DITA, Markdown, Metadata and Minimalism - Discussion with Paul Coinaud

DITA, Markdown, Metadata and Minimalism - Discussion with Paul Coinaud Tue, 04/21/2026 - 11:02 Contrasting the strict constraints of structured data with the velocity of lightweight formats, and how both prepare content for the future. Conversation with Paul Coinaud, Senior Manager of Documentation at ANSYS (recently acquired by Synopsys). In this episode we talk about the critical need for LLM-ready content much enriched with structured metadata and discusses how standards like iiRDS and DITA’s semantic tagging enable this. Paul emphasizes that true minimalism isn’t just about the writing framework: it requires deep collaboration with Subject Matter Experts to translate raw knowledge into tailored content for specific audience personas. Bio Paul Coinaud Paul Coinaud works as Senior Manager of Documentation at ANSYS (recently acquired by Synopsys), where he manages the developer portal as well as the broader product documentation for his business unit. As a pioneer of DITA in the French community with nearly 20 years of experience, Paul brings deep expertise in the evolution of technical writing, balancing structured frameworks like DITA with lightweight formats like Markdown, and preparing documentation for the age of AI.