How can you document your system architecture in a way that makes debugging and maintenance easier?

Documentation for the system architecture should be focused on diagrams and not on extensive text descriptions. However, diagrams should be complemented with lists of items that describe the items on the diagram properly, on a 1-on-1 basis. In terms of tools, always favor the utilization of tools that are collaborative, for example JIRA and Confluence, over file based tools. The reason being is that file based tools come with an extended overhead that is required to manage the correct version of the file. Online cooperative tools help decreasing the amount of overhead that is required to maintain the documentation itself.

You should prioritize more descriptive presentations than narrative text. If you are describing the state changes, go for state charts. If you are describing sequences of things for sequence diagrams. If something can be summarized in decision tables then do it. Finally if the notion you want to express does not fit in either of the above go for narrative text. In narrative text use simple language so that words and grammatical structures convey a single expected meaning at a glance (unequivocal). Try to use bullet points or break the text in structures that can be numbered and traces forward/backward in the set of documentations

The following information should always be provided in the scope and purpose of the document: - Project that it belongs to - Object of the document (why are we writing this document) - Relationship to other project deliverables - Timeline in which this document is applicable; for example, this document is applicable until the Critical Design Review. - Contact Person for the document

If a given UML or SysML standard is used, it is always required to incorporate the standard functional and behavioral diagrams, together with the physical components architecture. In projects where no systems description normative is followed, it is recommended to follow an approach like the following: 1. Concept of Operations, or description of the product and its interactions as a "black box" with any interfacing elements, including its environment. 2. Block diagram: 2/3 levels functional decomposition. 3. Operational behavior described in terms of, for example, operational modes. 4. Physical architecture: 2/3 levels of the elements that the system will be physically composed of.

For system driven products, it is recommended to include an update of the documentation to be delivered on a per-milestone basis, during the design phase. During the operational phase, it is necessary to specify the owner of the documentation and to keep a clear communication scheme with the sales and service teams, in order to incorporate any feedback from the field as soon as possible.