices through writer training and ongoing editing reviews.
Reducing friction in content creation and publishing
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Standardized tools and processes across legacy teams following an acquisition.
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Reduced documentation publishing cycles from one week to two days by streamlining workflows.
Scaling content across complex product environments
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Supported documentation for 30+ cloud applications across multiple platforms and modules.
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Migrated 17,000+ help topics into a unified repository and publishing model.
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Helped teams manage large content projects consistently and efficiently.
Improving access to information
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Researched why users could not effectively search or navigate help content.
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Reorganized/rechunked lengthy topics to make search results more relevant and usable.
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Shifted users away from static PDFs and toward searchable, in-product help.
Strengthening quality and consistency
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Developed and evangelized style guidelines that supported clarity, consistency, and localization.
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Edited customer-facing content to ensure accuracy, consistency, and usability at scale.
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Embedded user-centered writing practices into everyday workflows.
Applying AI in practical ways
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Introduced AI-assisted drafting and editing to accelerate first drafts while maintaining quality.
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Used AI to reinforce style and consistency, not replace writer judgment.
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Case Studies
My system design in action
These case studies show how I designed and implemented documentation systems by combining structure, governance, and user experience to support consistency and usability.​​​​​​​
Centralized content management and publishing workflows
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The challenge: Combining two legacy documentation teams revealed different content management and publishing workflows across two product platforms and 30+ solutions with varied release cadences.
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Strategy
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​​​​Analyzed how each model supported multi-product documentation.
- Identified tradeoffs betweem writer autonomy and centralized control.
- Evaluated impact on publishing speed, consistency, and quality.
- Researched effort required to standarize processes across team.
Implementation and leadership​
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Selected MadCap Central (now MadCap Flare Online) as the unified CMS and publishing solution for both legacy teams.
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Directed evaluation and testing of new publishing workflows and partnered with team members to refine processes and ensure scalability.
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Secured additional software licenses and built consensus with Engineering and leadership on tooling and publishing strategy.
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Planned and coordinated transition timelines to minimize disruption to release schedules.
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Led rollout and adoption, including writer training, revised workflows, and communication across the organization.
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Outcomes​
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Fully eliminated dependency on Engineering for release publishing tasks.
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Reduced publishing cycle time from one week to two days.
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Improved consistency and predictability of documentation delivery across teams.
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Increased team efficiency through streamlined workflows and clear ownership.
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Led the successful migration of more than 17,000 topics into a single repository.
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Enabled single-sourcing and content reuse across products and platforms.
Standardized release notes and Help Center portals
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The challenge: Following an acquisition, users navigated to very different content experiences.
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Strategy​​
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Analyzed differences in audience, content structure, navigation, and user experience across both platforms.
- Prioritized findability, scannability, and direct access to product-specific information.
- Assessed how content structure and navigation affected usability and access to product information.
- Defined a unified experience that balanced centralized access with product-level clarity.
Implementation and leadership​
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Redesigned release notes templates to provide one-click access to the latest updates and direct links to product-specific content.
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Introduced user-centered strategies to improve scanning and reduce reliance on scrolling.
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Redesigned/rebranded Help Center portals to centralize access while improving navigation, organization, cross-platform access, and usability.
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Established shared standards to establish a consistent experience for users transitioning
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Built consensus across teams and stakeholders to implement a unified content experience.
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Outcomes​
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Reduced bounce rate by ~20% across Help Center portals.
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Improved findability of product-specific release information.
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IIncreased user engagement through structured, more scannable content design.
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Delivered a consistent, unified experience across previously fragmented platforms.
Introduced structured user-centered content model
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The challenge: Legacy help content appeared as long, print-style topics that required excessive scrolling and expanding to locate task information. The limited task visibility created the perception that help documentation was incomplete and drove continued reliance on redudant PDF deliverables.
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Strategy​
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Introduced structured authoring standards and guidelines, including examples of properly “chunked” content.
- Developed and delivered a two-day User-Centered Documentation training program for writers.
- Collaborated with Support to prioritize high-visibility products and maximize impact and adoption.
Implementation and leadership​​​
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Introduced structured content (concepts, tasks, and reference topics) and user-centered strategies to improve scanning and reduce reliance on scrolling.
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Led editorial reviews to reinforce standards and content transformation.
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Worked across teams and leadership to phase out redundant PDF deliverables and support transition to HTML-based help.
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Outcomes​
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Improved findability and usability through shorter, task-focused content.
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Increased visibility of Help topics within navigation structures.
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Eliminated reliance on PDF documentation as primary navigation aid.
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Established a scalable content model to support long-term consistency and reuse.
Professional Experience
My experience shaping documentation at scale
I’ve led and contributed to documentation programs across ERP, healthcare, and financial enterprise SaaS organizations—improving how complex products are explained, delivered, and maintained at scale.
