Docs-as-code: past, present, and future.
As experienced at SUSE.
Schedule

Presented by:

John Krug

from SUSE

Technical writer and documentation engineer at SUSE.

I have been at SUSE for nearly three years. All being well, I think I have settled into my final career home. Before that, I had a year at a low-code company called OutSystems. Before that, I was (early) retired for a while, but it became a bit boring, especially during Covid19. And before that, I had fifteen years at the University of Lancaster. Before that is somewhat lost in the mists of time. But way back in 1991, I gained a Masters in Computing from the University of Sheffield.

I like to do a bit of cycling when I can. I've also recently been tinkering with some electronics, soldering irons, and the like. It's fun.

pdp11/70 (pidp11/70)

Abstract

Docs-as-code isn't new. We'll dip into its evolution, moving from the foundations of UNIX towards an AI-assisted present and future.

With live demonstrations, we’ll look at docs-as-code using UNIX V7 on a PDP-11/70 (PiDP11/70) from 1978 and compare with a modern, open-source localized documentation environment at SUSE. Conceptually, not as different as you would initially think. Despite the 48-year gap.

We’ll see how we use AI at SUSE as a multiplier both to assist technical writer development and to help community and customers navigate documentation complexity in large projects like Rancher and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES).

Takeaways

  • History: How past workflows inspired modern docs-as-code.
  • Open Source Strategy: How a docs-as-code strategy is providing documentation for both the open-source project community and enterprise customers at SUSE.
  • Practical ways AI is used to help develop human technical writing expertise and to improve technical clarity for community and customers at SUSE.
  • How docs-as-code improves your AI efforts.

Target Audience

Technical writers, DevOps, developers, open-source people, and anyone interested in a little technology history.

Date:
2026 June 26 - 12:30
Duration:
45 min
Room:
Sala Benalmádena 002
Conference:
OpenSouthCode 2026
Language:
English
Track:
Difficulty:
Easy

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