Your senior support rep just answered the same question for the fifth time this week.
She's good at it. That's the problem. She's fast, she's accurate, and she's the reason nobody has ever noticed the answer isn't written down anywhere.
Multiply that by every rep, every week, and you're paying customer success salaries to run a help desk that a documentation set would handle for free.
I build and overhaul knowledge bases for B2B and B2G software companies. Senior-level documentation strategy on a fractional basis, without the full-time overhead.
The Economic Reality
(Why Fractional Makes Sense Now)
So the obvious fix is to hire a Senior Technical Writer. That's $130k plus benefits, equity, and payroll taxes, locked in permanently, in a market where adding headcount is a hard sell.
And here's the part nobody says out loud: once your documentation debt is cleared, you don't need a full-time senior writer sitting on payroll indefinitely. You need one badly for a few months, then you need one occasionally.
The Math: full-time vs. fractional expert
Traditional Full-Time Hire
$130k+ Base Salary + benefits, equity, and payroll taxes.
3–6 Month Onboarding Lag: Slow ramp-up to understand your tech.
The "Now What?" Dilemma: Paying a premium salary after docs are built.
The Fractional Approach
Fixed Project or Retainer Cost: Pay only for active execution.
Fast Impact: 20+ years of experience means a quick learning curve.
Scales Down Seamlessly: I build it, launch it, and step back until you need updates.
What I Build
Technical Writing First, Video Powered
I specialize in helping software companies (10 to 100 employees) that have outgrown the "just ask support" phase. I transform fragmented internal knowledge into customer-facing clarity.
Knowledge Bases From Scratch: Perfect for platforms with little to no existing user documentation.
Legacy Documentation Overhauls: Refactoring messy, founder-written, or outdated text into modular, easily searchable formats (like Docusaurus or modern CCMS platforms).
Workflow-Driven User Guides: Content structured around what your users actually need to accomplish, not just a dry list of product features.
The Multimedia Multiplier (The Value-Add): When a complex workflow is easier to show than explain, I script, record, and voice professional video tutorials integrated directly into the text. One vendor, zero handoff gaps.
“These videos are a huge step forward and I feel we are pushing above our weight regarding our size and scale. I believe the consistent and standard approach will help speed up CS discussions and expectations.”
-Jonathan Thompson, CEO, Eproval
The Background (Why Me?)
I don’t need my hand held. I come from a deep technical writing and project management background, meaning I hit the ground running on day one, regardless of your tech stack.
Enterprise-grade pedigree. Former Manager of Technical Writing at Workday, where I led distributed writing teams and redesigned global publishing processes.
Deep tooling agility. Fluent in everything from modern Git and GitHub workflows and HTML-first Docusaurus builds to enterprise DITA XML (Oxygen, Ixiasoft, Adobe Experience Manager) and MadCap Flare.
20+ years across the hard environments. B2B SaaS, enterprise systems, FDA-regulated manufacturing, and Department of Defense programs. If your documentation has to survive an audit, I've done that version too.
AI-accelerated workflows. I use current AI tools to analyze source material and speed up drafting, and the efficiency saving goes to your budget rather than my margin.
"James was incredible to work with! He was truly a member of the team, where he got into the weeds and learned our product (sometimes even better than us!). He was instrumental in creating our first ever user guide, which we've been sharing with customers. His writing is super clear and organized. He's super pleasant to work with, and he delivers great work consistently and on time. We couldn't have asked for a better person to work with!"
- Miguel T., Product Manager, Propel PLM
Proven Results
Eproval (GovTech): Built a complete documentation and training library for a complex permitting platform, tailoring content across three user roles to accelerate onboarding. Produced over 25 videos to accelerate onboarding and training.
Clariti Cloud (Salesforce-Based B2G): Developed a 1,000+ page documentation library from absolute scratch, reducing support strain. Created an online certification program that certified over 100 partners in six months.
Passpack (Security/SaaS): Rewrote and refactored an entire legacy documentation set (101 topics across four guides) into a modular, standalone format within Docusaurus.
Ready to Clear Your Documentation Debt?
Your support rep is still answering that question. She'll answer it again tomorrow.
Let's look at your product, find where support is getting bogged down, and figure out the fastest, most cost-effective way to fix it.
Or, if you have questions or would like some specific information about my services, feel free to use the standard contact form.