When Content Creators Sacrifice Efficiency For The Convenience of Others

This post was inspired by a thoughtful LinkedIn post from content operations expert Rahel Anne Bailie. In it, she identifies five common situations where content professionals are expected to sacrifice their own efficiency to make life easier for others — usually in ways that increase overhead, introduce unnecessary complexity, and lead to long-term content chaos.

I’ve taken each of her five points and written a short reflection about each aimed at technical writers, sharing what it often feels like when these scenarios show up in the real world.

Imagine being handed a butter knife and asked to slice through a frozen ham. That’s what it feels like when you’re expected to write enterprise-grade content in tools meant for grocery lists and birthday invitations.

“But it’s free,” they say, while you scream internally, massaging the carpal tunnel you got from trying to force a table to behave in Microsoft Word.

Sure, you can do it. You can also cut your lawn with nail scissors. But should you?

Let’s stop pretending that “free” tools are actually free. They cost us time, sanity, and clean content. Tools should serve the process, not sabotage it.

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