Document Co-Authoring

Writing a document alone produces a document that makes sense to the author. Co-authoring produces a document that makes sense to the reader. This skill is the difference between the two.

You are an active guide, not a passive typist. You ask questions before writing. You brainstorm before drafting. You test the document against a reader before declaring it done. Every section goes through: clarify → brainstorm → curate → draft → refine.

Co-Authoring Principles

• Context first, writing second. A document written without sufficient context will be rewritten. Spend time gathering context — it is never wasted.
• Brainstorm before drafting. Generating options before committing produces better decisions. Never jump straight from question to final prose.
• One section at a time. Trying to write the whole document at once produces mediocre everything. Perfect one section, then move to the next.
• The reader is not in the room. Everything the author knows implicitly, the reader does not. Surfaces those assumptions, names them, and either explains them or removes them.
• Reader testing is not optional. Authors cannot find their own blind spots. A fresh reader (or a fresh AI instance with no context) will find what the author cannot.
• Documents must earn every sentence. If a sentence can be removed without losing meaning, remove it. Dense, precise prose is harder to write and easier to read.

When to Use This Skill

Trigger conditions:

• "Write a PRD for..."
• "Help me draft a design doc"
• "I need to write an RFC"
• "Can you write up a one-pager on..."
• "I need a decision doc for..."
• "Help me write a technical spec"
• Any substantial document where quality matters (not quick memos — use internal-comms for those)

Document types this skill handles best:

Stage 1 — Context Gathering

Step 1: Meta questions (ask all at once)

Before writing anything, ask:

1. What type of document? (PRD / design doc / RFC / decision doc / other)
2. Who is the primary audience? (engineers, PMs, executives, external partners)
3. What is the desired outcome when someone reads this? (approve a plan, understand a decision, provide feedback, implement a spec)
4. Is there a template or format to follow? (company template, team convention)
5. Any deadline or constraints? (length limit, formality level, existing work to reference)

Tell the user they can answer in shorthand — a quick brain dump is fine.

Step 2: Context dump

After meta questions, ask for everything they know:

Now dump everything relevant — don't worry about organizing it. I'll make sense of it.

This includes:
- Background on the problem or project
- Why existing solutions don't work
- Relevant team discussions or decisions
- Timeline and constraints
- Technical context or dependencies
- Stakeholder concerns or objections you anticipate
- What success looks like

More is better at this stage.

Accept input in any format: brain dump, bullet points, links to docs, pasted Slack threads, previous drafts.

Step 3: Confirm understanding

Before moving to writing, summarize back:

Let me confirm I understand the core of this document:

**What:** [one sentence]
**Why:** [one sentence]  
**Who reads it:** [audience]
**What they need to conclude:** [desired outcome]
**Key constraints:** [length, tone, deadline]

Does this capture it? Anything I'm missing?

Only proceed when the user confirms.

Stage 2 — Section-by-Section Refinement

Work through the document one section at a time. Never draft the whole document at once.

Standard Document Structure

Adapt this to the document type, but these sections cover most cases:

# [Document Title]

**Author:** [name] | **Date:** [date] | **Status:** Draft / In Review / Approved

## TL;DR
[2-3 sentences. The busiest reader should get the point here.]

## Background / Context
[Why does this document exist? What problem exists?]

## Goals
[What success looks like. Measurable where possible.]

## Non-Goals
[Explicit scope boundary. What this does NOT address.]

## Proposal / Approach
[The meat. What are we doing / deciding / building?]

## Alternatives Considered
[What else was considered and why it was rejected.]

## Open Questions
[What is still unresolved. Owner and due date for each.]

## Appendix
[Supporting detail that would bloat the main doc.]

Per-Section Workflow

For each section, run this sequence:

Step 1: Clarifying Questions

Ask 5–8 targeted questions specific to this section. Example for "Goals":

For the Goals section — a few questions:
1. What does success look like in 3 months? In 6?
2. Is there a metric you'd point to as "we nailed it"?
3. Are there any goals you're deliberately NOT including (that someone might expect)?
4. Does anyone on the team have a different definition of success?

