Writing Documentation That Doesn't Suck

The Scenario

Your team's documentation is outdated sticky notes and tribal knowledge. When the senior engineer is on vacation, nobody knows how to fail over the MPLS circuit. You need proper runbooks — but nobody has time to write them.

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The Prompt

I need to create a runbook for MPLS failover at our branch office. Here are the details:

- Primary: MPLS circuit on router BR-RTR01, interface Gi0/0, provider TATA
- Backup: Internet VPN on same router, interface Gi0/1, provider Airtel
- Failover method: Change default route weight
- Current config uses ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 10.1.1.1 (MPLS) and ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 10 (VPN backup)
- To force failover: shut MPLS interface or remove primary route
- After failover: verify with traceroute to 8.8.8.8 and check VPN tunnel status

Write a step-by-step runbook that a junior engineer could follow at 3 AM. Include verification steps after each action. Format as a numbered checklist.

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What AI Gives You

A clean, numbered runbook with:

1. Pre-checks (verify current path, check VPN tunnel is up)
2. Failover steps (with exact commands to type)
3. Verification after each step
4. Rollback procedure
5. Escalation contacts placeholder

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Try It Yourself

Pick any procedure your team does manually — password rotation, firmware upgrades, adding a new VLAN. Describe the process to AI and get a clean runbook back.