API Network Corp

Do We Really Need Documentation?

Sooner or later, every company that develops in-house software, whether it's a Joomla website or Joomla extensions, will reach a point where discussions about IP (intellectual property) documentation will be ignited.   In case the IT department of such a company will lack consistent and real IT leadership, well-versed in the field of software design, development and especially management, the discussions will end up going nowhere.

Without documentation, there are good chances that the software will have a similar fate.

There is a good reason for this.  By their nature, for which we should be eternally indebted, and which defines them with little exceptions, programmers are creative personalities that can transform a blurry vision into reality.  Such personalities despise restraining, unrewarding, non-creative endeavors, and documentation is such an enterprise. On the other hand, a non-IT management is methodical, well-organized and management-experienced, but usually a complete stranger to the software development process. One lacks the desire to write, the other one the knowledge of what should be done. This is the best recipe for unreliable documentation.

Here are the questions we intend to answer:

• Is software reliable?
• Why do we need documentation after all?
• What happens if we don't have any/enough/good one?
• What does good documentation mean?
• Why do I need strong IT leadership?
• Am I putting all my eggs in the same basket?

This is part 1 of a series on documentation that every software developing company should think about - better sooner than later.   This may cause an uncomfortable feeling, but we've all been guilty of this.   However, strong shivers down the backbone might be a way to generate that one simple thing that's needed to build a viable documentation system.