I recently read an article by Mary Gorman and Ellen Gottesdiener, which asked the question, “Are your software development practices jumping the shark?” As a technical analyst in a digital advertising agency, I speak with certainty that our practices are continuously changing and improving and that a truer statement would be that we ‘reinvent the shark.’ As I read through the article, it further questioned, “Is the documentation you create truly valuable for its consumers? Is it both usable and useful?” I felt a little less confident in my answer to these questions.

I have watched software/application development processes and techniques improve dramatically over the last ten years, but processes and techniques for documentation have not.

Here is what I do on a regular basis to ensure that my teams projects don’t ‘Jump the Shark.’ I call it rapid documentation.

• Apply the rules of RAD and have the business analyst or technical writer begin the documentation during the creation of the prototypes
• Apply the rules of XP and work in pairs to ensure that there is never a single viewpoint
• Apply the rules of Agile and create documentation in short intervals and reviewing it in mini-increments
• Apply the rules of JAD and include the customer in early reviews of the documents to get their point of view
• Apply the rules of SCRUM and have a daily measured progress and communications

What does your team do to ensure your development and documentation practices aren’t ‘Jumping the Shark?’

Deena Chadwick,  Senior Contributor, Project Engineering at Organic