diff --git a/doc/source/development/contributing_documentation.rst b/doc/source/development/contributing_documentation.rst
index 443470e6c50f9..8e00d5c1315f5 100644
--- a/doc/source/development/contributing_documentation.rst
+++ b/doc/source/development/contributing_documentation.rst
@@ -157,6 +157,11 @@ If you want to do a full clean build, do::
     python make.py clean
     python make.py html
 
+.. tip::
+  If ``python make.py html`` exits with an error status,
+  try running the command ``python make.py html --num-jobs=1``
+  to identify the cause of the error.
+
 You can tell ``make.py`` to compile only a single section of the docs, greatly
 reducing the turn-around time for checking your changes.