Technical Documentation in Software Development: Types, Best Practices

What is technical documentation in software development?

Technical documentation in software engineering is the umbrella term that encompasses all written documents and materials dealing with software product development. All software development products, whether created by a small team or a large corporation, require some related documentation. And different types of documents are created throughout the whole software development lifecycle (SDLC). Documentation exists to explain product functionality, unify project-related information, and allow for discussing all significant questions arising between stakeholders and developers.

Agile and Waterfall approaches to software documentation

The documentation types that the team produces and their scope depending on the software development approach that was chosen. There are two main ones: Agile and Waterfall. Each is unique in terms of accompanying technical documentation.

Waterfall approach

The Waterfall approach is a linear method with distinct goals for each development phase. Teams that use waterfall spend a reasonable amount of time on product planning in the early stages of the project. They create an extensive overview of the main goals and objectives and plan what the working process will look like. Waterfall teams strive to create detailed documentation before any of the engineering stages begin. Careful planning works well for projects with little to no changes in progress as it allows for precise budgeting and time estimates. However, waterfall planning has proven to be ineffective for long-term development as it doesn’t account for possible changes and contingencies on the go.

Agile approach

The Agile approach is based on teamwork, close collaboration between developers, stakeholders, and end customers, flexibility, and the ability to quickly respond to changes. The basic building blocks of Agile development are iterations: Each one of them includes planning, analysis, design, development, and testing.

The Agile method doesn’t require comprehensive documentation at the beginning. Managers don’t need to plan much in advance because things can change as the project evolves. This allows for just-in-time planning. One of the Agile Manifesto values sounds like this, “working software over comprehensive documentation.” While the item on the left is valued more in Agile, the item on the right shouldn’t be ignored as it brings value too. So the idea is to produce documentation with information that is essential to move forward when it makes the most sense.

Types of technical documentation

The main goal of effective documentation is to ensure that developers and stakeholders are headed in the same direction to accomplish the objectives of the project. To achieve them, different software documentation types exist.

Product documentation describes the product that is being developed and provides instructions on how to perform various tasks with it. In general, product documentation includes requirements, tech specifications, business logic, and manuals. There are two main types of product documentation:

System documentation represents documents that describe the system itself and its parts. It includes requirements documents, design decisions, architecture descriptions, program source code, and FAQs.User documentation covers manuals that are mainly prepared for end-users of the product and system administrators. User documentation includes tutorials, user guides, troubleshooting manuals, installation, and reference manuals.

Process documentation represents all documents produced during development and maintenance that describe… well, the process. Common examples of process-related documents are standards and project documentation, such as project plans, test schedules, reports, meeting notes, or even business correspondence

How to write software documentation: general advice

There are several common practices that can be applied to all the major types of documentation we discussed above.

Write just enough documentation

You should find a balance between no documentation and excessive documentation. Poor documentation causes many errors and reduces efficiency in every phase of software product development. At the same time, there is no need to provide an abundance of documentation and to repeat information in several papers. Only the most necessary and relevant information should be documented. Finding the right balance also entails analyzing the project’s complexity before development starts.

Consider your audience

Try to keep your documentation simple and reader-friendly. It has to be logically structured and easily searchable, so include the table of contents. Avoid long blocks of text whenever possible and use visual content as it is easier to absorb information this way for most people.

You also have to remember who the document is written for. If it is for end-users, it definitely has to be written in plain language so that the readers are able to understand it without consulting the tech dictionary. If the documentation is addressed to stakeholders, it’s also worth avoiding complex, specialized terminology, tech jargon, or acronyms as your client might not be familiar with them. However, if it is for your team of tech specialists, make sure you provide all the accuracy and details they need to stick to the development plan and build the needed design and features.

Use cross-links

Use cross-links between documents, whether those are product pages or user guides. Proper navigation through your documentation is important to give the reader the right understanding of a subject. Such practice can be considered user-flow, but for your project documentation.

Don’t ignore glossaries

Documentation can be dedicated to internal or external usage. In the case of external documents, it is better to provide a clear explanation of every term and its specific meaning in the project. Documentation should communicate ideas in clear language to set a lingua franca between stakeholders, internal members, and users.

Keep your software documentation up to date

Proper maintenance is very important as documents that are outdated or inconsistent automatically lose their value. If requirements change during software development, you need to ensure that there’s a systematic documentation update process that includes information that has changed. And, if any updates take place when the product is already on the market, it’s crucial to inform the customers and refresh all the user documentation.

Best practices for creating and maintaining your technical documentation

Here are a few more suggestions that can help you optimize and speed up the process of document writing and further managing.

Think of the most efficient medium for conveying information. For example, making audio or video recordings can be a great option for requirements capture, user guides, etc.

Link to supplementary information. Insert links to the relevant online articles or information pages instead of reproducing them in your documentation.

Generate diagrams from code or databases whenever possible. When creating diagrams for technical documentation, instead of building them from scratch with a diagramming tool, it can be more efficient to generate them from code or databases when possible. This can be done using various tools and plugins available for popular programming languages and databases, which can automatically create diagrams based on the code or database schema.

Utilize screenshots and visuals. It is always a good idea to use screenshots and other pictures as they would help you quickly find what needs to be updated so you won’t have to read the entire text.

Keep documentation with source code. Consider storing your technical documentation together with the source code, just keep them separated. That can help with keeping it updated and will let everyone know where to find it.

Customize access to avoid extra changes. Give editing permissions to potential authors, while those with view-only access can still see the information, but not modify it.

Provide easy access for authors. Make sure the authors can have quick and easy access to the documentation for reviewing and updating. Remove such barriers as unnecessary authorizing and/or approval procedures.

To Read More: Click Here