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(Opinions are my own) My favorites from the list, that I did not see other companies (specifically startups) do at all: > A single large release may be divide
by gravypod 4y ago
(Opinions are my own)
My favorites from the list, that I did not see other companies (specifically startups) do at all:
> A single large release may be divided into a series of lower-risk well-understood rollouts.
> Design documentation should not be an afterthought but an integral part of the software engineering process.
> Coordinate reviews for the design doc and compare the design as it evolves with the original doc to verify that all the relevant constraints are being addressed.
It might suck to spend 4hr writing a doc and 1hr*(N engineers) reviewing it but getting everyone aligned, and writing down why you did something and what was considered but ignored, is one of the super powers people have. At larger companies this process, when done informally, can be done in under a day and save months of headaches down the line. Especially so when the reviewer leaves comments like "can we break X up into milestone A, B, and C instead of rolling our a single piece".
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- bern4444 4y agoWhat's critical is that this remains an informal process. The moment this process becomes codified into a formal doc that requires approvals and reviews across teams, is the moment this ends up becoming a far larger part of the work than it should. Making it a required aspect of the job dramatically slows down the work and makes the doc act as a gatekeeper to technical work.
- ThrowawayR2 4y agoUnfortunately, once you have 100+ people across multiple teams and disciplines working on the same product release, formal documentation and all the ceremony that goes with it is no longer optional. Things have to be written down to keep that many people all on the same page and focused on the same goals.
- tmpz22 4y ago> It might suck to spend 4hr writing a doc Maybe our releases are too big but our technical specs take much longer to write and even longer to coordinate stakeholders when conflicts do come up. Can people really crank these docs out in 4 hours?
- gravypod 4y agoDepends on the size and level of detail. I'm currently on page 25 and week three of a doc. I've also drafted a quick one or two pager with summary, goals, non-goals, and a plan with links to code + libraries + docs.
- imwillofficial 4y agoAlso, grass is green, sky is blue.