---
title: "Content Strategy Insights podcast with Larry Swanson about API documentation"
date: 2020-12-02
description: "You can listen to the podcast here: Content Strategy Insights Episode 88 - Tom Johnson: Documenting APIs. (Larry’s site is called Elles Media.) <img src="
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/podcast-larry-swanson-api-documentation/index.html
---

> For AI agents: a documentation index is available at https://idratherbewriting.com/llms.txt. Markdown versions of all pages are available by appending .md to any page URL.

# Content Strategy Insights podcast with Larry Swanson about API documentation

> Larry Swanson, a UX content strategist, runs a podcast called [Content Strategy Insights](https://ellessmedia.com/csi/). Larry recently interviewed me a few weeks ago about various topics related to API documentation.

You can listen to the podcast here: [Content Strategy Insights Episode 88 - Tom Johnson: Documenting APIs](https://ellessmedia.com/csi/tom-johnson/). (Larry’s site is called Elles Media.)

[![Tom Johnson podcast with Larry Swanson on Content Strategy Insights](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/swansonpodcastapis.png)](https://ellessmedia.com/csi/tom-johnson/)

Larry described the topics we chat about as follows:

> We talked about:
>
> - his evolution from writing to teaching to technical writing to his current focus on API documentation
> - the things he likes about technical writing and how it’s such a good fit for him
> - the scope of API documentation and some examples of content provided via APIs
> - the difference between documenting self-contained programs vs. APIs, which don’t usually provide a solution on their own
> - how developers access and use APIs
> - how API designers balance the need for flexible use of their API content with the need to not overwhelm users of the API with too much content
> - the differences in assessing and contributing to product design with APIs vs. traditional applications
> - the new ways that usability concerns arise and are addressed in API documentation
> - how tech writers and developers collaborate
> - the differences between writing for technical and non-technical audiences
> - his relationships with field engineers, developer advocates, and other customer-facing teammates
> - how he works with engineering teams
> - the importance of transparency in developer documentation
> - how he manages his workflow when he’s supporting multiple teams and products, in particular the importance of being a proactive project manager
> - the unique challenges that solo tech writers face
> - how he feels more engaged in his career when he’s writing about it
> - how his academic background in literary nonfiction has had surprising professional benefits
> - how refreshing and fun it is for him to reflect on his professional work and to blog about it

You can listen to Content Strategy Insights on [Elles Media](https://ellessmedia.com/csi/tom-johnson/) or through iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Tunein, etc. Larry also has an extensive number of podcasts you can listen to. For example, also check out [Larry’s podcast with Scott Abel](https://ellessmedia.com/csi/scott-abel/) in September.