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Senior Documentation Manager
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Strata Decision Technology | 2022 – 2025​​
​At Strata, I led documentation strategy for a large portfolio of healthcare, financial, and educational institution SaaS applications while managing a distributed team of writers.​
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​Following an acquisition, I unified two documentation ecosystems into a single, centralized model—leading the migration of more than 17,000 topics into a single repository and redefining how content was written, reviewed, and published.
What had once been a week-long publishing cycle became a two-day process. ​​​​
I introduced governance where it hadn’t previously existed—establishing and aligning style guidelines, creating editorial workflows, and conducting content reviews that strengthened corporate voice across products and teams. I also worked closely with writers to reshape legacy content into structured, task-based topics that aligned to real user workflows.​​
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I actively incorporated AI-assisted workflows and structured prompts to accelerate first draft content from Jira epics, stories, and tasks—balancing speed with editorial quality and compliance.
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Senior Technical Writer
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Swisslog Healthcare | 2021 – 2022 ​​
​At Swisslog, I work with cross-functional teams to design and launch a centralized Knowledge Hub—bringing together customer-facing documentation, knowledge base articles, style guidelines, and internal operational guidance into a single, cohesive system. The Knowledge Hub was nominated for a Swisslog Company Innovation Award, reflecting its usability and cross-functional impact. ​
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I partnered closely with product owners to align documentation across a complex set of pharmacy automation and medication managment solutions. I also identified inconsistencies in product language and introduced updated writing and terminology guidelines to support translation and localization.​​​
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Senior Technical Writer
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Rally Health (UnitedHealthcare) | 2020 – 2021​​
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At Rally, I supported a broad portfolio of healthcare engagement products, creating documentation that served payers, employers, and providers. I worked closely with product owners and cross-functional teams
to develop strategic roadmaps and deliver accurate, engaging web content.
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I helped align Rally's documentation by developing a comprehensive style guide for writing conventions and terminology use and served as the team's primary editor for customer-facing content. ​
Managing Editor​
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Allscripts | 2009 - 2020
​​My time at Allscripts shaped my foundation in editorial leadership for large-scale documentation systems and reinforced my "player-coach" leadership style.
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I led editorial quality for the Documentation Center of Excellence, supporting more than 50 writers and managers— refining style guidelines and review processes that brought consistency to a complex, distributed content environment. ​I also created monthly activities, workshops, and training programs to reinforce best practices and support new writer onboarding.
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Expertise & Tools
My expertise in systems and tools
I combine documentation strategy, content design, and hands-on execution to create systems that are clear, usable, and built to scale. My expertise spans the full documentation lifecycle—from writing, editing, and content structure to governance, publishing, and continuous improvement.
Expertise
Documentation strategy​
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Content lifecycle (creation, maintenance, and governance)
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Documentation roadmaps
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Release cycles and versioning
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Multi-product documentation systems
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Large-scale documentation repositories
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Content design (structure)
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Information architecture
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Content structure and readability optimization
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Accessibility best practices (WCAG 2.1)
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Structured content and topic chunking
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Single-sourcing and reuse
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User experience (interaction)
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User-centered documentation
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Outcome-based writing
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In-product guidance (contextual help, tooltips, announcements)
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Real-world workflows
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Multiple-audience considerations (end-users, admins,
stakeholders)​
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Editorial quality (clarity)
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Branding standards and style guide development
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Cross-functional workflows (Engineering, UX, Product, Support)
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Editorial review processes (developmental, substantive, copyediting, peer)
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Content validation and quality assurance testing
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Governance
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Roles and responsibilities
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Access and permissions
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Standardized tools, templates, and formats
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Storage and retention policies
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Change management
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Leadership
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Leading and mentoring distributed technical writing teams
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Modeling player-coach leadership style
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Collaborating with Product, Engineering, UX, and Support
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Aligning stakeholders and prioritizing documentation
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Driving adoption of tools, standards, and workflows
Technologies and tools
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Authoring & CMS
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MadCap Flare (MadCap Online)
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Adobe FrameMaker
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DITA XML​
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Oxygen​​​​​​
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Collaboration
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Git, GitHub, GitKraken
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Confluence
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Wikipedia​
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Jira, Azure DevOps
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Google Docs
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SharePoint (Administrator)
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Product & UX tools
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Pendo
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WalkMe
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Figma​
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Visio
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SnagIt
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Analytics
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Google Analytics
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Flare
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AI-assisted documentation
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Integrating generative AI into documentation processes to improve speed and consistency
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AI-assisted drafting from engineering tickets and requirements
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AI-assisted editing and validation workflows​
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Prompts aligned with editorial standards and terminology
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Portfolio
My documentation systems at work
I combine hands‑on content expertise with strategic leadership to modernize documentation systems and elevate user experience. My portfolio reflects contributions across style guidelines, editorial governance, platform improvements, and content modernization initiatives that support clear communication, strong alignment, and efficient workflows.
