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I know what you mean. I have been there, I am still known as “have you checked docs” guy in some circles. Now I am older and wiser. My advice is don’t document

I know what you mean. I have been there, I am still known as “have you checked docs” guy in some circles. Now I am older and wiser. My advice is don’t document. This is cultural problem that needs to be solved at much higher level. If leadership doesn’t care then nothing will change and you will get labeled as asshole. Just flow with culture and you will be much happier. Or find a new job.

_nalply 5y ago
I agree. If you do something for others and it is not appreciated stop it. You could still document for yourself. Before you leave write about 20 words what could be done for the next working day, for example. Have a log of these leaving words then it becomes a diary of work. Just find out what works for you.
- loopz 5y ago
  First and foremost you should write docs for yourself. They need to be short, concise and practical. You only get there by using them yourself. All the long-winded, theoretical C&C docs in the world won't provide enough actionable signals, as its mostly noise. Even if it covers everything elegantly, in your mind. You should get feedback on docs, even if just from yourself. They shouldn't be a drag to maintain. If you don't eat your own dogfood or use them to keep people hostage, they won't help others figure out their own responsibilities. If you don't build a culture around docs, its mostly waste. Often nobody even finds them, have the access/introduction to make it meaningful, and they are not open ended or written for practical usage.
P_I_Staker 5y ago
> My advice is don’t document It's interesting to see someone come out and just give this advice, but there are a lot of teams where that really is the correct call. Well written documentation can be helpful, but your documentation is extremely unlikely to have much of an effect at all. It would be one thing if it was a lot of work for marginal improvement, but if there's ZERO impact, what's the point? People will likely never know it exists, or read it once, get frustrated that the information is tough to parse, then give up, and go to a meeting. It's especially annoying, because in my role most of the information actually is in the docs. They want me to figure out what information is important, and just put that in the documentation. So they want me to create a greatest hits compilation remix of 5-10 other documents with just the important stuff... except you can't know what that is until you need it.

_nalply 5y ago

I agree. If you do something for others and it is not appreciated stop it. You could still document for yourself. Before you leave write about 20 words what could be done for the next working day, for example. Have a log of these leaving words then it becomes a diary of work. Just find out what works for you.

loopz 5y ago
First and foremost you should write docs for yourself. They need to be short, concise and practical. You only get there by using them yourself. All the long-winded, theoretical C&C docs in the world won't provide enough actionable signals, as its mostly noise. Even if it covers everything elegantly, in your mind. You should get feedback on docs, even if just from yourself. They shouldn't be a drag to maintain. If you don't eat your own dogfood or use them to keep people hostage, they won't help others figure out their own responsibilities. If you don't build a culture around docs, its mostly waste. Often nobody even finds them, have the access/introduction to make it meaningful, and they are not open ended or written for practical usage.

P_I_Staker 5y ago

> My advice is don’t document It's interesting to see someone come out and just give this advice, but there are a lot of teams where that really is the correct call. Well written documentation can be helpful, but your documentation is extremely unlikely to have much of an effect at all. It would be one thing if it was a lot of work for marginal improvement, but if there's ZERO impact, what's the point? People will likely never know it exists, or read it once, get frustrated that the information is tough to parse, then give up, and go to a meeting. It's especially annoying, because in my role most of the information actually is in the docs. They want me to figure out what information is important, and just put that in the documentation. So they want me to create a greatest hits compilation remix of 5-10 other documents with just the important stuff... except you can't know what that is until you need it.