Role of Documentation

What is the role of documentation in development – any development?  Hardware, Software, Manufacturing, Communication – you name it.

What do you do when your child opens a birthday gift, lets say, a new board game for your family, called Great States. You haven’t seen in before. How do you play with your child? Have you ever looked at the instruction sheet that comes with such board games? You are driving your car. Suddenly notice a little orange thing flash in the dashboard. Have you ever searched for the manual in the glove compartment and found it was the tire air pressure monitor? How do you assemble that book shelf you ordered online from Costco? Do you intuitively know which piece of wood goes where? (Even with the drawing and instructions, we assembled our top shelf upside down and are living with it.)

OK – now you are on Amazon.com or on Schoology. Trying to purchase something or setting up your child’s account. You have no idea how to add the teacher as a coach on schoology. its late and you don't have time to call the teacher to ask how. Do you look for a little Help icon or a question mark and click to read what are you supposed to do here?

You just bought a new printer. You are no techie. You need to install the printer so you can print some of the recipes you found online. What do you do? Have you flipped through the instructions? or searched online for a specific model number and downloaded a PDF doc?

How do you think all these information are made available to you? Somewhere someone, called a technical writer, looks at these products, talks about these products, use these products and writes about them. So when you need to know what to do, the paper or the web page called ‘Help pages’ are there for you.

The role of documentation may be very little. But it is a tiny little piece in a bigger puzzle. Without the tiny little piece, the puzzle is not complete. The missing piece will create a visible tiny little hole, that may become a gaping gap when pieces all around it start to loosen up and fall.

Change

"This is how we do it. Just follow what's there". "This is the way its done here. You will not be able to convince everybody to change anything, so just do it." "We do not have the time to change, lets do it the same way its done. We can change it later". Sounds familiar?

Often times, at work or in the kitchen, there is always a true and tried recipe to do something. When we follow the recipe, we can always emerge flawlessly successful, on time. And yes everyone will appreciate it. Consider pancakes. Mix in one egg, half cup milk and 1 cup of bisquick. Sprinkle some chocolate chips on top. Done. Your kids love it on a Sunday morning. Its true and tried. No changes required. Right? Wrong.

The kids are used to the chocolate chip pancake you make. It is easy and convenient for you to make. You are used to making it that way. And they are used to eating it that way. They are not familiar with any other option. So until the law of diminishing marginal utility sets it, you are good to go.

Sometimes, doing the same thing over and over again can cause a mental fatigue. You have this intense urge to change something. You don't know if its going to be for better or worse. You won't know until you try. So yes, I did it in the kitchen this morning. Sunday morning pancake with a little twist. A mix of cinnamon, cardamom and brown sugar. And yes, the kids loved it. (Though I didn't). Now they know a different flavor. And are willing to try new mode of pan cake presentation.

Now, lets think about the documentation. We sometimes tend to follow what was true and tried 10 years ago or even five years ago. But in the world of technology, is everything the same? Are we accessing data in the same speed as we did five years ago? We need instant gratification with instagram. So do we have room to try out different methods of presenting information? We need the following:

- Accuracy - Egg
- Simplicity - Milk
- Accessibility - Flour

How we present it, what we add to accentuate the flavor is within us. Our customers would not know what is possible and available until we provide it to them.

Someone suggested calling 'documentation' as 'product information'. How very apt! When we look at the product from 'documentation' perspective we are removed from the product and approach is as an outsider. Instead, when we consider ourselves as product information folks, we may look at the product in a different perspective. And that perspective might change what we write, and how write or even how we present the information.

Everything needs a triggering point, The change. The willingness to think beyond deadlines.