What's the best documentation standard for your software project?

Two things are really important regarding documentation: 1. The documentation should be quickly searchable 2. The relevant information can be quickly find inside of it. To ensure we are supporting both above. We need to organize all of the documentation really well, into categories and sections. Also we need to ensure that every documentation is structured similarly. Similar header, overal structure and footer.

Documentation standards are sets of rules and guidelines that define how to write, structure, and present your documentation. They help you create consistent, clear, and comprehensive documentation that meets the needs and expectations of your users, clients, and stakeholders. Documentation standards can cover various aspects of documentation, such as content, layout, design, terminology, syntax, grammar, and tone. These standards provide a framework for creating documentation that is organized, readable, and effective, and they ensure that your documentation aligns with industry best practices and the specific requirements of your software project.

Documentation standards are crucial for promoting: 1. Effective Onboarding 2. Collaboration 3. Sustainability Standardized documentation helps onboard new team members, reducing time to productivity. When the documentation is well-structured, new team members can more easily understand how to develop and support the product Documentation is a communication tool across teams, stakeholders, and users. When everyone can easily access and understand the documentation, collaboration and feedback improve. Clear documentation helps identify potential issues and bugs. Well-documented software is more sustainable. Products and projects evolve and team members change. Good documentation allows the products to thrive regardless of those changes.

Without standards, people are just creating something they feel like it's right. And not everyone have the same idea of what is right. If that's the case, we are creating a LOT of different inconsistent documentations, which can cause more confusion than it to be helpful. In order that the documentation is helpful it needs to be: - consistent, - easily searchable, - information is easy to find.

Documentation standards are crucial for clear, consistent, and accurate documentation. They ensure uniformity, readability, and accessibility, improving user understanding and trust. Maintaining professionalism, compliance, and efficiency, these standards aid in keeping documentation up-to-date, benefiting software projects immensely.

Common documentation standards in software development include: ISO/IEC/IEEE 26512: An international standard outlining processes and requirements for user documentation development. DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture): An XML-based standard for creating modular, reusable, and adaptable content. DocBook: Another XML-based standard offering a schema and tools for technical documentation creation. Markdown: A lightweight markup language for writing plain text documents, convertible to HTML and other formats. These standards cater to various documentation types, such as manuals, tutorials, README files, wikis, and more, each with its own strengths and suitability for specific documentation needs.

Considering the unique environment and constraints of startups, it's essential to recognize that while documentation standards offer many benefits, they also present specific challenges. Startups must carefully evaluate the suitability of documentation standards, considering factors such as flexibility, cost, compatibility, and relevance. A tailored approach that combines elements of different standards, along with a focus on agility and adaptability, may offer a more effective solution for startups. This perspective emphasizes the need for a nuanced understanding of documentation standards, recognizing the distinct needs and dynamics of startups.

Documentation standards offer numerous advantages, including enhanced quality, consistency, and credibility. They facilitate collaboration, streamline workflows, and improve user experiences. However, they can limit creativity, increase complexity and costs, and lead to compatibility issues. Regular assessment is crucial to ensure their relevance in a rapidly evolving software landscape. Achieving a balance between these pros and cons is essential for successful implementation.

Choosing the standard should be based on the needs. If you are part of the smaller team, it doesn't make sense to use a standard where you need to define too many details. For smaller teams I often recommend to start simple and have a standard where you write only what is necessary.

Whatever documentation standard(s) you choose, the toughest part is to... document! First, it's not a one-and-done exercice. Software changes constantly - e.g. you fix bugs, add features, improve performance, security... - so documentation needs to constantly change! But more importantly, documenting was always a painful, manual activity which most software developers or architects dislike! These are the main reasons why companies like CAST have decided to automate software documentation: their technology 'understands' how software works and then builds automatically accurate maps of their inner workings. Their CAST Imaging product serves as a living knowledge base/technical documentation of any custom-built software!