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CMDB Guardian: A Free Chrome Extension to Simplify CMDB Analysis in ServiceNow

Ravi Gaurav — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 10:10:30 GMT

Introduction

Anyone who has worked with CMDB knows that understanding a single Configuration Item often requires navigating multiple records, reviewing relationships, validating discovery data, checking compliance, and investigating duplicates.

As a ServiceNow Architect and active community contributor, I wanted to simplify this process for practitioners who work with CMDB daily.

This led to the creation of CMDB Guardian, a free Chrome Extension designed specifically for the ServiceNow community.

Why I Built CMDB Guardian

While working on CMDB, Discovery, Service Mapping, and ITOM implementations, I noticed that engineers and administrators spend significant time:

Reviewing CI relationships
Investigating duplicate records
Checking CMDB health
Validating mandatory attributes
Troubleshooting data quality issues
Navigating between multiple records

I wanted to create a lightweight tool that could provide these insights directly from the active CI record.

What CMDB Guardian Does

CMDB Guardian automatically detects the CI currently open in ServiceNow and provides a comprehensive analysis within seconds.

Key Features

CI Health Analysis
Provides a quick health overview of the current CI.
Relationship Analysis
Displays upstream and downstream relationships to help understand dependencies.
Duplicate Detection
Identifies potential duplicate records based on key identifiers.
Compliance Validation
Highlights missing or incomplete CMDB attributes.
Relationship Type Filtering
Quickly filter relationships based on type.
Export Options
Export findings for documentation and troubleshooting activities.
GlideRecord Script Generation
Generate ready-to-use scripts for deeper CMDB investigation.

Latest Improvements

The latest version includes several enhancements based on community feedback:

No login required
Automatically uses the active ServiceNow session
Works in both new tabs and classic context frames
Improved relationship analysis
Enhanced duplicate detection
Better user experience and performance

Community First

This project was created as a contribution to the ServiceNow community.

My goal is simple:

If a tool can help ServiceNow professionals save even a few minutes every day, the collective impact across the community can be significant.

Try CMDB Guardian

Chrome Extension:
https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/livecitracking/nglhicdkodmjgmmdginealcafengpfac

About the Author

Ravi Gaurav is a 2x ServiceNow MVP, Solution Architect, trainer, content creator, and community contributor passionate about helping professionals learn, grow, and succeed within the ServiceNow ecosystem.

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@learntechwithRaviG

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravi-gaurav-a67542aa/

Giving Back to the ServiceNow Community, One Solution at a Time.

Field-level edit control in Project Workspace grid using custom column criteria

Punith1 — Thu, 07 May 2026 09:26:32 GMT

Learn how to configure field-level editability rules in the Project Workspace grid using ProjectWorkspaceColumnCriteriaSNC script.

DISCLAIMER: This article describes a proposed solution to support this use case. The proposed solution requires configuration; as such, there is no liability for ServiceNow to provide support, apply changes, fix defects, or review impact during future upgrades.

What problem does this solve?

Project managers often need field-level control over which grid columns are editable — and under what conditions. For example:

Closed tasks — certain fields should be disabled.
Only the assignee’s manager should be able to change the assignment.
Priority should be disabled once a task becomes inactive.

Traditional ACLs work on forms, but the Project Workspace grid uses a client-side DataGrid. Out-of-box, there is no built-in way to conditionally disable individual columns per row.

Starting with the Project Workspace 7.1.0 release, the ProjectWorkspaceColumnCriteriaSNC script include provides an override point to define column-level editability rules — effectively giving you field-level ACL behavior inside the grid.

Prerequisites

ServiceNow Zurich or later.
Project Workspace 7.1.0 (sn_pw) plugin activated.
Admin or scoped-app developer access.

How it works

The platform ships a base script include: ProjectWorkspaceColumnCriteriaSNC.
You create (or update) the extension point: ProjectWorkspaceColumnCriteria — which overrides the getConfig(table) method.
The grid reads your config, fetches any required hidden fields, and disables editing client-side for cells that match your criteria.

Key concept: The criteria you define specifies when a cell should be disabled (not when it should be enabled).

Supported operators

Operator	Meaning
=	Equals
!=	Not equals
IN	Value in comma-separated list
ISEMPTY	Field is empty
ISNOTEMPTY	Field is not empty
> >= < <=	Numeric / date comparisons

Multiple conditions can be chained with ^ (AND).

Solution

Step 1- Create the Script Include

Navigate to System Definition > Script Includes and create:

Field	Value
Name	ProjectWorkspaceColumnCriteria
API Name	sn_pw.ProjectWorkspaceColumnCriteria
Application	Project Workspace
Accessible from	This application scope only

Step 2 - Override getConfig() with your rules

Below are practical examples. Select the examples relevant to your use case and add them to your getConfig() method.

Base template

    var ProjectWorkspaceColumnCriteria = Class.create();
    ProjectWorkspaceColumnCriteria.prototype = Object.extendsObject(ProjectWorkspaceColumnCriteriaSNC, {
    getConfig: function(table) {
        var config = {};
        if (table === 'pm_project_task') {
            // Add your rules here (see examples below)
         }
        return config;
    },
    type: 'ProjectWorkspaceColumnCriteria'
});

Example 1- Disable a field when a task is closed

Scenario: Prevent users from changing the Start Date on closed tasks.

config['start_date'] = {
    criteria: 'state=3',
    requiredFields: ['state']
};

state=3 means “Closed”. The cell becomes disabled when the task’s state is 3.

Example 2 - Disable a field for multiple states

Scenario: Disable End Date when the task is Closed ( 3), Cancelled ( 4), or Pending (-5).

config['end_date'] = {
    criteria: 'stateIN3,4,-5',
    requiredFields: ['state']
};

The IN operator matches any value in the comma-separated list.

Example 3 — Disable a field when another field is empty

Scenario: Disable editing Short Description until someone is assigned.

config['short_description'] = {
    criteria: 'assigned_toISEMPTY',
    requiredFields: ['assigned_to']
};

ISEMPTY disables the cell when assigned_to has no value.

Example 4 - Disable a field based on a boolean

Scenario: Disable Priority on inactive tasks.

config['priority'] = {
    criteria: 'active=false',
    requiredFields: ['active']
};

Example 5 - Dot-walk: disable based on assignee’s manager

Scenario: Only the assignee’s manager should be able to change the Assigned To field. For everyone else, it should be disabled.

var currentUserId = gs.getUserID();
config['assigned_to'] = {
    criteria: 'assigned_to.manager!=' + currentUserId,
    requiredFields: ['assigned_to.manager']
};

How it works: The criteria walk from assigned_to to manager and compares it to the logged-in user. If the current user is not the manager, the cell is disabled.

Important: Dot-walked fields must appear in requiredFields so the grid fetches them as hidden columns.

Example 6 - Dot-walk: disable based on assignee’s department

Scenario: Disable Work Notes unless the assignee belongs to the IT department (sys_id = abc123...).

config['work_notes'] = {
    criteria: 'assigned_to.department!=abc123def456',
    requiredFields: ['assigned_to.department']
};

Replace abc123def456 with the actual sys_id of the department record.

Combining multiple rules

You can define rules for as many columns as needed — just add more keys to config:

if (table === 'pm_project_task') {
    config['start_date'] = {
        criteria: 'state=3',
        requiredFields: ['state']
    };
    config['end_date'] = {
        criteria: 'stateIN3,4,-5',
        requiredFields: ['state']
    };
    config['priority'] = {
        criteria: 'active=false',
        requiredFields: ['active']
    };
}

Each column gets its own independent criteria. The grid evaluates them per row.

