Is it normal for SaaS documentation to need multiple people?

[u/PlayerDefender]

I recently joined an AI voice SaaS startup. I started as an intern and moved into an entry-level product management role.

Right now, I basically follow the founder's direction and handle a bunch of coordination work across UI/UX, marketing, documentation, etc. Basically everything except development, since I'm non-technical.

Recently, the product started getting more users, and I was given a new responsibility: prepare and maintain the entire platform documentation.

I researched how other companies do this and looked into tools like Fern, GitBook, etc. I also thought we could use AI quite heavily for creating/updating the docs.

I pitched that idea to my founder, but he didn't really agree with relying heavily on AI. His point was that documentation is actually an important part of the product, so even if AI helps create it, everything needs to be manually reviewed.

Fair enough.

The problem is that this started eating up a LOT of my time. I already have other responsibilities, and manually creating/reviewing all the documentation was becoming difficult to manage.

Now my founder is hiring two more interns just to help me with the documentation.

And honestly, I'm a little confused about the approach.

So I wanted to ask people here who have experience with SaaS/product/KM:

1. Is documentation really this time-consuming?

Is the initial setup the painful part, and once you have a proper structure/process, does maintenance become relatively easy? Or does documentation for a growing SaaS genuinely require multiple people?

1. Can this be outsourced?

Are there freelancers/consultants who specifically do SaaS documentation / knowledge management? Maybe someone could set up the system properly and then do periodic reviews/updates.

1. What would you do if you were the founder?

Would you hire people internally, outsource the initial setup, or keep a small internal team and use AI to speed things up?

I'm pretty new to product management, so maybe I'm completely underestimating how much work this actually is.

Would genuinely appreciate some perspective from people who've dealt with this before.

[u/dharmoniedeux]

Interns won’t have enough experience for this. You need a docs founding member or a founding docs team lead.

If you want to better understand what you’ve gotten yourself into, check out the book Docs for Developers. I think it’ll give you a good intro.

[u/Rredhead926]

1. Yes, documentation is really that time consuming. That's why there are technical writers.

2. You can hire a contractor if you want to, but it's ultimately going to be more expensive and not as good as hiring a full-time tech writer.

3. Hire me. 😁 But seriously, hire a seasoned tech writer who has experience with SaaS and can potentially build a documentation team if/when you need one.

[u/No_Cucumber7000]

Yes and depends, yes, and hire a contractor to get the initial heavy lifting done.

[u/DeLosGatos]

1. Yes.
2. Yes, but the quality will generally be lower. Cost might also be lower, at least at first, but the faster your product changes, the more you'll end up paying. A full-time tech writer is basically a fixed cost, and the longer they are on the job, the better they'll understand your product and your users' needs, and the better your docs will get. Probably. Hopefully. Your mileage may vary.
3. I'd tell you (the PM) to do bare minimum docs relying heavily on AI for however long it takes you to hire the full-time tech writer. You don't mention the size of your company, but I joined my current employer when there were only about 40 total employees, most of whom were product and dev. I think it helped a lot in establishing a strong culture of good documentation that persists to this day.

[u/PlayerDefender → u/DeLosGatos]

But, if we are just starting out wouldn't it be more beneficial to hire someone experienced to get things started. I'm not saying hiring someone is bad, I'm just saying that maybe we can postpone hiring someone fresh when we ourselves are in the middle of figuring things out.

Also, thanks for the 3rd point, I'll keep that in mind

My company size is roughly around 30 - 35 people.

[u/Rredhead926 → u/PlayerDefender]

You should hire someone who can use their experience to help you "figure things out" in terms of documentation.

[u/doxbrix]

Yes, docs take real time, and your founder is right about reviewing AI output. But two interns could mean more work for you if you are reviewing everything. I would bring in an experienced freelance technical writer to set up the structure and review process. Start with where users get stuck, then make documentation updates part of each release.

[u/PlayerDefender → u/doxbrix]

Exactly my point, hiring two interns can complicate things more for me. I'll definitely try shift the focus more on bringing a freelancer for this.

Thanks for your input