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Beginning Project Documentation?
mirthe_v writes "Hi, I'm working for a small webcompany (about 20 people), with ColdFusion programmers and designing staff. We all work on a bunch of projects (Internet, intranet, cd-roms, etc.) on the same time, with different people and different or no methodologies. There is an ever growing need for documentation, but we have no idea where to start."
mirthe_v continues: "I was just wondering how other people/companies keep track of their current and older projects.
Do you put stuff in a database, if so, what about all those diagrams and handwritten notes.
If not, do you store things in a folder per project, and how do you then stop documentation from getting lost and making sure people store things where they should.
"As I said, I don't know where to start, especially since the staff varies greatly in the need for documentation, technical background, experience with writing documentation and even different languages (English and Dutch).
"Please share all your thoughts and experiences. Cheers, Mirthe""
I know that the KDE team uses DocBook,
:: All Day Long. All Day Strong.
for which there's a great guide (crash course)
that they encourage their writers to use.
m o n o l i n u x
TWiki, a flexible, powerful, and easy to use Web-based collaboration platform has worked well for us.
http://twiki.org/
I always liked the record keeping as done in the biotech area... Every scientist has a lab notebook (offline) where references are made to everything that was done (and where things can be found).
:)
I'm always suspect of documentation and record keeping that is 100% digital. If the notebooks are witnessed and microfilmed, there will never be a question on when the work was done.
If notes about how things are done are kept on a notebook like that, it is a lot easier to go back and figure out what was done and how it was implemented when it comes time to writing real documentation. This does not address the inprogress documentation, but you should not forget about the tracking aspects. (CVS is good, but it could be falsified easier than a notebook I would think).
Don't get me wrong, I hate doing this... but it is a good idea
DrArt
-- Huh?
I've found that CVS works well as a document repository. Any sort of version control system is well suited to the task of keeping documents. The only trick beyond that is establishing an organizational structure for it.
As far as organizational structure, base it on the development process you use. So in each phase of development, you have the documents needed for that phase seperate from everything else. If you have deliverable documents, put those in a directory and then have subdirectories for any supporting material.
That's a suggestion. I would highly recommend sitting down and formally structuring this. If everybody knows where the documents are, and where to put new documents as they generate them you'll have a lot easier time of things.
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
Far too many companies approach tech writing as the "music department" of the company: Nice to have, but not really necessary. The problem is that the lack of attention given to quality documentation winds up costing the company later. If you don't know where to find such a consultant, you could always shoot off an e-mail to a highly qualified individual such as myself. *smirk*
Got Rhinos?
are you documenting for users of the projects or are you documenting for present and future developers of the project? The two are completely different and have different requirements as such.
A web application by nature should almost always be self explanatory. A help link or button should be available prominently on every page. The better you do this part, the less it costs to support your app.
Developer documentation for a web app also works well with HTML. Not only can you use comments extensively, you can link variables and functions from where they are used to their actual definition. A common way to structure HTML documentation is to have a frame with the left frame containing a tree of links, an index, and a search. I would use something like ht://dig rather than a database to index your docs and allow searches.
No, Thursday's out. How about never - is never good for you?
From the what you said with different people and different or no methodologies there is a lot that needs to be done. First off, standards:
- Literate Programing: What you write, should make sence. Variables such as a, b, c, thing, object, stuff, crap etc should not be allowed. A new programmer should be able to come into your shop, read the code and it should make sense.
- Commenting: All source should be commented. That doesn't mean that hlaf your source files should be comments, but anything that doesns't make sense by simply reading the code needs to be commented. At a bare minimum, the person who wrote the code should have there name in there
;)
- Source Control: Please tell me you have CVS or something like that setup. If not, set it up
- Testing: Test early and test often. When your done with that, test again.
;) You might want to investigate Extreme Programming. This will help quite a bit to launch good solid projects, on time.
- Standard Design Methods: It will help you out quite a bit to have standard design methodologies. Standard patterns to follow and ways of doing things will help you quite a bit.
Secondly, make sure you have a forum for you developers to work together. Setup an IRC channel or something, just make sure you have a place to chat and share experiances / bugsThose few things should get you started. They don't totally address the commenting issues, but I would say that is the least of your problems... I could be reading way to much between the lines. Just my two cents.
-ryanI say keep the oral tradition. Hire a master storyteller and have this person write lays and epics about the overwhelming odds and unimaginable challenges your programmers faced, and the way that these struggles between good and evil shaped the interface you see today.
