this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2024
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Programming

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Hey all, I'm still a junior dev with years of experience in IT. One of the things I've noticed since making the switch is that (at least where I work) documentation is inconsistent.

Things I encounter include incomplete documentation, outdated documentation and written process details that have assumed knowledge which makes it difficult for junior Devs to pick up.

I've had a search and a lot of what is out there talks more about product and how to document that SDLC rather than best practice in writing and organising documents against the actual software engineering and its processes.

Does anyone have any good sources or suggestions on how I could look to try and begin to improve documentation within my team?

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[–] Zexks 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Others may find this sacrilege but this is one the best uses for ai at the moment. I toss it methods and ask it to describe what’s happening each method. Then after you’ve gone through a whole class ask it to describe the whole class. If you break it up well it can very quickly document massive code sets specifically for both technical and non technical people. Even better it can take that same documentation and convert it to highly detailed and advanced markdowns for wikis. This will also help you review your code. If the ai is having an issues understanding what you’re doing you can bet anyone else dropping into it without backup is going to have issues too. Particularly PO’s, QA, Scrum masters and all those they meet with when you’re not there. It has saved me repeatedly showing up in meetings where those other non technicals just “ho hum” their way through meeting questions, come back asking where docs are because they usually don’t even bother looking. “No one else had anything documented and we didn’t see it so we just wondered.” “Yep here it is, here’s it broken down by class, here’s the method, here’s the variable types in and out, and here’s the quick overview levels 1,2,3,4 and 5.” All getting progressively more technical. My PO has thanked me repeatedly for saving her ass in meetings where they complain about lack of documentation but not from me.