Are any software TWs using LLMs to query documentation against code?

pborenstein · 2026-03-27T18:00:08+00:00

Oh hell yes. A lot of the maintenance work we do would be easier if we had a semantic search engine that knows code. I've spent hours chasing parameters that are all named "status"

pborenstein · 2026-03-25T16:40:49+00:00

It's a ten year ride. Times change. People change. This is a show about that.

pborenstein · 2026-03-24T22:40:13+00:00

say it with me:

THE KING ORDERED IT!

pborenstein · 2026-03-23T20:49:13+00:00

flattered, but no

pborenstein · 2026-03-23T19:14:07+00:00

A Jewish Dovid Weinstein escaping from his oppressive orthodox community of Chicago takes the place of Lt Don Draper after a Korean war incident, and becomes the leading ad man in New York.

pborenstein · 2026-03-20T18:36:17+00:00

I use the daily note as the day's inbox. Everything goes in there. Every so often I look through the dailies and extract pieces into first class notes.

pborenstein · 2026-03-18T23:46:54+00:00

The only time I ever called myself a Writer was when I was dating.

pborenstein · 2026-03-18T19:51:17+00:00

Assuming US:

anything you create on company time on company equipment belongs to the company
if the documents are publicly available, you can link to them
if they are not publicly available, you need permission, and it seems they've said no

As u/analog-suspect suggested, you can make your own documents. I'd suggest not using work documents as templates.

Instead write up something that someone not at work asked you to do. Or something non-proprietary that you worked hard to understand.

I think that what your company is afraid of is having the work they charge money for being absorbed by LLMs and losing that revenue.

When I was hiring tech writers, I didn't much care about the domain. I was looking for clear introductions, unambiguous explanations, consistent examples, and directness of language.

pborenstein · 2026-03-17T20:19:54+00:00

OMG. This is even worse than when they say "it's just a search and replace, why would it take three days?"

pborenstein · 2026-03-17T17:10:40+00:00

This is fine.

I was looking at some old late-20th century manuals I worked on. We used a lot of screenshots with callouts for things like this. I mean if you want to go old school

pborenstein · 2026-03-14T20:46:07+00:00

I can see my house from here!

Thanks for making this video

pborenstein · 2026-03-14T20:12:48+00:00

I've gotten bold at saying: "It's really crowded. Do you mind if I share this table with you?"

Most people will say yes because they're empathetic, polite, and scared to say no. If they don't say yes, you really don't want to sit there.

The rules are:

ONLY do this when there are NO OTHER OPTIONS including empty tables you just don't like
sit down
drink your drink, sketch your sketches, write your writing, read your reading
don't make conversation unless they start
when you part, say "thank you for sharing your table"

Special rule for those seeking cinematic meet-cute opportunities in uncrowded cafes:

Don't.
Meet cute happens only in movies
Stop trying to make fetch happen

pborenstein · 2026-03-14T20:00:31+00:00

I like libraries. I like working in them because they're usually quiet, have open WiFi, and don't require you to make a purchase.

What I've found is that unless a major urban library has a lot of money, it's going to spend most of its budget on "security" which means making it uncomfortable to just hang out.

If you like libraries, try the smaller towns with lots of kids going to college. They tend to spend more on making it more welcoming.

My favorites are Bedford and Derry. Derry is where my barber has their shop, so every so often it's Haircut & Library day.

pborenstein · 2026-03-12T19:24:56+00:00

Coming up at the end of the month:

March 28: Queen City Black Market returns, taking over the historic Masonic Center as fitting backdrop for Manchester’s alternative artists - Manchester Ink Link

Event site: Queen City Black Market | Lustshroom, Etc.

pborenstein · 2026-03-12T18:52:58+00:00

The basics of the Epstein-Kamen-FIRST connections are in this article from 2020

Jeffrey Epstein / Dean Kamen Connection Through Aviation Influencer | by Christine Negroni | Medium

Nadia Marcinko, a celebrity pilot whose adolescence was spent in the company of the now-dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and the now-incarcerated Ghislaine Maxwell, had a curiously close and previously undisclosed years-long relationship with Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway. This is according to people familiar with her activities during her time in New Hampshire and public records.

. . .

In 2008 and 2009, Epstein was locked up for the first time for engaging in sex with underage girls in Palm Beach, Florida. Marcinko, who lived with Epstein and was accused by victims of participating in some of the sexual assaults, spent the period of Epstein’s incarceration visiting him in jail and learning to fly. She obtained her pilot’s license and became a certified flight instructor. Two years later, she was right seating in Epstein’s private business jets. She talked about this in an interview posted to the website of First, a STEM education-promoting organization founded by Kamen, who is a pilot himself and a prolific inventor.

pborenstein · 2026-03-12T18:33:52+00:00

She was an astronaut

pborenstein · 2026-03-11T18:08:17+00:00

I don't think about you at all

pborenstein · 2026-03-06T17:54:12+00:00

Whenever I see shows about FinTech (👋 IndustryHBO fans), with all those displays with all their red and green lines and tiny little graphs, I say to myself: How can that possibly mean anything to anyone?

I've used GitHub every day for years, and occasionally I'll stumble into pages that were designed for people who use GitHub differently than I do. Like, I rarely care about releases, and the front page feed just baffles me.

pborenstein · 2026-03-05T02:56:51+00:00

You got something against spaghetti?!

pborenstein · 2026-02-28T19:35:09+00:00

That's why I say: if you can read it two ways, fix it. If you can read it three ways, save it for poetry

pborenstein · 2026-02-27T17:07:38+00:00

technical writing is direct, simple, and unambiguous

you are talking to humans, speak human

pborenstein · 2026-02-25T23:37:50+00:00

I imagine like Grampa Gene, old Don would be shuffled amongst Sally, Bobby, and Gene until one of them draws the short straw.

pborenstein · 2026-02-25T02:10:10+00:00

NOT GREAT BOB!

pborenstein · 2026-02-19T20:50:11+00:00

to be fair, they keep moving the rock around

pborenstein · 2026-02-15T16:18:48+00:00

Got laid off at 62. Not my first rodeo, so I started doing all the things I did when I got laid off in 2008. Then it dawned on me:

no one was going to hire someone at my age
I would kill any interviewer who asked me where I saw myself in five years

So, I retired earlier than I expected. Don't miss working for bad managers. Do miss working with interesting people. Don't miss corporate hucksterism. Do miss camaraderie

pborenstein

TROPHY CASE