Documentation is one of the most easily overlooked aspects of a software development project. The creators and stakeholders are often so consumed with the progress and completion of a project that documentation can fall to the wayside.

Who needs documentation?

Consider your documentation to be structured like a library that contains all of the important information related to your business. The patrons to your library can be anyone within your business. Depending on the documentation practices used, access control levels can even be configured to specify the role and permissions that users have so that you don’t have to grant full access to everyone.

Any developer that has had to open the hood of an application and take a look inside will instantly appreciate quality documentation. It doesn’t matter if that developer was directly involved in the project or if they are just coming onboard–they will all appreciate those originally involved that had the forethought to document the code. For those that were originally involved but didn’t document, this is the time that they will kick themselves for skipping this part the first time around. Documentation allows information to be shared so no longer do you have to risk the future of your business by siloing information within a select few.

Even for those that developed the original code, it’s all too easy to revisit code at a later date without any remembrance of why the code is structured the way it is or what does what. This is where proper software documentation is able to assist with providing the appropriate background and description needed to properly understand the code. There are often two camps of software developers: those that believe documentation is not needed for a competent developer and those that are recognize the importance of proper documentation. An intelligent developer is often easy to spot and will be grouped into the latter category. Most of those that believe documentation is not needed are often junior developers that have not been battle tested and don’t appreciate the importance that proper documentation plays.

Where do you keep it?

You can have the best documentation in the world, but if it isn’t easily accessible, then it may as well not exist. When trying to decide the best location to store it, its important to consider both accessibility and maintainability.

Accessibility allows those who need it to always be able to find it. Any documentation should be easily accessible and searchable to find the desired information in the most efficient manner.

When addressing maintainability, this involves how easy is it to keep the documentation updated and relevant. As documentation becomes stale, it’s usefulness is greatly decreased. This is why it’s important to also focus on the maintainability of the documentation solution chosen.

How do you know which solution is best?

When deciding which solution to choose, its important to know that the solution chosen doesn’t have to be a one-size-fits-all solution. Every business should try to find the solution that fits their workflow, instead of choosing one that works best for another business with a completely opposite workflow.

There are plenty of off-the-shelf solutions that businesses of all sizes can subscribe to, but not every solution will work for every business. Some businesses may be perfectly fine with a shared network drive that separates topics into dedicated directories and subdirectories. Other businesses may realize that a web-based solution that can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection might fit best.

How can we help?

Businesses can benefit from well organized documentation throughout every area of their business. With our primary focus being on custom software development, we’ve learned what works and what doesn’t when it especially comes to documenting software.

The nature of our work often involves us coming into the picture much later. All too often we’re contracted for a project that does not adhere to providing proper documentation. Fortunately, we’re excellent at our jobs so this obstacle doesn’t sway us from charging forward. Our team is able to decipher and disassemble whatever complex functions or spaghetti code may exist. Also fortunate for our clients, we firmly believe in leaving things better than we found them so we make sure to document, document, document.

By this point it should be easy to see which category we align with (the more documentation is better group!). If you have a current software project that has scared away other development firms, then feel free to reach out to us today to discuss where we can help.