Upgrade to Pro
— share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …
Speaker Deck
Features
Speaker Deck
PRO
Sign in
Sign up for free
Search
Search
"We're Agile, we don't do documentation"
Search
Birgitta Boeckeler
June 09, 2017
Technology
1
1.7k
"We're Agile, we don't do documentation"
Slides as presented at "The Lead Developer" conference 2017 in London
Birgitta Boeckeler
June 09, 2017
Tweet
Share
More Decks by Birgitta Boeckeler
See All by Birgitta Boeckeler
[XP Keynote] AI for teams: State of play for AI assistance beyond code
birgitta410
0
130
The role of developer skills in today's AI-assisted world
birgitta410
0
180
Cultivating Architecture (2022)
birgitta410
0
460
Redefining confidence: Cognitive biases in an architect's life
birgitta410
0
280
Cultivating Architecture with Principles
birgitta410
1
440
Cultivating Architecture
birgitta410
0
2.2k
To pair, or not to pair
birgitta410
1
480
To pair, or not to pair
birgitta410
0
460
Born for IT? How the image of software developers came about
birgitta410
0
430
Other Decks in Technology
See All in Technology
PLaMoの事後学習を支える技術 / PFN LLMセミナー
pfn
PRO
9
3.8k
From Prompt to Product @ How to Web 2025, Bucharest, Romania
janwerner
0
120
OpenAI gpt-oss ファインチューニング入門
kmotohas
2
990
後進育成のしくじり〜任せるスキルとリーダーシップの両立〜
matsu0228
7
2.4k
Modern_Data_Stack最新動向クイズ_買収_AI_激動の2025年_.pdf
sagara
0
210
Why Governance Matters: The Key to Reducing Risk Without Slowing Down
sarahjwells
0
110
VCC 2025 Write-up
bata_24
0
180
リーダーになったら未来を語れるようになろう/Speak the Future
sanogemaru
0
280
Findy Team+のSOC2取得までの道のり
rvirus0817
0
340
about #74462 go/token#FileSet
tomtwinkle
1
340
OCI Network Firewall 概要
oracle4engineer
PRO
1
7.8k
成長自己責任時代のあるきかた/How to navigate the era of personal responsibility for growth
kwappa
3
270
Featured
See All Featured
Typedesign – Prime Four
hannesfritz
42
2.8k
How STYLIGHT went responsive
nonsquared
100
5.8k
Stop Working from a Prison Cell
hatefulcrawdad
271
21k
Balancing Empowerment & Direction
lara
4
680
The Pragmatic Product Professional
lauravandoore
36
6.9k
GitHub's CSS Performance
jonrohan
1032
460k
The Art of Delivering Value - GDevCon NA Keynote
reverentgeek
15
1.7k
The Cost Of JavaScript in 2023
addyosmani
53
9k
Exploring the Power of Turbo Streams & Action Cable | RailsConf2023
kevinliebholz
34
6.1k
BBQ
matthewcrist
89
9.8k
The Cult of Friendly URLs
andyhume
79
6.6k
Facilitating Awesome Meetings
lara
56
6.6k
Transcript
“WE’RE AGILE, WE DON’T DO DOCUMENTATION” @birgitta410 B i r
g i t t a B ö c k e l e r
None
“Documenting Software Architectures – Views and Beyond” 2nd edition, 2011;
Clements, Bachmann, Bass, Garlan, Ivers, Little, Merson, Nord, Stafford
None
None
None
None
None
None
DESCRIBING SOFTWARE
None
WHERE ARE YOU? 1:1 UML diagrams No documentation at all
“Self- documenting code” Tests are readable specification
PURPOSE of documentation?
For the sake of a PROCESS.
PURPOSE of documentation?
Create a COMMON UNDERSTANDING. 1
None
The wall of COMMON UNDERSTANDING. Containers & Tech Stack Environments
Components … … … Up for grabs!
Surface and understand COMPLEXITY. 2
… … … Data schema migrations Synching behavior … Design
of storage module
INFO GRAPHICS.
“WIDGET” KITS.
Create EMPATHY. 3
Empathy between TECH DECISION MAKERS and developers.
“Working on software without guidance, without documentation, is anxiety-producing” https://medium.com/@duretti/no-flex-zone-empathy-driven-development-aebf4d8cf7cf
Empathy with EACH OTHER.
Empathy between PRODUCT PEOPLE and developers.
Empathy with OTHER TECHNOLOGISTS.
Help our FUTURE SELVES make informed DECISIONS. 4
Architecture DECISION records. http://thinkrelevance.com/blog/2011/11/15/documenting-architecture-decisions “Without understanding the rationale (…), only
two choices: 1. Blindly accept the decision. 2. Blindly change it.”
LIGHTWEIGHT architecture DECISION records. https://github.com/npryce/adr-tools
Describe the PROBLEM, not just the SOLUTION.
CREATIVE problem SOLVING. 5
None
None
None
None
But how do we keep it UP TO DATE?!
@kaeff
As LITTLE as possible. Make it VISIBLE. Include in RITUALS.
Create OWNERSHIP through COLLABORATION.
Help our FUTURE SELVES make informed DECISIONS. Surface and understand
COMPLEXITY. Create COMMON UNDERSTANDING. CREATIVE problem SOLVING. Create EMPATHY.
<> Code THE TRUTH HOW-TOs HISTORY MAPS CREATIVE THINKING
“Individuals and interactions” “Business people and developers work together daily”
“Face to face communication” “Attention to technical excellence and good design” “Simplicity”
@birgitta410