Informal Documentation vs Technical Specifications

Developers should use informal documentation to facilitate team collaboration, onboard new members, and document ad-hoc decisions or code rationale that don't fit into formal specs meets developers should learn to create and interpret technical specifications to ensure projects meet stakeholder needs, reduce ambiguity, and facilitate efficient collaboration. Here's our take.

Informal Documentation

Nice Pick

Developers should use informal documentation to facilitate team collaboration, onboard new members, and document ad-hoc decisions or code rationale that don't fit into formal specs

Pros

• It's particularly valuable in agile environments, open-source projects, or when rapid iteration makes formal documentation impractical, as it reduces knowledge silos and improves code maintainability
• Related to: documentation-writing, code-comments

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Technical Specifications

Developers should learn to create and interpret technical specifications to ensure projects meet stakeholder needs, reduce ambiguity, and facilitate efficient collaboration

Pros

• This skill is crucial in software engineering, product development, and system design, where it helps prevent scope creep, guides testing, and supports maintenance
• Related to: requirements-analysis, system-design

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Informal Documentation is a methodology while Technical Specifications is a concept. We picked Informal Documentation based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Informal Documentation wins

Based on overall popularity. Informal Documentation is more widely used, but Technical Specifications excels in its own space.