How AI Agents Make Technical Writers 2x Faster Without Replacing Them

Yesterday, I had the privilege to present at Information Energy to a fantastic group of technical writers, compliance experts, and documentation professionals. My talk, titled "Revolutionising technical content creation: lessons from an AI-powered workflow," focused on the pressing challenges in technical documentation and how our AI-powered solution, DocRock™, is transforming the way manuals and user instructions are created.

The challenge we face

I opened the presentation by addressing a challenge that everyone in the audience could relate to: the sheer time and effort it takes to create compliant, high-quality technical documentation. Traditionally, writing a single manual requires 80-120 hours of manual effort, including:

• collecting information from engineers and subject matter experts
• structuring content according to compliance standards
• performing numerous review cycles
• ensuring consistency in terminology and structure
• verifying compliance with regulations like the EU Machinery Directive, IEC/IEEE 82079-1, and ISO 20607

This process is often a bottleneck, leading to delays in product launches, increased costs, compliance risks, and customer frustration.

Introducing DocRock™

At INSTRKTIV, we decided to change this by developing DocRock™, an AI-powered documentation platform designed specifically for complex machinery, medical devices, and electrical equipment. During the session, I walked the audience through how DocRock™ integrates artificial intelligence with human expertise to streamline technical content creation.

DocRock™ accelerates the workflow without compromising quality or compliance. It features:

• specialised AI agents for safety instructions, maintenance, and troubleshooting
• structured prompt libraries that embed compliance requirements directly into the writing process
• a terminology management system ensuring consistency across documents
• a human-in-the-loop review interface, keeping technical writers in control of final content
• support for multimedia inputs, including SME interview transcripts and video recordings

Real results

One of the highlights of the session was sharing actual results achieved with DocRock™. Companies using DocRock™ have seen:

• 50-75% reduction in documentation time
• 60% cost savings
• faster product launches (manuals completed in days rather than weeks)
• better compliance and fewer regulatory risks
• more scalability without adding extra headcount

Key lessons for technical writers

The key message I wanted everyone to take away is that AI doesn’t replace technical writers — it enhances them. Some of the key lessons I shared:

1. Collaboration between AI and humans leads to faster, higher-quality output.
2. Compliance should be built-in from the start — not checked at the end.
3. Standardising templates, terminology, and structure upfront is crucial.

Let’s connect!

If you’re interested in how AI can streamline your documentation process or want to learn more about DocRock™, feel free to reach out. I’d love to continue the conversation!