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documentation

How to document software properly

August 28, 2024 by David Edwards

Some claim that documentation is unnecessary for well-written software. It would merely be a needless effort to document.

Furthermore, functional software – rather than thorough documentation – should be prioritized, according to the Agile manifesto. Ignoring it, meanwhile, may lead to unneeded bottlenecks – even in agile software development.

Software documentation also provides security for users and project participants, who may use it as a form of oracle or instrument containing all the answers to questions about the product, including how use cases and business rules flow through the system.

However, producing relevant software documentation can be challenging for teams, which makes the process tedious and the document bad. After all, how to document software efficiently, so that it becomes a strategic guide for the organization?

In this post, we bring the information that software documentation needs to have, good software documentation guidelines, and the step-by-step process for good software documentation.

Information that the software documentation needs to have

Software documentation helps the public understand and use the product, whether that audience is made up of administrators, peers, technicians, or end users. Therefore, it must be clear, searchable, and, above all, useful.

Good software documentation should empower the audience and not frustrate them, for this, it needs to have some basic elements, such as customer support.

But not only that. The document also needs to be done according to software or technical documentation guidelines, and trust building.

This is because users look for the document when they need it most. And if the information is not there clearly and accurately, they will start looking for alternatives and, in this case, they may not be the best option for your company.

That’s why, according to experts from SECL Group, most software documentation is available on the company’s website or help pages on digital channels.

Below, we list 4 items that we consider essential in software documentation. They are:

End-user support

A user guide, with release notes, online help systems, training programs, or operating procedures; that is, any details that help users use the product.

Marketing support

Product-focused advertising is used to promote the brand and company, such as photos, explainer videos, presentations, and materials that lead to landing pages with technical information.

Development support

Functional and technical specifications, which serve as software development guides or simply procedures and tools to help developers do their jobs.

Organization support

Information about the company, its structure, its procedures, workflows, policies, and everything else that the professionals on your team need to know to do their jobs.

Good documentation practices

To help you effectively document your software and ensure the expected results, we have listed 5 best practices focused on documentation content within the software documentation requirements that we are considering.

Write what your audience would like to read

Understand which audience you’re documenting for and carefully define the language, tone of voice, structure, and topics you’ll use.

Add an easy-to-read table of contents

Prepare readers for what they will find in the document and allow them to move forward or return to a certain point with ease.

Explain in a simple and detailed way

Your documentation should be easy to consume, both for your team and for the users of the software. Detail all the items, but do it in a simple and direct way, without focusing too much on obviousness.

Create an upgrade plan

Adding the date of the last update is essential to familiarize the reader with the documentation. In addition, ensuring that the document is always relevant is essential.

Help readers find your document

Make sure that, when searched, your document is found. To do this, add resources and product names to titles and explanations, facilitating indexing in digital channels, for example.

Step by step for good software documentation

Software documentation, also known as technical documentation, is often penned by a technical writing specialist and aims to convert product specifications into language that end users can comprehend.

To help with this, we’ve outlined a five-step process for documenting software below.

1. Create a documentation plan

Have a plan for the software documentation stages at hand, with: objectives, existing resources, language style guides, the outline of topics that the documentation will address, tools to be used, how the management will be, and, finally, deadline and final results, which will serve to guide you in this project of documenting.

2. Define structure and design

Before you even start creating the content, define how the structure of your software documentation will be and what design will be presented, including how the hierarchy of information related to technical documents will be designed and what the document navigation structure will be.

3. Make a structured document

The content of good software documentation should have a presentation that makes it easy to analyze. The user has to be able to quickly find what they need.

Think of a template that contains a structure such as: a title, subtitle, overview, table of contents, characteristics, and perhaps a “read more” with additional information.

4. Get feedback before finalizing

In the initial phase, in the draft or draft of the documentation, try to get feedback on your document, both on the structural part and on grammar errors.

When you reach the final phase, with about 90% of your documentation completed, ask your audience to deeply review your document, to avoid unpleasant surprises when finalizing.

5. Edit, edit, and edit more

Remember, the ongoing editing process is what makes for good writing. Therefore, after collecting feedback and revising, expose the document to the editing of a technical writing professional, so that all items are deeply reviewed.

Someone with this eye can ensure that the language has a logical flow and is consistent throughout the text.

Conclusion

It’s evident that one of the best methods to give end consumers all the information they need about a product – while keeping in mind their shopping experience and usability – is by documenting software, as confirmed by the software engineers at SECL Group.

Experts and colleagues working on the project can refer to well-written software documentation as a reference when they have inquiries concerning the features and functionality of the product.

Integrating software documentation into the workflow and making it a key project milestone is the best approach to ensure that it is not ignored throughout development.

