By Catherine Heath (Freelance Technical Writer and Marketing Advocate)
Catherine is a freelance writer based in Manchester. Blogs. Copy. Documentation. She believes in ditching the jargon – just give her plain writing.
In collaboration with Syed Abdul Qadir Gilani (a Python developer and data scientist),
Find Syed on LinkedIn.
Documentation is essential for successful software development. Though it may take extra time, it’s well worth making the extra investment. Documentation is the information that accompanies your software and may include quick start guides, reference docs, and user guides.
Though there are many types of documentation, both internal and external docs are essential for the smooth running of your software in the technology sector.
The following are the reasons why it is significant.
Why software documentation is important
1. Reduces Maintenance Costs
Documentation lowers software maintenance costs by up to 50% (Source: IEEE). Developers benefit from clear documentation, making changes fast and easy. Legacy code becomes less of a problem when you have documentation to refer to, and is especially important when documenting APIs.
2. Fewer bugs and errors
Documentation reduces bugs and errors by 40% (source: Microsoft). It maintains issues and helps developers identify and fix problems faster since the developers can consult documentation that logs previous issues.
3. Improves teamwork
Documentation improves teamwork, with 80% of teams reporting better collaboration (Source: GitHub). Documentation is not just for yourself but required for teams to work together more effectively because each individual can identify what others are up to.
4. Helps New Developers
Documentation helps new developers learn faster. They can quickly understand and contribute to the code if there is clear documentation. Instead of having to rely on a more senior developer to help them, newbies can look at the documentation to help them understand the code and how the system works.
5. Essential for Success
Documentation decreases stress, with 60% of developers reporting increased confidence (Source: Stack Overflow). When developers feel more confident with the presence of documentation, it increases the likelihood of the success of a project.
6. Improves customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction improves with documentation. Developers who understand the code can fix issues faster and provide better support. When customers have better support they are more satisfied with their experience with the company, and have contact with well-informed technical support looking after the product.
7. Saves Knowledge
When team members leave, their knowledge does not go with them; instead, documentation maintains that knowledge. Preserving knowledge inside the organization is key to saving effort that have already gone into projects and employees are happier without having to reinvent the wheel.
8. Improves code quality
Documentation improves code quality, with 80% of developers reporting better code understanding (Source: GitHub). Code is not necessarily self-explanatory and requires documentation to explain it to the developers. This prevents mistakes and code loss just in the case of an emergency.
Summary
Software documentation is key to success for development teams. It saves time and resources, reduces bugs, and improves teamwork. Not only does it help development, but customers benefit from improved support.
Start documenting today and discover the benefits. It is simple yet effective.
