Archive for September, 2004

Documentation

September 9, 2004

Seems like I’m always explaining the same things to different people or doing tasks that could be turned over to Operations or shared with my coworkers because I haven’t documented it well enough; but I don’t have the time to document it well enough because I’m doing and explaining those tasks.  I do document almost everything, but mostly in the notebooks I keep, my online notes, or help desk tickets – none of which are easily accessible or understandable to anyone but me.  I’m much better at automating automatable tasks than I am at documenting tasks so others can do them or understand why we do them, and they are both equally important.  Two weeks ago, I decided that the best solution is to just set a goal of averaging a page of beta-quality documentation a day (anything over beta quality requires more testing and reviewing from others than I can count on getting in a timely manner.) I haven’t been getting anywhere near that done, but I have actually gotten some documentation done.  Not only that, but it’s making me think more about documentation and processes, which has allowed me to answer unexpected questions in meetings better.

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