Documentation (Developers)

Imagine you leave the company, who will know the software better than you?

Documentation provides accountability of work done, ensures no discrepancies between customers and us, and refreshes our memory whenever we need to. Here are a few considerations you may adopt;

1) The flow of your documentation can be as follow;

i) Document version, author and introduction of the app

ii) Installation guide

iii) Verifying installation

iv) Test script to test the features of the program

v) Specify input and expected output

vi) Architecture with relevant features

vii) Details and explanation of each feature 

viii) Troubleshooting

ix) Future improvement

x) References

2) For clarity, keep the text as precise and concise as possible

3) You need to include sources where you acquire the code for easy traceability

4) Name of the writer has to be in the document for track record.

5) Documentation is made based on official deployment and not during the developmental phase.

6) Once there are changes, such as new implementation or resolving bugs, we will update them in the document.

7) Depending on project size, I may be in charge of writing only for my own part; I may also be tasked to write full documentation for the team.

Tip

1) Whenever you adopt a new implementation, document the source and approach briefly so you can pick up faster and get your documentation up quicker later on

2) A good documentation software can be helpful to expedite your work process. A few common ones are; Doxygen, Sphinx, GhostDoc and more; usually based on programming languages and features. You may refer to this site on the recommended documentation tools.