A great resource for your company is having efficient and current software documentation, which may improve teams and processes, facilitate the onboarding of new engineers, and, most importantly, enhance the user experience with your product and brand.

Filed Under: Software Tagged With: agile, design, development, document, documentation, engineers, manifesto, practices, software, structure

Automation in Car Shipping: Streamlining the Logistics Process

May 15, 2024 by Mark Allinson

Automation shapes the car shipping industry like hands shape clay. It pulls in an assortment of tools and processes to perfect the procedure, giving attention to details such as vehicle tracking and data analysis.

What this means is that you get safer and quicker deliveries, but there’s something else too. Think of a world where fuel waste is cut down, paperwork flows lightning fast, and no costly human errors occur during shipping – that’s what automation brings to the table.

[Read more…] about Automation in Car Shipping: Streamlining the Logistics Process

Filed Under: Logistics Tagged With: automation, automotive, car, clearances, customs, documentation, industry, logistics, workflows

Plant Documentation 4.0: An ‘essential enabler’ for Industry 4.0

May 8, 2023 by Mark Allinson

LiveDOK software suite from Rösberg makes plant data available digitally to engineers and plant operators, and can be administered, searched and corrected in real time.

Specialist articles on Industry 4.0 generally emphasise the feasibility of consistent, intelligent networking of machines, processes and personnel.

However, one aspect that is often overlooked is that digitalised plants can only be reliably managed if available documentation reflects the current status of the production processes. [Read more…] about Plant Documentation 4.0: An ‘essential enabler’ for Industry 4.0

Filed Under: Software Tagged With: digital, documentation, plant, plants

Austrian start-up Sodex automates essential construction processes

March 28, 2022 by David Edwards

Sodex Innovations has released a range of new technologies to automate the construction industry.

The company says that, through this system, the surveying, documentation and billing of each excavation will be largely automated.

Effort, time and costs are to be minimized for construction companies in the area of administration. And this with an assistance system mounted directly on the excavator. [Read more…] about Austrian start-up Sodex automates essential construction processes

Filed Under: Construction, News Tagged With: billing, companies, construction, documentation, excavation, excavator, innovations, moved, offers, pfefferkorn, sdx, sodex, surveying, system, systems, team, terrain, time

IDS cameras central to automatic photo portal for the documentation of intralogistics processes

August 27, 2021 by David Edwards

Due to digitalisation in Industry 4.0, internal logistics is subject to constant change. Internal traceability, that is the tracking of goods in the warehouse or production facility, is increasingly playing a key role.

Manufacturers and consumers are placing more and more emphasis on the safety and quality of products. Costly and image-damaging complaints must therefore be avoided.

Automation systems can help to optimise goods control here and at the same time facilitate and accelerate the work of the operators – saving time and costs. [Read more…] about IDS cameras central to automatic photo portal for the documentation of intralogistics processes

Filed Under: Features, Industry Tagged With: automatically, automation, camera, cameras, complete, containers, documentation, goods, ids, image, light, logistics, p.portal, photographed, pose, process, quality, schnellecke, software, solution, system, time, traceability

Robotic surgery: Catheter navigation proving to be the fastest growing sector

July 10, 2020 by David Edwards

IDTechEx reports that the robotic surgery market will reach over $12 billion by 2030. Within this industry, catheter navigation is an emerging, but lesser known application, that is rapidly gaining traction.

IDTechEx’s findings are detailed in the recently published report Innovations in Robotic Surgery 2020-2030: Technologies, Players & Markets.

Catheters are widely used to conduct an intervention within the blood vessels or airways. Traditional catheter ablation procedures have a success rate of approximately 60 percent and can be very long – sometimes several hours. [Read more…] about Robotic surgery: Catheter navigation proving to be the fastest growing sector

Filed Under: Features, Humanoids Tagged With: ada, applicator, automated, automatically, average, boston, box, boxes, center, day, distribution, document, documentation, fully, medical, process, products, scientific, shipping

Boston Scientific introduces ‘touchless distribution’ at its distribution center

July 10, 2020 by David Edwards

Boston Scientific has offices in more than 100 countries and says it is committed to changing lives through innovative medical solutions that improve the health of patients around the world. 

At the distribution center in Kerkrade, Boston Scientific began automating its distribution center in 2013. The aim of the manufacturer and distributor of medical products is: “touchless distribution”.

The implementation of intralogistics company Inther Group’s Automated Document Applicator (ADA) is an important part of this.

 [Read more…] about Boston Scientific introduces ‘touchless distribution’ at its distribution center

Filed Under: Features, Logistics Tagged With: ada, applicator, automated, automatically, average, boston, box, boxes, center, day, distribution, document, documentation, fully, medical, process, products, scientific, shipping

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