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developers should adopt minimal documentation in agile or fast-paced environments where documentation tends to become outdated quickly, such as in startups, open-source projects, or iterative development cycles.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

Nice Pick

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

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

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Developers should adopt Minimal Documentation in agile or fast-paced environments where documentation tends to become outdated quickly, such as in startups, open-source projects, or iterative development cycles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

The Bottom Line

Documentation Standards wins

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