Not just coding, should developers write documentation?

Should developers write documentation?
Yes. Yes, they should.

Why Developers Should Write Documentation?

A wonderful gift for the developer team is good documentation. Have you ever found some people who often ask and find it difficult to understand what you are doing?

You are indeed in charge of making the feature code in the application, but on the other hand, there are developers and non-technical roles who need to know the intent of the application you are making.

Writing documentation makes you a more valuable developer, helps existing teams and supports your career because it makes team performance easier, especially during handovers.

So, what do you and your team get when working on documentation? The following can be obtained when documentation is available for yourself and the team.

Documentation Helps Your Coworkers?

Every day you are busy with the routine of working on new features. On the other hand, features you have worked on before requiring improvement and are usually done by different people to continue your work.

When other people continue your work, in this case, there are several questions. What happens when the other coder opens up your code? Will they be able to figure it out? Or will they need to pull you away from what you’re working on to get them set up anyway? Doesn’t having documentation on hand make it easier for you to stay focused and for your coworker to be productive?

Documentation provides you and others with convenience ranging from general to specific instructions.

Documentation Can Describe the Big Picture

Thorough documentation focuses on the big picture, how the code works, and how the modules relate. The application build configuration also includes the most needed information in the documentation.

Some developers even apply to write documentation first before starting development. Because the application work contract is written in detail in the documentation, starting from the general description to the technical scope.

Documentation Makes You More Valuable

Writing documentation make you a more valuable developer and will help your career.

Your job is to build features with code, but documentation is a process that adds value to your work and makes what you do more valuable.

Writing ability is one of those inaccurately named “soft” skills that won’t necessarily help you get hired but will help you advance once you join a team. If you can write, you can communicate effectively with your coworkers, including your boss. This often leads to more challenging jobs and more visible roles. That usually means more pay or at least a resume that will help you land that next job

Your Code is not Your Documentation

Code is code. The code is for coworkers. Good code is easy to follow. So easy that it’s usually boring. When you open a source file containing good code, you can read it and figure out what it does.

But code isn’t documentation. It doesn’t give you the big picture. Why does Object1 need to talk to Object2? You can cram this into comments, but where? In Object1 or Object2? Code has the “how” and, hopefully, makes the “how” obvious and easy to follow. But it often lacks the “why.”

And, of course, there’s the obvious question. What if your clients don’t have your code? They can’t see your comments if they’re talking to a RESTful service or linking to a closed-source library.

As a developer, the main skill and expertise are to create fast, reliable code that colleagues can understand. But the ability to communicate with the team is very important and is part of the documentation.

Documentation skills can improve because of habit. Make documentation even for yourself. If it’s easy for us to understand ourselves, explaining it to others is very easy.