Step 3 - Verify

Open a project in Project Workspace.
Navigate to the Planning tab (grid view).
Try to inline-edit a field on a row that matches your criteria — the cell should be disabled.
Confirm that rows not matching the criteria remain editable.

Quick reference

Use case	Criteria string	requiredFields
Disable when Closed	state=3	['state']
Disable when inactive	active=false	['active']
Disable for multiple states	stateIN3,4,-5	['state']
Disable if no assignee	assigned_toISEMPTY	['assigned_to']
Disable based on manager (dot-walk)	assigned_to.manager!=<userId>	['assigned_to.manager']
Disable based on department (dot-walk)	assigned_to.department!=<sysId>	['assigned_to.department']

Important notes

Criteria = disable condition. Define when the cell should be disabled, not when it should be allowed.
Dot-walked fields must be listed in requiredFields so the grid fetches them as hidden columns.
Dynamic values (like current user) must be resolved server-side in getConfig() using gs.getUserID(), gs.getUser().getRecord(), etc.
This does not replace server-side ACLs. It provides client-side grid enforcement as a complement to ACLs.

AI agent: Transition to a more adaptive, conversational, and human-like interaction model

ajaymalik — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 20:36:44 GMT

Objective

To enhance any Agent (E.g: Workday HR payroll management AI agent) below is a step-by-step guide to improve the response logic. The goal is to move from a rigid, technical list of instructions to a more fluid, conversational flow that feels like a natural human interaction.

How to Navigate and Update the AI Agent

Open AI Agent Studio: In your ServiceNow instance, use the All menu to search for and select AI Agent Studio.

Locate Your Agent: Click on the Create and manage tab and select the Workday HR payroll management AI agent from your list.

Access the Specialty Tab: You will automatically land on the Define the specialty section.

Edit the Steps: Scroll down to the Define the role and required steps area. Locate the List of steps text box (marked as Version V1).

Apply Changes: Highlight the existing text, paste the optimized version below, and click Save and continue at the bottom right.

"List of Steps" for a User-Friendly Response

Copy and paste the following content into the "List of steps" instruction field:

(Note: The below steps are sample steps and can be updated based on user requirement)

Intake & Clarification: Greet the user professionally. Confirm they are seeking payslip information. If the request is vague (e.g., "Show me my money"), ask a clarifying question like: "I can help with that. Are you looking for a specific payslip or a summary for a certain period?"
Identity & Context Validation:

Worker ID: Check if the Worker ID is available. If not, politely request it: "To access your records securely, could you please provide your Worker ID?"
Date Parameters: Ensure you have the Start Date, End Date, and Period Date Indicator. If missing, explain: "I need a date range to pull the correct payroll data for you."

Intelligent Execution: Once all mandatory inputs (Worker ID, Dates, Report Name/Owner) are validated, execute the Look up Payslip action exactly once.
Error & Edge Case Handling: If the action fails, translate technical errors into helpful HR language (e.g., "I'm having trouble connecting to Workday right now; please try again in a few minutes"). If no data is returned, suggest the user check their date range.
Human-Friendly Response Transformation (Priority):

Summary First: Start with a brief natural language summary (e.g., "I've retrieved your payslip for [Date Range]. Your Net Pay was [Amount].")
Categorized Tables: Organize output into logical Markdown tables: Earnings, Deductions, Taxes, and Employer Benefits.
Dynamic Labeling: Use the column names from the data but ensure they are human-readable (e.g., convert GROSS_PAY_AMT to Gross Pay).
Cleanliness: Omit any sections that contain no data. Never display system IDs, metadata, or raw JSON strings.

Response Depth Control: By default, provide the formatted summary and tables. Only provide granular, line-by-line technical details if the user explicitly asks for "detailed raw data."

Sample Response

Agent Tool Update

Based on the Look up Payslip configuration, users can control how the AI agent processes and presents data by modifying the Output Transformation Strategy.

By default the tool is set to "None", which means the agent will pass the data through without additional AI-driven formatting. To change how the response is handled, the below steps can be performed:

Modifying Agent Tool Response Behavior

To refine how the Workday HR payroll management AI agent communicates its findings, you must adjust the transformation settings within the Agent Tool record.

Select the Transformation Strategy

The Output transformation strategy field dictates the linguistic style and depth of the final response. You can choose from the following options:

Strategy	Description	Best Use Case
None	Returns the output exactly as generated by the tool or post-processing script.	Technical debugging or raw data transfers.
Concise	Provides a brief, "just the facts" summary.	Quick mobile notifications or status updates.
Verbose	Provides a detailed, comprehensive explanation of the results.	Complex payroll queries where context is key.
Paraphrase	Rewrites the output in a more natural, conversational tone.	Enhancing the "human feel" of the AI interaction.
Summary for Search	Distills the data into a format optimized for search result snippets.	High-level overviews in a knowledge base context.

Implementation Steps
- Navigate to the Agent Tool record for Look up Payslip.
- Locate the Output transformation strategy dropdown menu on the right side of the form.
- Select your desired strategy (e.g., Concise for efficiency or Paraphrase for better UX).
- Click Update in the top right corner to save the changes.

Advanced Customization (Optional)

If the standard strategies do not meet your requirements, you can use the Post processing script area (ES12 mode supported) to programmatically filter or format the JSON output before the AI applies the transformation strategy.

How to provide great answers in the Community

ServiceNow — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:26:43 GMT

The ServiceNow Community thrives on the knowledge and experience you share. When you answer a question, you're not just solving a problem – you're teaching others and strengthening the Community.

Here's how to make your answers as helpful as possible.

Before You Answer

Before you reply, ask yourself:

Am I answering the question being asked?
Am I moving the conversation forward toward a solution?
Can I offer personal experience or proven solutions?

If you're not sure you have the right answer, ask clarifying questions. Good follow-up questions are essential for great answers.

Craft Clear, Useful Answers

Put your solution up front. If someone's looking for working code or a direct answer, give them that first. Then add context, explanations, and the "why" behind your approach.

Be specific. Share the steps you took, the settings you changed, or the code that solved the problem – and walk through your process so others can replicate or adapt it.
Format for readability. Use code blocks for code, bullet points or numbers for steps, and images when they clarify your solution.
Call out dependencies and options. If your solution depends on a specific release version, plugin, role, or configuration, say so. If there's more than one approach, explain the pros and cons of each.
Remove sensitive information. Blur, crop, or block out sensitive or identifying information such as company data, employee names, phone numbers, email addresses, and API keys before posting screenshots.
Match the technical level. Don't oversimplify for experienced users or overwhelm beginners with jargon. Read the question carefully and respond accordingly.
Link to resources. If you consulted documentation, a video, or another Community post, make sure to include the link(s).
Know when to escalate. If the issue needs support or goes beyond what the Community can address, call it out.

Community Etiquette

Stay constructive and encouraging. People are looking for answers, not corrections. Respect differences in knowledge, experience, and access to products.
Don't post low-effort, AI-generated answers. If you use AI to help draft or edit, proofread carefully and add authentic details from your own experience. The Community depends on thoughtful, real contributions.
Follow up if needed. If you're not sure your solution worked, ask. If new information comes up, update your answer.
Don't pressure members to mark your answer as accepted or helpful. Only the question author can mark answers as accepted. Your job is to provide a solution, not manage how it's received.

