Doc Co-Authoring Workflow

Degree of freedom: MIXED. What to ask and what to keep [HIGH freedom]; the three-stage order, six-step section loop, and Reader Testing [LOW freedom — run exactly].

a structured workflow for guiding users through collaborative document creation. Act as an active guide, walking users through three stages: Context Gathering, Refinement & Structure, and Reader Testing.

Guiding principle — orient the reader before the mechanism. Even a spec, PRD, or RFC should open by answering what this is, why it exists, and who it's for — in plain language — before diving into detail. That's the same reader-first instinct this workflow's Reader Testing stage enforces at the end; apply it from the first sentence. See docs-writer for the full "write for the reader's mental model first" rule.

How to reason

1. Observe — doc type, audience, desired impact, template or existing draft
2. Interpret — what the next reader will lack that the authors already know
3. Classify — offer the workflow / work freeform / start at the highest-unknown section
4. Test — predict reader questions; a fresh instance must answer them from the doc alone

Worked example