Self-service and knowledge

Good self-service is the cheapest support you will ever run and the most neglected. It is also frequently the wrong answer — an article explaining a confusing screen is a bandage on a design problem.

Decide what deserves an article

Before writing, ask whether the contact should exist. If people repeatedly need instructions for one screen, the screen is the defect. Documenting it makes the problem permanent and invisible.

Write articles for things that are genuinely complex, genuinely occasional, or genuinely outside your control. Not for things that are merely badly designed.

What to write, and in what order

Rank by contact volume, not by feature importance. The most-viewed help content is almost never what the team expected — it is billing, access, and the one confusing setting.