Who wouldn't buy the support contract if it included a yearly visit from the master storyteller? By jove I believe I've just solved the "how to make money from GPL softare" problem...
:)
microsoftword.mp3 - it doesn't care that they're not words...
Part of FuseBox is FuseDoc which is a XML based spec for putting docuementation inside your CF code. By using Fusebox and FuseDoc you can break your web apps out into separate modules that work together much like different objects in C++ or Java. This allows you to have multiple people working on an app at the same time, while also separating your content from programming logic. I have used this approach in several web apps and it has worked well. Couple these techniques with something like CVS and some organizational programming standards (make standards that make sense!) you should be able to improve your work enviroment.
1. Code level documentation. Having good code-level comments is vey important for figuring out the nuts and bolts of how things work. Well commented and well structured code can make or break a long term project. The important thing is to keep the comments up to date so that you aren't providing misleading information. This is easy to do, however. All it takes is a little dicipline.
2. Process and Design Documents. There are many ways to handle these, but one simple way to do it is to create a development "Intranet" and keep all of your developer docs in HTML format. HTML documents are easy to create, easy to organize with hyperlinks, and easy to view. Keep a copy of your HTML documents in CVS or some other version control tool. That way you can have a record of your changes.
Code level docs are pretty easy to get started. If you have a good development team, you probably already have your code well organized. If not, assign pieces of your project to different programmers and have them document their assigned code.
Design and Process docs can be handled the same way. Make a list of things that you need to document (ex: build instructions, class hierarchies, etc) and assign these out to programmers.
The key to any documentation system is to keep things up to date. The best protocol is to have people make changes to the docs as they change the system, or as they discover bugs in the docs. Treat your docs just like you would source code. Strive for "bug free" docs. If you can't make a change to a document for whatever reason, log it as a bug so the change doesn't fall through the cracks.
Once people get used to treating docs as code, they will keep them up to date. If people have the attitude of "I'll document it when I have the chance" your system is doomed to fail.
Good luck!
------
www.moneybythenumbers.com
We started using a wiki about a month ago and we love it! We named it "The Brain" and it "keeps getting smarter". Highly recommended.
Since you seem to be a cold fusion shop, try this out http://www.cdsi-solutions.com/cfwiki/ we had it running in about 2 minutes.
Ricky Silk
kung foo ezine let me waste your time.
Assign each person to use a different word processor - e.g. Word95, Word97, Word2000, WP5.1, StarOffice, OpenOffice, etc.etc.
:(
This way you will know exactly who maintains the document - store all the files on the users hard drive , dont worry about backups - hard drives are very, very reliable these days and the damn server is usually always on the blink.
If someone needs to modify another document, they simply need to write notes on the old printed version and the document maintainer can update them later.
At least that's how it was in my last job
I'll think of a funny sig later on
Read The Mythical Man-Month by Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. (ISBN 0-201-83595-9). This is one of the best books I've ever read when it comes to managing any sort of software product - and it gives great advice, including a chapter on documentation and why it is so IMPORTANT.
Please, go out and buy it and read it - or check it out from your local library. It is a must for all programmers, even if you're not the one in charge.
Jake
Dating: while( 1 ){ call_girl(); get_rejected(); drink_40(); } return 0;
Whatever you do, don't write any documents at this time. Instead put everyone (if possible) in one big room, with pens and whiteboards along all the walls. Supply lots of coffee, food, snacks and soft drinks.
Let them hash out all the details of what you believe the customer wants. If you have a real customer available, chain him to a table in that room and don't let him go until you're satisfied.
Write down user stories on post-it notes, stick them to the walls, sketch UI designs and user interactions on the whiteboards. Don't worry about documentation! What matters is that you all have the same vision and understanding of what to do.
Documentation on paper is just about the worst medium possible for transferring information from one person to another. It is one way, it is low bandwidth, it is not visual (unless you have lots of pictures and such). It basically sucks. Two or more persons by a whiteboard is the best possible technology for information transafer. The ultimate solution is if you have a printing whiteboard, which can give you a hard copy of what you just jotted down.
The real documentation, on paper or on the web, can come much later, when things have stabilized a bit. In the end it may never be needed, in case your project is cancelled.
All these tips comes straight from the book Agile Software Development, by Alistair Cockburn. The best SW related book I've read in years!
Mats