E17: Why Software Engineers Hate Documenting (And How to Help)

Most software engineers and managers hate documenting.   More than that… they openly distrust that the effort of documenting will ever pay off.   Why is that?   It stems from a misconception on what needs to be documented.    Engineers see beautifully maintained technical documentation and best practice documentation, and assume the goal is to replicate that.   But that’s a fools errand… by the time you’ve documented at that level of detail, you’ve cost the teams weeks of progress, and the content you’ve created is already out of date.   Instead, we need to tie all of our documentation to business processes.   Rather than having a document called “System architecture”, you might need to update your documented peer review process. Or add an “Learn about our architecture” step to the onboarding.   In this episode of De-stress Your Business, we go deep into the false beliefs that can hold back software engineering teams, and how to address them.   ---   Want to learn more? Join our weekly webinar and we'll show you how to free up 15 hours per week and remove the constant stress of running a business, without slowing down growth. Visit www.airmanual.co/webinar for all the details!