Documentation Standards vs Ad Hoc Documentation
Developers should learn and use documentation standards to improve code maintainability, facilitate team onboarding, and enhance user experience, especially in collaborative or open-source projects meets developers should use ad hoc documentation when rapid prototyping, debugging, or collaborating in agile settings where formal documentation would slow down progress. Here's our take.
Documentation Standards
Developers should learn and use documentation standards to improve code maintainability, facilitate team onboarding, and enhance user experience, especially in collaborative or open-source projects
Documentation Standards
Nice PickDevelopers should learn and use documentation standards to improve code maintainability, facilitate team onboarding, and enhance user experience, especially in collaborative or open-source projects
Pros
- +Specific use cases include documenting APIs for external developers, creating internal knowledge bases for team reference, and ensuring regulatory compliance in industries like healthcare or finance where traceability is critical
- +Related to: technical-writing, api-documentation
Cons
- -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case
Ad Hoc Documentation
Developers should use ad hoc documentation when rapid prototyping, debugging, or collaborating in agile settings where formal documentation would slow down progress
Pros
- +It is particularly useful for capturing transient knowledge, such as workarounds, experimental findings, or team discussions, to prevent information loss
- +Related to: documentation-writing, agile-methodologies
Cons
- -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case
The Verdict
Use Documentation Standards if: You want specific use cases include documenting apis for external developers, creating internal knowledge bases for team reference, and ensuring regulatory compliance in industries like healthcare or finance where traceability is critical and can live with specific tradeoffs depend on your use case.
Use Ad Hoc Documentation if: You prioritize it is particularly useful for capturing transient knowledge, such as workarounds, experimental findings, or team discussions, to prevent information loss over what Documentation Standards offers.
Developers should learn and use documentation standards to improve code maintainability, facilitate team onboarding, and enhance user experience, especially in collaborative or open-source projects
Disagree with our pick? nice@nicepick.dev