Daniele Procida - Documentation-driven development - lessons from the Django Project

One secret of Django's success is the quality of its documentation. As well as being key to the quality of the code itself, it has helped drive the development of Django as a community project, and even the professional development of programmers who adopt Django.

I'll discuss how Django has achieved it, and how any project can easily win the same benefits.

https://us.pycon.org/2016/schedule/presentation/2089/

Transcript

1. DOCUMENTATION-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT DANIELE PROCIDA
2. ALL ABOUT ME DANIELE PROCIDA ▸ Community & documentation manager, Divio ▸ Board member, Django Software Foundation ▸ Django core developer ▸ django CMS developer ▸ daniele.procida@divio.com ▸ EvilDMP (IRC, GitHub, Twitter)
3. DOCUMENTATION- DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT
4. DON’T DOCUMENT YOUR CODE, CODE YOUR DOCUMENTATION DOCUMENTATION-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT ▸ like test-driven development, puts should before is ▸ establishes a shared, easily-accessible, higher-level overview of the work ▸ provides a shared, easily-accessible metric of success ▸ encourages contribution and engagement of non- programmers ▸ binds programming effort into a coherent narrative
5. LESSONS FROM THE DJANGO PROJECT DOCUMENTATION-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT
6. DJANGO’S DOCUMENTATION IS EXEMPLARY
7. DJANGO’S DOCUMENTATION IS EXEMPLARY WHAT’S SO GOOD ABOUT IT? ▸ It’s structured properly (tutorials, how-to, reference, topics). ▸ Within that structure, it’s clear and consistent. ▸ It covers just about everything. ▸ It’s held to the highest standards. ▸ It exemplifies important values (clarity, courtesy, friendliness) ▸ Documentation in Django is a process, not just a product.
8. DJANGO’S DOCUMENTATION IS EXEMPLARY WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES THIS MAKE? ▸ It makes Django easier to learn and adopt. ▸ It makes people better Django programmers. ▸ It lowers the support burden. ▸ It makes the development of Django itself easier and faster.
9. DJANGO’S GOOD DOCUMENTATION IS GOOD FOR DJANGO
10. SOFTWARE IS NOT THE ONLY THING THAT DEVELOPS
11. WHAT DOES DOCUMENTATION MEAN FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITIES AND PROGRAMMERS?
12. DEVELOPING A COMMUNITY
13. DEVELOPING A COMMUNITY DJANGO’S DOCUMENTATION ▸ represents its attitudes ▸ is an implicit contract with its community ▸ is a commitment to standards of communication and information ▸ is treated as an activity, not just as content
14. RTFM Unsympathetic programmers DEVELOPING A COMMUNITY
16. INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTATION AS PRODUCT AND CONTENT
17. INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTATION AS PROCESS AND ACTIVITY
18. DEVELOPING A COMMUNITY INFORMATION AS COMMUNICATIVE TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN AGENTS ▸ clarity ▸ intelligibility ▸ relevance ▸ comprehension ▸ attention to the needs and abilities of the other party ▸ affirmation of mutual understanding
19. GOOD DOCUMENTATION SHOWS RESPECT
20. DJANGO’S DOCUMENTATION INFORMS ITS COMMUNITY
21. DEVELOPING PROGRAMMERS
22. DEVELOPING PROGRAMMERS DOCUMENTATION ▸ represents an easy way in for new contributors ▸ is almost always welcome ▸ raises its author’s of understanding to new levels
23. DJANGO’S DOCUMENTATION STRUCTURE GUIDES NEW CONTRIBUTIONS
24. CONTRIBUTIONS TO DJANGO’S DOCUMENTATION ARE TAKEN SERIOUSLY AND HELD TO THE HIGHEST STANDARDS
25. CONTRIBUTIONS TO DJANGO’S DOCUMENTATION ARE VALUED
26. DOCUMENTING CODE IS THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY TO UNDERSTAND IT
27. DJANGO’S DOCUMENTATION ADVANCES THOSE WHO CONTRIBUTE TO IT
28. DJANGO DOES DOCUMENTATION-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT
29. WHAT CAN YOUR PROJECT DO?
30. WHAT CAN YOUR PROJECT DO? PRACTICAL STEPS ▸ Structure your documentation correctly (tutorials, how-to, reference, topics). ▸ Make your documentation policies as rigorous as your code policies. ▸ Document your documentation. ▸ Value your documentation contributors. ▸ Value the activity of documentation and information.
31. WHAT CAN YOU OR YOUR ORGANISATION DO? PRACTICAL STEPS ▸ Attend a Write the Docs conference or workshop - writethedocs.org. ▸ Make being a Documentation manager part of someone’s role. ▸ Spend money and time on documentation.
32. DOCUMENTATION IS BECOMING A MOVEMENT
33. ANY QUESTIONS? THANK YOU
34. DOCUMENTATION-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT - LESSONS FROM THE DJANGO PROJECT DANIELE PROCIDA ▸ daniele.procida@divio.com ▸ EvilDMP on IRC, GitHub, Twitter etc ▸ Visit the django CMS booth