README Driven Development
summary
Argues for writing the README first as a specification so code and tests follow from documented examples, using README first plus Markdown on GitHub issues, Node.js projects, linters and TDD/BDD. Claims this workflow surfaces API decisions early, forces splitting modules, and speeds shipping — one example says it saves one day saved of work — and reports that many proposals get accepted or even implemented overnight, though full rewrites sometimes still fail.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (8)
- 0:00Introduction to readme driven
- 1:23Lessons from Iceland
- 3:22Redefining documentation
- 6:52Benefits of readme files
- 11:36Driving projects with readmes
- 15:26Managing complexity
- 17:56Collaboration and tools
- 20:43Q&A and concluding thoughts
related talks
35mThe Art of Documentation and Readme.md for Open Source Projects
30mA Documentation Talk
23mWrite the Readable README
25mHi, my name is README!
44mGitHub Flavored Ruby
20mREADME-Driven Design
29mStop Documentation Debt: Industrialize Your ADRs and READMEs with Spec-kit
47mThe Things You Don't Want to Write - Documentation