Great Answers From the Community

A picture is worth a thousand words, and a good example is worth... a thousand how-to articles? Here are a few examples of excellent forum answers from Community members to illustrate the concepts outlined above:

The Content Archive: Leveling Up Your Content Creation with the ServiceNow Community

jordancbaron — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 15:27:32 GMT

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to fine-tune your style, these tips, tricks, and insights from our Developer Advocates and Community experts will guide you through every facet of the content creation process

Check out the growing collection below, and keep an eye out. We’ll keep adding new resources as they drop:

How I Learned to Create Content (and How You Can, Too)

laurenmcman — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Is That a Robot Writing? When and how to use AI without losing your voice

Earl Duque — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 19:55:21 GMT

AI is here. AI is there. AI is everywhere.

When it comes to writing, we have a new tool that promises to help: Artificial Intelligence. When generative AI started to appear a couple years ago, it felt like magic to me, but nowadays it can also feel like a trap.

Honestly, nowadays, I almost always scroll past content that looks like it was completely AI-generated*. (* with a couple of exceptions, more on this later)

How do we use it to help us create without losing our unique, human perspective? How do we balance assistance with authentic creation?

In this post, we will cover when and how to utilize generative AI for text content and talk about (current) telltale signs that something is AI generated so that you can make sure your real content isn’t mistaken for a robot.

This is a lot, Earl. I am allergic to walls of text.

I get it, this blog is more than 3000 words long. Here are some alternative ways to consume this information:

Podcast style (generated via NotebookLM, audio gaffs and all):

(view in My Videos)

Instructional handout: https://gist.github.com/earlduque/04bd46b2741912c15abf40ec2be913da

Three Ways to Start with AI
Using AI as a Collaborator, Not a Ghostwriter
1. One Powerful Question to Ask an AI
2. A Non-Negotiable Rule for Code Snippets
A quick aside about also having grace when seeing AI content online
A Deep Dive into Keeping Your Content Human
Defining Your Relationship with AI
1. The Spectrum of Collaboration
2. Core Principles of an Effective Partnership
What to Delegate and What to Own
1. Tasks You Can Safely Delegate
2. Guardrails: Responsibility and Ethics
Conclusion

Three Ways to Start with AI

That initial hurdle of getting started is where I find AI to be most powerful. Again, it’s not about letting AI write for you, but letting AI help you build momentum. Here are three ways I do this:

Brainstorming Your Topic

AI shines the most when you have a general idea but don't know the best angle. I'll give it context: who I am, who my audience is, and what my goal is. Then I'll ask it to help me ideate. It might suggest different titles, angles, or additional topics I hadn't considered, all of which gives me a solid starting point.

Building a Narrative Arc

A list of facts isn't a blog post. The best content tells a story. I learned early on about things like the Hero's Journey (Wikipedia link) and how compelling a good story arc can be. Why are stories like Star Wars so popular? Because they follow a pattern that resonates with us.

Your technical blog can do the same. I often ask an AI to help me structure my post with a story arc:

The Problem: Start with a relatable issue.
The Stakes: What does this problem mean for you and others?
The Solution: This is the core of your content.
The Resolution: Connect it all back and provide next steps or a call to action.

Asking an AI to create a template with this kind of narrative structure helps ensure your post is engaging from beginning to end, not just a dry recitation of information.

Getting the Knowledge Out

This is my favorite technique, and it's exactly how this blog post came to be. I gave the AI a ton of context: my goal, my writing style, my audience, and what I wanted to cover. Then, I asked it to interview me.

I told it: "Keep asking me questions and follow-up questions until you think you have enough information to take MY thoughts (not generate new thoughts, but take MY thoughts), and organize them into a proper blog post. Use MY language as much as you can."

This process turns a daunting writing task into a simple conversation. It helps get the information out of my head and onto the page in my own words.

Here is a template of my exact prompt that i use: https://gist.github.com/earlduque/cee7693d3151d37a509a9424d4f018b8

In fact, I also use voice-to-text dictation services as if it’s a real spoken interview. It makes the blog sound even more like me because the responses that it’s using for the blog are my actual speaking style. Check out this video from me and Travis about this process:

Using AI as a Collaborator, Not a Ghostwriter

Once you have a draft, the temptation is to let AI "clean it up." Be careful here though because this is where your voice can get lost. I try to utilize my own writing as much as possible, but I do use AI for a very specific kind of feedback.

One Powerful Question to Ask an AI

After I've written my draft, I give the entire text to an AI and ask one simple question: "What did I miss?"

This is so much better than "make this better" or "edit this" or “expand this.” It doesn't rewrite my content or change my voice. Instead, it acts as a gut check. It might recommend things I can expand on or point out a relevant topic I completely forgot to include. It helps me see my own blind spots while keeping me in the driver's seat. I also use it to check for tone or idioms that might not land with our global audience.

A Non-Negotiable Rule for Code Snippets

AI is incredibly good at writing code. But you should never just copy and paste an AI-generated code snippet into your content without testing it yourself.

If you're just posting code that anyone could have generated with an AI chatbot, what's the point of you posting it? Your value as an author comes from your credibility. You need to vet that code, run it, and make sure it works exactly as you expect. You are the one vouching for it. Use AI to check your code for errors or style, yes, but always, always test it yourself.

A quick aside about also having grace when seeing AI content online

Earlier, I said that I scroll past clearly AI generated content now, but this is a perfect time for me to clarify what I meant.

To me, it's obvious when AI was used to 100% generate content from a simple prompt that is a few words. Nowadays, I can tell if someone still infused their own voice and/or stories/anecdotes that make it unique and why it warrants my attention.

I want to acknowledge that AI is very helpful to our sector because of that “global audience” that I just mentioned. An entire post may feel like it’s AI generated but part of the usefulness of AI is that it breaks down two barriers: language and writing ability/experience.

So, as we go into “signs something was written by AI”, it’s important to acknowledge that I do not mean to say that something that is mostly AI sounding is inherently bad, but the lack of personal voice, experience, and the human posting it, is what makes this content skippable.

A Deep Dive into Keeping Your Content Human

As time goes on, it's becoming more and more obvious when content is 100% AI-generated. It has a certain "feel" that sets off a lot of our BS detectors now. To get good at fixing this in your own workflow, you first have to understand why it happens and then learn how to spot the tells.

Why AI Sounds Robotic

That's how LLMs work.

At its core, an LLM just predicts the most statistically probable next word. This is why its output is inherently predictable, repetitive, and generic. It’s leaning on common patterns from its training data, like the formal language of corporate press releases.

And if thousands of journals and articles and educational studies are available online and open licensed to be used in training data. Bingo bango, suddenly the LLM is thinking that’s how everyone wants to speak (at least when it defaults to responding “professionally”).

And the absence of self.

AI can mimic human language, but it can't replicate lived experience, emotion, or vulnerability. So, we encounter the "uncanny valley" effect: the grammar is perfect, but the text feels lifeless and lacks personality. The "imperfections" of human writing (short-hand, idioms, silly phrases, slang, etc.) are now valuable signals of authenticity.

Many of us have seen how generative AI loves em dashes, almost to the point that it’s a meme and clear giveaway that it is AI generated. But I also noticed that AI loves using the “It’s not just X, it’s Y” sentence structure. I did some research (along with asking Gemini and ChatGPT to do deep research too), and asked AI to compile all my notes to this multi-level framework of things to watch out for and how to fix them (as of September 2025):

Side note: I also think it’s funny because you can tell the following section is obviously AI-generated.

