I paid people to try and follow my README

In a recent experiment, developer Terence Eden sought to evaluate the clarity and effectiveness of his project documentation by paying individuals to follow his README file. The study aimed to identify common friction points that developers encounter when setting up new software environments. By observing participants as they attempted to install and configure his project, Eden discovered that even well-intentioned documentation often fails to account for implicit knowledge or environmental variables unique to the user's machine. The findings highlight a significant gap between how developers perceive their own instructions and how newcomers actually interpret them. Eden suggests that 'usability testing' for documentation should become a standard practice in open-source development to reduce onboarding frustration. The experiment underscores the importance of creating reproducible setups and the value of external feedback in refining technical documentation to ensure it remains accessible to a broader audience.