How to write software documentation (3 major tips)
summary
Three concrete tips: produce only the minimum needed by listing audience prerequisites (so you stop writing what readers already know), draw diagrams and stop at ~80% accuracy to reveal ownership and interfaces, and follow the what why and how structure (product definition, diagram, use cases, then vertical/horizontal how-to with code snippets). Use Visio or draw.io for diagrams, prefer Markdown or RST over XML for docs, and expect roughly a 70/30 split in contributors who follow templates versus those who don’t.
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chapters (11)
- 0:00Intro
- 0:20Who am I
- 1:39What is documentation
- 2:46Why documentation is important
- 4:20Step 1 Identify your audience
- 5:57Step 2 Draw a diagram
- 7:24Good vs bad diagrams
- 8:51What should you write
- 9:20Sample structure
- 14:01Landing page
- 15:36References
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