Level 1: Macro-Level Flaws (Structure and Flow)

This is about the big-picture architecture of your post.

How to Spot It:

Formulaic Introductions: The text opens with a rigid template, like identifying a "pain point" before hinting at a solution.
Predictable Outlines: The document follows a rigid, step-by-step format with an overabundance of headings and numbered lists, sacrificing flow for efficiency.
Redundant Conclusions: The conclusion is just a rehash of the introduction or a simple summary, offering no new insight.
Clunky Transitions: The connections between sections feel "stitched together" rather than flowing as a cohesive narrative.

How to Fix It:

Deconstruct the Hook: Rebuild the intro around a surprising statistic, a provocative question, or a compelling micro-story.
Restructure the Narrative: Break the rigid outline. Re-sequence sections to build suspense or follow a more engaging story arc.
Fortify the Conclusion: Instead of summarizing, synthesize your points into a powerful final insight or a forward-looking statement.
Weave Seamless Transitions: Rewrite the connections between paragraphs to ensure a logical and elegant flow.

Level 2: Meso-Level Flaws (Rhetoric and Sentence Patterns)

This is about how your sentences are built and how they sound.

How to Spot It:

The Emphatic Contrast: Overuse of the predictable phrase, "It's not just X, it's Y."
Syntactic Over-Complexity: A heavy reliance on verbs ending in "-ing" and "nominalizations" (e.g., "robustness" instead of "is robust"). The AI is mimicking complex academic writing without the nuanced thought behind it.
High Symmetry: Too many sentences follow the same template, such as "By doing X, you can achieve Y."
Overused Conjunctions: A repetitive rhythm created by pairs like "whether...or" and "not only...but also."

How to Fix It:

Vary Syntactic Rhythms: Hunt for and eliminate repetitive sentence templates. Convert long "-ing" clauses into crisp, direct statements.
Prioritize Clarity Over Complexity: Replace nominalizations with active verbs to make your writing more engaging.
Replace Rhetorical Templates: Build a substantive argument with original phrasing and evidence instead of relying on formulas.

(Also, this entire section is obviously AI because AI likes to construct information in the format of “bulleted list item with a title followed by explanation.” Not every list needs a summary for every single line!)

Level 3: Micro-Level Flaws (The "AI Vernacular")

This is about the specific, overused words and phrases that are dead giveaways.

Hilarious and fun stats about the over-representation of specific words and phrases that appear more frequently in AI writing than human writing:

The phrase "play a significant role in shaping" is used 182 times more often by AI than by humans.
The phrase "today's fast-paced world" is used 107 times more frequently by AI than by humans.
Present participial clauses (verbs ending in "-ing") are used by LLMs at a rate two to five times higher than in human text.
Nominalizations (nouns formed from verbs or adjectives, such as "robustness" or "development") are used at 1.5 to 2 times the human rate.

Sources: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2422455122 and https://gptzero.me/news/most-common-ai-vocabulary/

How to Spot It:

Flowery Buzzwords: An overabundance of words like "delve," "harness," "leverage," "crucial," and "furthermore."
Overused Clichés: Generic opening phrases like "In today's fast-paced world..."
Inflated Motivational Phrases: Exaggerated statements like "stands as a testament" or "plays a vital role."
Corporate Jargon: A high frequency of terms like "seamlessly integrated" and "game-changing."

How to Fix It:

Replace Jargon with Precision: Eradicate generic adjectives. Show, don't tell.
Write with Conviction: Eliminate filler words and hedging to create a direct and confident tone.
Pursue Original Phrasing: Actively remove clichés. Challenge yourself to express common ideas in a fresh, memorable way.

Level 4: The Human Touch (Tone, Voice, and Punctuation)

This is about injecting your personality back into the text.

How to Spot It:

Polished but Lifeless Tone: The prose is grammatically perfect but feels sterile, neutral, and without personality.
Absence of "Rough Edges": The writing lacks the slang, contractions, humor, and personal asides that make a voice feel real.
Lack of Human Perspective: There are no personal anecdotes, real-world examples, or genuine emotion.
Punctuation Quirks: Look for an obsession with em dashes (—) and formulaic emoji use (🚀, ✨).

How to Fix It:

Inject a Point of View: Establish a clear stance—be skeptical, enthusiastic, or instructional, but be something.
Ground Abstractions in Reality: Weave in personal stories, case studies, or real-world examples.
Adopt a Natural Cadence: Use contractions and conversational language where appropriate.
Punctuate with Intent: Use punctuation as a tool for style, not just correctness. Ensure any emojis or bolding feel like a deliberate authorial choice.

Defining Your Relationship with AI

So far, we’ve been talking about written copy in terms of things like social media, blog posts, articles, and journalistic mediums. I want to aknowledge though that using AI to do most of the work has its place. You just have to be intentional about when and how much to use it. You need to be strategic:

AI as an Assistant (Human-Led): This is for low-stakes tasks. You have full creative control. Think of using a tool like Grammarly to catch typos. You accept or reject the suggestions to ensure your voice remains intact.
AI as a Co-Creator (Mixed-Initiative): More of a partnership. You provide a detailed prompt (note that I said “detailed.” Otherwise, it’s garbage-in, garbage-out), and the AI generates a starting point, like a blog outline or a list of ideas. You then take that as a starting point and shape it with your own insights and experience.
AI as an Automator (AI-Driven with Human Oversight): This is for repetitive, high-volume tasks. A great example is what my team often does: after a livestream, which is 100% original human content, we feed the transcript to an AI and ask it to create a blog post. This allows us to reach a whole new audience without the massive overhead of writing it from scratch. But even then, a human always reviews and refines the output.
(Btw, the exact prompt we use to do this is here: https://gist.github.com/earlduque/26585a744265f40ad336d934d57be84a)
Or for the developer audience, AI is really helpful when it leads the charge with things like summarizing release notes or generating a massive amount of technical documentation.

Across all these models, three principles are key:

Generic prompts get generic results. The more context you give the AI about your goal, audience, and tone, the better the output will be. You need DETAILED prompts, otherwise it’s garbage-in garbage-out.
Know AI's limitations. It can hallucinate (AI-speak for making random stuff up) and generate false information with complete confidence. Trust it for brainstorming, and demonstrate rigor with your verification and proof-reading processes.
Treat it like a conversation. If you don't like the first response, provide feedback, ask follow-up questions, and refine your prompts to steer it in the right direction.

What to Delegate and What to Own

So, what parts of your workflow can you safely "AI-away" for maximum efficiency?

Tasks You Can Safely Delegate (with Human Review):

Summarizing: Feed it long documents or transcripts to get the key takeaways.
Outlining: Give it a topic and let it propose a structure.
Drafting boilerplate content: Use it for first drafts of things like release notes or standard descriptions.
Rephrasing: Ask it to simplify technical jargon or convert a formal draft to a conversational tone.
Content repurposing: Take your final, human-approved blog post and ask it to create social media snippets or an email summary.

Guardrails: Responsibility and Ethics

Delegation is not abdication. You are always the final owner.

Fact-check everything: The human must be the final reviewer of truth. Treat every stat, date, and claim from an AI as unverified until you've explicitly confirmed it.
Always seek originality: AI learns from the internet, including copyrighted material. The only true path to originality is to infuse the content with your own new insights, unique experiences, and distinct voice. That is something that cannot be plagiarized.
Watch for Bias: AI models can inherit biases from their training data. It's your job to ensure the content you publish is fair, inclusive, and represents diverse perspectives accurately.

