Documentation Practices vs Minimal Documentation

Developers should learn and apply Documentation Practices to improve code readability, facilitate onboarding of new team members, and support long-term project sustainability meets developers should adopt minimal documentation in agile or fast-paced environments where documentation tends to become outdated quickly, such as in startups, open-source projects, or iterative development cycles. Here's our take.

Documentation Practices

Nice Pick

Developers should learn and apply Documentation Practices to improve code readability, facilitate onboarding of new team members, and support long-term project sustainability

Pros

• Specific use cases include documenting complex algorithms, API endpoints for external consumers, and deployment procedures to reduce errors and downtime in production environments
• Related to: api-documentation, code-comments

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Minimal Documentation

Developers should adopt Minimal Documentation in agile or fast-paced environments where documentation tends to become outdated quickly, such as in startups, open-source projects, or iterative development cycles

Pros

• It is particularly useful for reducing time spent on non-coding tasks and ensuring that documentation aligns with actual code functionality, making it easier for teams to onboard new members or maintain codebases without sifting through irrelevant details
• Related to: agile-development, code-comments

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

Use Documentation Practices if: You want specific use cases include documenting complex algorithms, api endpoints for external consumers, and deployment procedures to reduce errors and downtime in production environments and can live with specific tradeoffs depend on your use case.

Use Minimal Documentation if: You prioritize it is particularly useful for reducing time spent on non-coding tasks and ensuring that documentation aligns with actual code functionality, making it easier for teams to onboard new members or maintain codebases without sifting through irrelevant details over what Documentation Practices offers.

The Bottom Line

Documentation Practices wins

Developers should learn and apply Documentation Practices to improve code readability, facilitate onboarding of new team members, and support long-term project sustainability