Treating Prompts Like Code: A Content Engineer's AI Workflow

A Senior Technical Content Engineer at Pulumi, who works as a one-person documentation team, has creatively utilized AI to manage the documentation process and reduce cognitive overload, especially given their undiagnosed ADHD. By using AI as a conversational partner, they have scaffolded their workflow to overcome the daunting task of starting new projects. This approach involved treating AI prompts like code, creating modular and reusable skills that streamline tasks such as document reviews, issue fixing, and generating GitHub issues from Slack conversations, thus improving productivity and collaboration across teams. These AI skills are integrated into Pulumi's CI/CD pipeline to ensure consistency and quality in documentation, and they function as shared libraries that can be updated centrally, reflecting changes across all dependent workflows. The engineer emphasizes the importance of a modular approach to AI prompts, version control, and maintaining a low token burn rate, all while highlighting the potential for these tools to be adapted for broader team use, particularly for less technical members like marketers. The strategy underscores the value of using AI as a cognitive aid to assist in task initiation and execution, fostering a collaborative environment where AI acts as a reliable partner in the documentation process.