Conclusion: Your Voice is Your Value

I firmly believe that if you're writing content from the beginning, it should be as original as possible. Your language, your perspective, your story. That is the whole point.

Everybody has a unique perspective that should be present in everything they do. Your experiences, your background, the reason why you're writing will make any content you create unique. Even if it's a technical subject that's been covered a thousand times, your individual experience makes it fresh. If you let an AI write the whole thing, what was the point of the post being authored by you?

AI is a phenomenal tool. It can help us overcome hurdles, be more efficient, and get our ideas out into the world. But you must be the author. You are the expert. Your voice, your experience, and your willingness to share are what make this community great.

Use AI to start the conversation. Use it to find your blind spots. But always, always make sure the final product sounds like you and reflects your own understanding. Otherwise, what’s the difference between reading from you and reading from an AI chatbot?

How to elevate the quality of your blog articles

Travis Toulson — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 17:51:57 GMT

Blogging is more than just putting words on a page. There is an art to creating a well written article. Done well, an article can influence, educate, entertain, or inspire others. Fortunately, this is a skill that can be learned. This guide will help you on your path to creating high-quality articles that make a lasting impact.

Craft a compelling title

Your title plays a number of critical roles in the success of your article. Most obviously, it is the first impression readers have of your article. It can determine whether readers click through the social media link or search result to read your article in the first place. Additionally, the title plays an important role in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), affecting what searches will lead to your article. Lastly, it sets the reader's expectations for the contents of the article. To craft a compelling title, you want to make sure the title is:

Clear: Avoid cryptic or overly clever titles. The title should be easy to comprehend.
Descriptive: The title should match the content of the article
Intriguing: Your title should communicate why the reader should read the article. In many cases, this can be as simple as illustrating the problem the article solves.

With those criteria, let's look at a few examples:

Good Examples

How to do full text search with GlideRecord - Simple, concise, and perfectly describes the contents. "How to <something>" is a very useful structure for meaningful titles. It shows that you don't need to be clever to be intriguing.
Setting up and testing your first GraphQL API Tutorial - Once again, this title is clear, descriptive, and clearly articulates its value to the reader. Titles and articles that address "first" experiences or "getting started" are typically appealing to a wide audience, because we all have to start somewhere!
AI-Powered ATF Testing: How Now Assist for Test Creation Saves Developers Time - This one is great on so many levels. It gives a short, pithy message with "AI-Powered ATF Testing" followed by a longer, more descriptive sub-title. This split can help you achieve a balance between fun titles and meaningful titles. It also is a great reminder that long titles can be a great way to differentiate from other similar articles.

Bad Examples

Time Zones: Why You Punish Me - Sure, it's a great Hootie and the Blowfish reference but would you, dear reader, guess that it was about GlideDateTime and the complexities of working with time zones? Maybe, maybe not. It's not particularly clear or descriptive. I tried to get too clever with this one. A better title might have been Understanding Time Zones when working with Service Portal and GlideDateTime.
Is GlideRecord getValue the King of the String - I love this title. I do. But I hear all the time about how people almost missed this gem because of the title. Once again, I tried to be a little too clever. A better title would have been Should I use getValue or toString when working with GlideRecord.

Breaking Rules

Configuration vs Customization: Which Is It? - Technically a presentation but still relevant. The content completely undermines the title which technically violates both the clear and descriptive criteria. But the title is intentionally baiting on a well-known debate in order to reframe the conversation. In this way, the title is misleading but satisfyingly so for the reader. Sometimes, rules are meant to be broken.

Structure Your Content

Oddly enough, not everyone reads the same way. Some readers will read the entire article, some will simply scan it, some will skip around. Be kind to your reader, structure your content to ensure it is easy to navigate, regardless of reading style. There are a few things you can do ensure your content is navigable:

Use headings: Headings make content infinitely more scannable. Headings should summarize the key points of the article. If the reader can grasp the main points by only reading the headings, you've nailed it.
Use whitespace: Whitespace is extremely important for visual hierarchy. Headings are easier to spot when there is a little more space between them and the text preceding it. Conversely, text that provides details for the heading should be closer. You can also use whitespace around code blocks or important one-line paragraphs. A good command of white space will draw the readers eyes to the important parts.
Use bold text sparingly: Bold text can draw a lot of attention and be very distracting when overused. Typically, you should bold as few words as possible to get your point across. Same rule applies for words in ALL CAPS and other "loud" text.
Use code blocks: Code blocks are a great way to visually differentiate code from other body text. Code outside of a code block can make it harder to parse the difference between the code and the body text.var incident = new GlideRecord('incident');
Use consistent fonts and sizes: Body text is body text and should look like other body text. Heading text is heading text and should look like other heading text. Avoid the temptation to make one off changes like making one word in the body text a larger font size than the rest. Your choices of font, size, and color should communicate something. Be consistent in those choices and avoid the appearance of randomness.
Incorporate Visuals: Graphics, screenshots, and icons are a great way to enhance the quality of your article and they also reinforce the structure. These visuals can make larger articles easier to scan and can reinforce topics for visual learners. Take a look at this article's use of graphics and how each graphic reflects the heading it is under. Or this article's use of emoji to visually differentiate the bullet points in different sections.

Using a consistent set of rules for the visual structure of your article can make it infinitely easier for readers to navigate the information you've provided.

Add Original Insights

The one thing that sets your blog apart from all the others is you. Your unique perspective is something no one else has. To truly elevate your content, you need to find a way to incorporate your experiences, perspectives, and insights.

When you share announcements about new features, try to elevate that content by sharing a time you wish you had that feature before. Or by sharing how you plan to use the feature in your day-to-day work.

When you share excerpts of other people's content, elevate it by telling how the content helped you specifically. Why did you find the content interesting? What experiences have you had that made the content you are sharing relatable to you?

When you share new certifications or accomplishments, consider sharing specifics about how you prepared or what you did to get to where you are. Take those moments as an opportunity to share your journey, what worked, and what didn't.

Your insights and experiences are more important to others than you may realize. So be sure to share them!

Conclusion

Writing a blog article is both an art and a skill that can profoundly impact readers. By carefully crafting compelling titles, structuring your content for easy navigation, and incorporating your unique insights and experiences, you can be well on your way to writing articles that leave a lasting impression.

How to get started with a blog

Travis Toulson — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 17:30:36 GMT

Blogging is one of the simplest ways to get started in sharing your knowledge, experiences, and insights about the ServiceNow platform. As a technical professional, you likely already have everything you need to start: a computer, an internet connection, and unique perspective to share with the community. But the process of getting started can still feel intimidating, so this guide will help you establish your ServiceNow blog.

Step 1: (Pre)Write

Right now, pick one of the following questions and write down your answer. You can do it in Word, notepad, VS Code, on a napkin. It can be a one sentence answer, an outline, a paragraph, bullet points, your inner monologue, it doesn't matter, just write your answer to the one of the following questions in the first way that comes to you:

What is something new you learned today about ServiceNow?
What problem did you encounter at work today and how did you solve it?
What is one thing about the ServiceNow platform you wish everyone knew about?
What is one thing you would change about the ServiceNow platform to make it better?
What is one thing about ServiceNow that you wish was explained better?