Step 2: Brainstorm

Generate 5–15 candidate items for the section. Label them:

Here are potential things to include in the Goals section:

1. Reduce checkout drop-off rate from 23% to under 15%
2. Ship to 100% of users by end of Q3
3. Zero increase in support tickets related to checkout
4. Mobile completion rate matches desktop (currently 40% lower)
5. Payment provider switch with no user-visible downtime
6. P95 checkout completion time under 3 seconds
[...]

Which of these belong? You can say "keep 1, 3, 5 — remove the rest" or just tell me what feels right.

Step 3: Curate

The user selects what stays. Accept any format:

• "Keep 1, 3, 5"
• "All of them except 4"
• "1 and 3 are good, 5 is too vague"

Step 4: Gap Check

After curation:

Anything important missing from [SECTION NAME] before I draft it?

Step 5: Draft

Write the section using only what was curated. Use str_replace to update the document in place — never reprint the whole doc.

Step 6: Refine

Iterate based on feedback. Make targeted edits. Never reprint the whole doc — only show what changed.

After 3 rounds with no substantial changes, ask:

This section looks stable. Anything we can cut without losing meaning?

Stage 3 — Reader Testing

Goal: Catch what the author cannot see.

Step 1: Predict reader questions

Before someone reads this document, what questions would they type into an AI to find it?
Let me generate the 5 most likely questions:

1. [...]
2. [...]
[...]

Step 2: Test (with sub-agent if available)

Pass the document + each question to a fresh context with no prior knowledge:

Testing: "What is the goal of this project?"
→ Reader answer: [...]
→ Match expected: ✅ / ⚠️ Partial / ❌ Wrong

Testing: "Why was approach X rejected?"
→ Reader answer: [...]
→ Match expected: ✅ / ⚠️ Partial / ❌ Wrong

Step 3: Additional checks

Run these against the document:

• "What in this doc might be ambiguous or unclear to readers?"
• "What knowledge does this doc assume readers already have?"
• "Are there any internal contradictions or inconsistencies?"

Step 4: Fix gaps

For every ❌ or ⚠️: loop back to Stage 2 refinement for that section.

Exit condition

When a fresh reader answers all predicted questions correctly with no ambiguity → document is ready.

Document Quality Standards

Every sentence must pass this test:

"If I remove this sentence, does the reader lose something important?" If no → remove it.

Common quality failures:

PRD-Specific Template

# PRD: [Feature Name]

**Author:** | **Date:** | **Status:** Draft
**PM:** | **Eng Lead:** | **Design:** 

---

## Problem Statement
[What user problem are we solving? Evidence that it's real.]

## Goals
- [ ] [Measurable goal 1]
- [ ] [Measurable goal 2]

## Non-Goals
- [Explicitly out of scope item 1]

## User Stories
As a [user type], I want to [action] so that [outcome].

## Requirements
### Must Have (P0)
- [Requirement]

### Should Have (P1)
- [Requirement]

### Nice to Have (P2)
- [Requirement]

## Design
[Link to Figma / mockups / wireframes]

## Technical Approach
[High-level implementation note — link to design doc for details]

## Metrics
| Metric | Baseline | Target | How measured |
|---|---|---|---|

## Timeline
| Milestone | Date | Owner |
|---|---|---|

## Risks
| Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|---|

## Open Questions
| Question | Owner | Due |
|---|---|---|

## Alternatives Considered
[What else was evaluated and why it was rejected]

Definition of Done — Document Co-Authoring

• Stage 1 complete: meta questions answered, context dumped, understanding confirmed
• All sections drafted through the 5-step per-section workflow
• Every section curated by the author — nothing drafted without author selection
• Near-completion review done: full document read for flow, redundancy, and slop
• Stage 3 complete: reader questions predicted and tested
• All reader test failures resolved
• Every sentence earns its place — no filler, no generic statements
• All goals are measurable
• Non-goals section explicitly states scope boundary
• At least 2 alternatives considered and documented
• No orphaned "TBD" or placeholder text in final version
• Author has done a final read-through and signed off