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Click the deliverables to view them in a new window.
Editorial governance
Developed a comprehensive Style Guide that consolidated editorial standards, writing conventions, terminology guidance, and best practices from two legacy teams into a single reference source.
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Result: Established a framework for consistency across products, teams, and content types while supporting scalable documentation and training initiatives.
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Demonstrates: Editorial governance, guidelines development, terminology management, author enablement, cross-team consistency, consensus building​
Knowledge Hub
Designed and launched a SharePoint-based Knowledge Hub that centralized customer documentation, support content, training resources, style guidelines, and team processes.
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Result: Created an official repository that improved content accessibility, supported contributor onboarding, and enabled consistent documentation practices across the organization.
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Demonstrates: Knowledge management, information architecture, editorial standards, documentation processes, team enablement​
Help Center portal redesign
Redesigned customer-facing Help Center Portals to improve navigation, content organization, searchability, and overall usability.
Result: Created a consistent and intuitive cross-platform content experience and improved customer access to information.
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Demonstrates: Information architecture, WCAG 2.1 guidelines, usability best practices, content strategy,
accessibility, searchability
Release notes redesign
Redesigned Release Notes to improve readability, organization, and customer adoption of new features and enhancements.
Result: Applied content design principles to transform highly technical information into a structured, scannable format that helped users quickly identify relevant product changes and actions.
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Demonstrates: Content strategy, audience-focused communication, information design, content usability
Confluence team site
Created a centralized Confluence Team Site following the merger of two legacy documentation organizations.
Result: Consolidated workflows, style guidance, team processes, and operational resources into a shared environment that promoted consistency, improved onboarding, and established a sustainable framework for ongoing collaboration.
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Demonstrates: Documentation governance, process development, team collaboration, operational excellence
Endorsements
Feedback from colleagues
For more recommendations, see LinkedIn.
"Katy brings a wealth of experience as a technical writer, which allows her to make clear, informed decisions about documentation best practices. Under her direction, we adopted a user-centric vision, ensuring that the content supported real customer needs and product usability.
Katy is a thoughtful, innovative, and empowering leader who builds trust, inspires collaboration, and drives meaningful results."
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Sherrie Willey
Technical Writer
"Katy and I were colleagues in Educational Services. Her commitment to excellence and attention to detail drove quality outcomes in every project. I considered Katy a mentor in content management, editing, and maintaining process documentation."
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Nan Berrian
SPHR, SHRM-SCP
"​Katy is adept at writing clear, easy-to-understand, user-centered documentation. She is willing to take on seemingly impossible tasks and come out on top. Katy is quick to volunteer to take on new responsibilities."
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Troy Holmes
Senior Manager
"Katy took time to understand my goals and provide insightful, actionable feedback.
She is an excellent editor who improves both the writing and the writer. She was proactive about integrating AI into our workflows and encouraging the team to experiment with tools that could elevate our work. Katy is a technical writing leader who combines strategic thinking with authentic investment in her team."
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Molly Munson
Technical Writer
"Katy is a wonderful coworker and editor. She guided our documentation team on establishing and following standards and using minimalist documentation principles."
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Dana Aubin
Senior Consultant
"I feel lucky to have worked with Katy. I was impressed with her dedication, focus, energy, and sense of direction.
She worked with me on modernizing our online Help, giving it a fresh, user-focused look that elevated how our documentation was received. As an editor, she's exceptional--thoughtful and precise.
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Working with Katy made me a stronger writer and teammate."
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Ron Gardner
Senior Technical Writer
"When I describe Katy on the job, these words come to mind: leader, skilled, experienced, professional, and motivated. She doesn't just do her job; she looks to see what can be improved and presents great ideas that are achieved with her leadership. She's also a team player who inspires and empowers her coworkers."
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Linda Patryas
Former Senior Technical Writer
"Katy strives for excellence and achieves it. She has excelled in management positions as well as individual contributor roles. Throughout, her leadership and guidance have served her well. She has the ability to not only look at the work at hand, but see the big picture and make strategic decisions to mprove any work project."
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Frank Tagader
User Education Specialist
"Katy's adaptability through a huge merger was evident as she managed multiple releases, frequent patches, and urgent escalations--all while maintaining high-quality documentation.
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She elevated our documentation by introducing style guidelines and user-centered writing strategies, aligning terminology, and enhancing high-visibility guides. Katy embodies collaboration, ownership, and humility, and her dedication and resilience would make her an invaluable asset to any organization."
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Jack Wight
Principal Technical Writer (retired)