Did you write down your answer? If you did, congratulations, you just completed one of the hardest steps of writing. You have communicated your thoughts. You can keep it, refine it, or throw it away. It doesn't matter, you still wrote something and that is something to be proud of.

One of the easiest mistakes to make when it comes to writing a blog is to focus on everything except the writing. It's easy to get distracted by things like choosing a blogging platform, coming up with ideas, trying to come up with catchy titles, etc. It's easy to have a list of ideas for articles that you never actually sit down to flesh out. I have at least three of those lists.

As silly as it sounds, if you want to make blog articles then you have to write. Not everything you write will make its way to being published. Some ideas will work out better than others. Somethings you write will immediately goes into the trashcan. Some of the things you write will only ever be seen by you. And that's ok.

In fact, it's the best part. You can write your questions, your thoughts, or even the words of others. You can write anything that you think might help you work out your draft. You never really know if the things you write are worth publishing or deleting until you've written them down. That's why the first step to starting a blog is to start writing.

And if you ever run into trouble figuring out what to write about, you can always refer to the questions above to help you as a prompt!

Step 2: Refine Your Draft

With that draft that you wrote in the first step, you will likely find that it's not quite right. Depending on your pre-writing style, you may have a great outline of an idea but not enough details. Maybe you answered the question in two rough sentences and are thinking your article looks a little short. Maybe you went stream of consciousness and are now sitting on the War and Peace of Today I Learned. Maybe you ended up with a mind map of ideas.

Whatever your approach to step 1, the next step is going to involve refining your draft into something that is pretty close to the final article. This process involves finding the right structure and level of detail. It might help to consider some common ways to structure an article:

Five-paragraph essay: Structured as an introduction, three (or more) supporting ideas, and a conclusion.
- Useful for articles presenting opinions, best practices, reviews, and other articles where you are trying to persuade others.
Chronological: Structured around the order things happened or should happen.
- Useful for how to articles, news articles, or stories
Comparison: Structured around individual attributes in which two or more items are compared
- Useful for "when should I use / choose" type articles and comparative reviews
Q&A: Structured as a series of questions and answers
- Useful for interviews and FAQs
List: Structured around the individual items of the list
- Useful for roundups, ranking lists, and others
Research: Structure usually includes sections for introduction, methods, results, discussion, and appendices
- Useful for reporting experiments and results

There are of course other ways to structure your article, but when you are getting started, it can help to follow some well-known templates. If you look at the headings of many of your favorite articles, you can probably identify one of the structures above.

Now consider your own work in progress. What structure and headings would best fit the information you are trying to communicate. Write those down and then work your details into that structure. Feel free to experiment with different approaches. Your draft is meant to change and evolve, rewriting is part of the process.

Step 3: Find Your Voice

With your article now nearly complete, take a moment to find your voice. If you read through enough blog articles and you will find that each one has a different voice to it. Some articles sound like a technical white paper while others sound like a conversation with a friend. It's important to establish your voice in your writing and to try to maintain a consistent voice across most of your articles. Your audience will come to know you by your voice, it tells them who you are.

There are two things to consider when finding your voice in writing: yourself and your audience. An article is a conversation between you and your audience, so what does that conversation look like? Do you see yourself as a professor teaching a class? As a quirky geek trying to relate to your peers? As a standup comedian entertaining an audience? Revise your article to make sure it has a consistent voice and also check for spelling and grammatical errors while you are at it.

Step 4: Publish

Once you are happy with your article, you may want to consider handing it off to a peer to look over. But once you are happy with it, it's time to publish! There are of course a number of options for publishing your article.

The simplest choice is to publish in the ServiceNow Community! Publishing in the Community frees you from having to worry too much about reaching an audience. The Community already has built in search, has categories and topics defined, performs well in search engine results, and gives you immediate access to a large audience who is interested in ServiceNow. It frees you from most of the concerns of having to run a blogging platform. As an added bonus, you can earn all those lovely points in the Community.

You can also choose any number of other platforms. Some platforms such as Medium or Squarespace have a low barrier to entry similar to the ServiceNow Community although you will still have to do some more work to do to reach your audience. You could also choose platforms like WordPress or Ghost if you prefer to take a little more control over your hosting platform. If you prefer working in text files and git repos, you might want to choose static site generators like Hugo or Jekyll.

And don't worry about your initial choice, you can always change later (though it can be a bit of work). Personally, my blog started on the ServiceNow Community, migrated to Medium, then to Squarespace for a bit, then to Hugo, and now I'm back on the ServiceNow Community again.

The important part is to get started!

Step 5: Promote

Once your article is published, you should spend some time promoting it. This is especially true if you chose to publish outside of the ServiceNow Community. You put a lot of work into your article, so make sure people see it. Personally, I do most of my promotion on LinkedIn but you should choose the forum that works for you. At first, you may not see much of a response and that is normal. If you stay consistent, you will see your audience grow and be able to reach more people.

Step 6: Do It Again Consistently

That brings us to the last step which is to keep writing consistently! Consistency doesn't have to mean every day or weekly. If you can manage that, awesome! Traditionally, I've been more of a Netflix show writer. I drop an entire season of content for people to binge read and then disappear until enough people ask if I'm coming back for another season. As a Developer Advocate, I've had to start blocking out time on my calendar to create content. I've learned that if you wait to find the time or the right idea to write about, you might be waiting a long time. It's really important to schedule time to write.

Ultimately, remember that all of this is just a suggestion. There is no one correct way to write. As you write, you will find your own process that is comfortable for you. The most important part is to enjoy it because that is what will keep you coming back to do it again.

Your Content Deserves Better: Choosing the right format for the max impact

Earl Duque — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 20:31:06 GMT

Hi Community!

This blog post is for those who are interested in content creation and for those who are interested in how to determine what format your content should be in.

I’ve spent years creating content across every platform imaginable, and I’ve learned a crucial lesson, sometimes the hard way: the format you choose is as important as the message itself. Trying to cram a deep-dive tutorial into a 60-second video is like trying to explain the intricacies of a Flow Designer process in a single tweet. It just doesn’t connect.

Before we get into the guide though, it's not a list of rigid rules (incredible niches and communities can grow from exceptions to any rules), but the key to all of this is being intentional. Think of this as understanding which way the river is flowing. You can choose to go with it for maximum reach, or you can intentionally be the rock that diverts its flow to create something new and powerful.

The Quick Guide: Your Content-Format Cheat Sheet

For those who want the highlights, here’s a high-level guide. If you want to understand the why behind these suggestions and when to break the rules, keep reading for the deep dive.

Short-Form Video (TikTok, Reels, Shorts): Use for quick, high-impact entertainment, humorous skits about the tech world, relatable developer moments, and lightning-fast Q&As. Hook them in 3 seconds.
Shorter Video (3-5 min YouTube): The sweet spot for technical tutorials. Dedicate the video to answering one specific question or showing off one specific feature. Think: "How to configure a notification in ServiceNow Studio."
Long-Form Video (30+ min YouTube): Perfect for full deep dives, end-to-end project builds, or complex conceptual explanations. Requires a plan to keep viewers engaged.
Live Streams (YouTube, LinkedIn): Ideal for interactive sessions, live demos, and audience Q&As. The value is in the unedited, authentic interaction. Your personality is a key feature here.
Blog Posts (Personal or Community): Unbeatable for detailed, technical write-ups, tutorials with lots of code snippets, and nuanced thought leadership. They are searchable, updatable, and easy to reference.
Podcasts: Best for conversational deep dives, interviews, and exploring the "why" behind technical topics. The banter and storytelling make complex ideas memorable.
Feed Posts (LinkedIn, Instagram): Use for sparking professional conversations, sharing infographics, and creating snackable mini-tutorials via carousels. Tailor your hook: text-first for LinkedIn, image-first for Instagram.

