The 40-page manual is the bug report
Documentation matters. But when the manual becomes the product, the product is asking the user to do its design work.
Every repeated question is evidence.
When people need the same explanation again and again, the problem is rarely that they did not read carefully enough. The system is asking them to remember a rule that should have been visible in the moment.
A manual can preserve context, but it should not be the only place where the workflow makes sense.
We use documentation to find the friction.
The long explanation is valuable as a diagnostic tool. It shows where the language is unclear, where roles overlap and where the product needs a better default.
The goal is not to eliminate documentation. It is to let the interface carry the part that belongs in the interface.
The lesson was to reduce the memory tax.
Calm software does not make people memorize a system before they can use it. It gives them enough context to act, and enough history to recover when the day does not go as planned.