Choosing Your Format with Intention

Short-Form Video (< 3 minutes): The Art of the Scroll-Stopper

I’ve been lucky enough that my comedic tech skits have brought in millions of views on TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels. It’s not because I’m a professional comedian; it’s because humor is a shared language. Making fun of ourselves, our industry, and yes, even our own software, shows a relatability that cuts through the corporate noise. To make a ServiceNow concept funny, I just think about my own experiences: the frustrating, the surprising, the exciting. That shared feeling of “I’ve been there” is what earns the laugh and the follow.

When to use it: When you want to build brand awareness, show personality, and connect with a broader tech audience. A skit about the first time you ran a script in production will be more memorable than a dry feature list.
Common Mistakes to Avoid:
- Ignoring the 3-Second Rule: If you haven’t hooked them immediately, they’re gone.
- Forgetting Accessibility: Most short-form is watched muted. Use burned-in captions.
- Treating it like a Trailer: Don’t just chop up a longer video. Create a standalone piece with its own hook, story, and payoff. A purpose-filmed clip will almost always outperform a snippet from a longer session.

Remember: If this appeared in your feed, would you immediately swipe it away?

"Shorter" Video (3-5 minutes): The Technical Sweet Spot

Think about the last time you were stuck on a problem. You likely searched Google or YouTube for a very specific topic. You didn’t want a 60-minute lecture; you wanted a 4-minute video that got right to the point. This is why shorter technical videos have so much power, it’s designed to be the exact answer to a specific search query.

Some our most successful playlists are collections of these concise, targeted videos. Each one stands on its own, but together, they form a comprehensive learning path.

When to use it: For a focused demo on a single feature, a tutorial on a specific task, or an answer to a common question from the community.
How to Keep it Concise:
- Cut the Fluff: Keep your intro short.
- Stay on Topic: Ask yourself, "Does this detail serve the video's core promise?" If it's a "nice-to-have," put it in the description or save it for another video.
- Edit for Brevity: Edit your video so that what is left is only what drives the conversation/topic forward.
Remember: Watch your own video. Does it feel like something you’d watch yourself? If you get bored, so will your audience.

Long-Form Video (30+ minutes): The Comprehensive Journey

Long-form content is for the dedicated learner who wants to see the entire process. To hold someone's attention for this long, you need to create a rhythm. I do this by oscillating between two paces:

The high-level "why": Explaining the overall goal and the strategic thinking.
The deep-dive "how": Showing the click-by-click, line-by-line execution.

This back-and-forth keeps the content from becoming a monotonous tutorial.

Additionally, something we are trying more of now is that we try providing resources along with these videos (and live streams). If I'm walking through a lab, I share a link to the lab materials. If I’m writing a complex script, I’ll publish a blog post with the code snippets right before I go live. This respects the viewer's desire to follow along and is an act of empathy for different learning styles.

Other tips
- Captions: for all video lengths, captions are great for both those who cannot utilize the sound and for those who rely on auto-translation services (look up how to make a sidecar .srt file instead of burning-in your captions).
- Chapters: On YouTube, adding chapters in your description helps break up videos into chunks that help the user digest the longer content.
Remember: 30 minutes is a long time to ask of someone in an age where every device and screen is asking for our attention, how are you making your videos more consumable and worthy of the viewers’ time?

Live Streams: The Power of Being Human

Live streams are powerful because they are unedited. That might sound scary, but it’s a feature, not a bug. It’s where your community gets to see the real you.

Just this morning, I started a stream and talked for three full minutes while muted. When I realized my mistake, I leaned into it. I facepalmed hard and bowed my head in defeat, and the chat lit up with encouragement. They loved it (despite my incredible embarrassment)! We immediately wove it into the theme of our channel: we make mistakes, we own them, and we work through them live. Those moments of personality builds trust that perfectly polished, pre-recorded videos sometimes cannot do.

LinkedIn vs. YouTube: Be intentional. My LinkedIn network is full of industry professionals looking for career insights, networking, and trends. But on YouTube, people subscribe to many kinds of channels and are open to a wider variety of content. A professional-focused panel discussion is perfect for LinkedIn Live. A hands-on build-along with a bit more personality shines on YouTube Live.
Pro-Tip: Live streaming is a team sport. If you can, have a dedicated producer switching scenes and a person monitoring chat for questions. This frees up the presenter to focus on delivering a great demo.
Remember: You have a live audience, do not neglect them or else why make it a live stream?

The exception to this last statement about "why make it a live stream" is if you're doing it for efficiency. The ultimate goal for many of us is to produce a high-quality video that's ready to publish the moment you go offline, saving you from the time-consuming process of post-production editing. To make this work, you have to treat the live stream like a VOD (video-on-demand) from the start. This means practicing good on-air discipline: jumping right into your topic without the "we'll wait a few minutes for people to join" dead air, maintaining a clear structure for your content, and managing chat interactions in a way that adds value without derailing the core topic for future viewers. If your stream involves long pauses, gets heavily sidetracked by conversations that only make sense in the moment, or suffers a major technical issue, it will likely create a poor VOD experience. In those cases, you should protect your audience's time. Don't publish it automatically. Take it down, edit out the rough spots, and then release the polished, valuable resource you intended to create all along.

Blogs: The Foundation of Detailed Knowledge

In a world dominated by video, don't let the hype make you forget the foundational power of the written word. A blog post remains one of the most valuable assets you can create, especially for a technical audience. It offers a level of control and utility that other formats simply can't match.

Here’s why a blog is still the ideal format for your most detailed work:

Unmatched Detail: You have unlimited space to explore nuance, provide comprehensive explanations, and cover edge cases that would never fit in a video.
Developer-Friendly: A blog is easily searchable and, most importantly, allows for copy-and-pasteable code snippets, a true developer’s dream.
A Living Document: Unlike a video, a blog post can be easily updated when a feature changes or a new API is released, ensuring your content stays relevant over time.
Precision and Control: Text gives you the ultimate control to explain complex ideas with the exact precision they require, without the risk of being misunderstood on camera.
Large Language Model searching: Blogs and written posts are still the main drivers for LLM Search engines like Perplexity and Google AI Mode.

Podcasts: Where Banter Becomes a Study Guide

For those who learn best through conversation, or for anyone trying to learn while commuting, walking the dog, or washing dishes, audio is a uniquely powerful and intimate medium. A podcast excels at making dense topics feel accessible and turning complex ideas into engaging stories.

It’s like an audio study guide that connects with listeners because it:

Fosters Connection: The conversational format feels like listening to trusted friends, making the learning process less intimidating and more engaging.
Makes Ideas Stick: The natural flow of conversation, complete with banter, anecdotes, and real-world examples, helps make complex technical ideas memorable and easier to latch onto.
Strips Away the Filler: A good podcast conversation cuts to the heart of a topic, breaking down dense subjects into digestible insights and key takeaways.
Offers Passive Learning: It allows your audience to absorb information while doing other things, fitting into the pockets of their busy lives where a video or blog post can't.

Feed Posts (LinkedIn & Instagram): Visual Anchor Posts

Shout out to Paul Pradap Chandru for pointing out that I was missing Instagram posts! While I covered Instagram Reels in the Short-form section, I’m editing this blog to add this section about “Feed” style posts.

A well-crafted static post can be a powerful anchor, stopping us from scrolling and inviting a moment of focused attention. While they might seem simpler than video, text-and-image posts on platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram have their own set of rules for success. The key different lies in what leads the conversation: the text or the image.

LinkedIn Posts: Where Text Leads the Way

On LinkedIn, the audience is looking for professional insights, career lessons, and industry analysis. Here, your words are just as important as the visual that you include. The first one or two lines of your post are the most valuable real estate you have (especially because the rest of your text is often hidden under the “view more” fold). An image or graphic serves as a scroll-stopper and a visual reinforcement of your message, but the text is the key to any call-to-action or engagement you hope for.

When to use it: For sharing thought leadership, announcing new content (like a blog or video), summarizing key takeaways from a project, or asking a question to spark a professional discussion.

How to Make it Effective:

Craft a great hook: Your first sentence must create curiosity or state a bold opinion to make people click "...see more."
Use Strategic Formatting: Break up long paragraphs. Use bullet points or numbered lists to make your key points scannable and digestible.
The Image is Supportive: The visual should complement your text. This could be a simple branded graphic with a key quote, a relevant photo, or a chart illustrating a point. Its job is to grab the eye, so the brain can engage with the text.

A Special Case: The LinkedIn Carousel (The Snackable Slide Deck)

A carousel post (uploaded as a PDF) is one of the most engaging formats on the platform. It turns a static post into an interactive mini-presentation, encouraging users to click/swipe through to get the full story.

When to use it: Perfect for repurposing content. Turn a blog post into 5 key takeaways, a tutorial into 7 step-by-step slides, or a complex concept into a simplified visual breakdown.

Carousel Best Practices:

Your First Slide is the Title: Treat it like a headline. It needs to be compelling enough to earn the first click.
One Idea Per Slide: Don't clutter your slides. Keep them clean, visual, and focused on a single point.
End with a Call to Action (CTA): The final slide should encourage engagement. Ask a question, prompt a discussion in the comments, or direct them to a link.

Remember: A great LinkedIn post starts a conversation. The goal isn't just to broadcast, but to engage with the comments and build your professional network.

Instagram Posts: Where the Visual Tells the Story

On Instagram, the roles are reversed. The image or graphic is the hero. It's the first thing people see and it must tell a story, evoke an emotion, or present information in a visually stunning way. The caption provides context, adds depth, and drives the conversation, but it can't save a weak visual.

When to use it: Ideal for behind-the-scenes glimpses, infographics that simplify technical topics, visually appealing code snippets (styled for readability!), or team photos that showcase your company culture.

How to Make it Effective:

Prioritize Visual Quality: Grainy photos or poorly designed graphics won't cut it. Your visuals need to be crisp, clear, and on-brand.
Let the Caption Add Value: Use the caption to explain the "why" behind the photo, share the step-by-step process of the infographic, or tell the personal story that the image hints at.
Leverage Carousels for Education: Instagram carousels are fantastic for mini-tutorials. For example: Slide 1 shows the final result of a UI design, and slides 2-5 break down the key steps to achieve it.

Remember: On Instagram, you are building a connection with the person or brand behind the account. Your feed is a visual representation of your story so make sure each post is a compelling chapter.

Your Turn to Share

I know this is a lot to take in. But remember that first question? Why are you doing this? You have a unique perspective worth sharing.

So here’s my challenge to you. Don't worry about being on every platform or being perfect. Start with the format that feels the most fun and interesting for you. If you love writing, start a blog. If you love talking, record a podcast.

And as you begin, remember that being intentional with your format isn't about following rules, it's about respecting your audience and making your powerful message even more effective. It’s an act of understanding that builds trust and turns an audience into a community.

Now go create something amazing. We’re all waiting to learn from you!

Podcast: Break Point - Lauren's Crash Course on Content Creation

laurenmcman — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 13:10:36 GMT

In this solo episode, I dig into a practical crash course on getting started with content creation as a ServiceNow developer. From choosing your audience and generating ideas to scripting, recording, editing, and promotion, I break things down in a simple, low-cost strategy to help you create engaging, consistent content.

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 Introduction
03:27 Part 1 - Ideation
09:44 Part 2 - Construction
16:12 Part 3 - Recording
21:39 Part 4 - Editing
33:41 Part 5 - Promotion
37:14 Conclusion

rss.livelink.threads-in-node

CMDB Guardian: A Free Chrome Extension to Simplify CMDB Analysis in ServiceNow

Introduction

Why I Built CMDB Guardian

What CMDB Guardian Does

Key Features

Latest Improvements

Community First

Try CMDB Guardian

About the Author

Field-level edit control in Project Workspace grid using custom column criteria

What problem does this solve?

Prerequisites

How it works

Supported operators

Solution

Step 1- Create the Script Include

Step 2 - Override getConfig() with your rules

Base template

Example 1- Disable a field when a task is closed

Example 2 - Disable a field for multiple states

Example 3 — Disable a field when another field is empty

Example 4 - Disable a field based on a boolean

Example 5 - Dot-walk: disable based on assignee’s manager

Example 6 - Dot-walk: disable based on assignee’s department

Combining multiple rules

Step 3 - Verify

Quick reference

Important notes

AI agent: Transition to a more adaptive, conversational, and human-like interaction model

How to provide great answers in the Community

Before You Answer

Craft Clear, Useful Answers

Community Etiquette

Great Answers From the Community

The Content Archive: Leveling Up Your Content Creation with the ServiceNow Community

How I Learned to Create Content (and How You Can, Too)

Is That a Robot Writing? When and how to use AI without losing your voice

This is a lot, Earl. I am allergic to walls of text.

Table of Contents

Three Ways to Start with AI

Brainstorming Your Topic

Building a Narrative Arc

Getting the Knowledge Out

Using AI as a Collaborator, Not a Ghostwriter

One Powerful Question to Ask an AI

A Non-Negotiable Rule for Code Snippets

A quick aside about also having grace when seeing AI content online

A Deep Dive into Keeping Your Content Human

Why AI Sounds Robotic

Level 1: Macro-Level Flaws (Structure and Flow)

Level 2: Meso-Level Flaws (Rhetoric and Sentence Patterns)

Level 3: Micro-Level Flaws (The "AI Vernacular")

Level 4: The Human Touch (Tone, Voice, and Punctuation)

Defining Your Relationship with AI

What to Delegate and What to Own

Tasks You Can Safely Delegate (with Human Review):

Guardrails: Responsibility and Ethics

Conclusion: Your Voice is Your Value

How to elevate the quality of your blog articles

Craft a compelling title

Good Examples

Bad Examples

Breaking Rules

Structure Your Content

Add Original Insights

Conclusion

How to get started with a blog

Step 1: (Pre)Write

Step 2: Refine Your Draft

Step 3: Find Your Voice

Step 4: Publish

Step 5: Promote

Step 6: Do It Again Consistently

Your Content Deserves Better: Choosing the right format for the max impact

The Quick Guide: Your Content-Format Cheat Sheet

Choosing Your Format with Intention

Short-Form Video (< 3 minutes): The Art of the Scroll-Stopper

"Shorter" Video (3-5 minutes): The Technical Sweet Spot

Long-Form Video (30+ minutes): The Comprehensive Journey