People come and go

People come and go - information transfer

• Default way: documentation
• Documentation doesn't: too long, outdated, not true, etc.
• Generated documentation
  • Test names
  • Javadoc
  • meta documentation: directory structure, etc.
• Executable documentation
  • unit tests
  • BDD acceptance tests
• Output of executable documentation
  • mostly plain text (TestDox, AgileDox) or HTML
  • in certain cases it's worth generating visualizations based on tests (e.g. state transition diagrams)
• Video documentation: screencasts for bug reports
• Searchable documentation
• Substitutes of documentation: face time, talk, e.g. before a new feature is being developed
  • Documentation is not the goal. The goal is that the other person understands something
• Documentation needs to be searchable
  • generated documentation too
  • executable documentation too

• Put documentation to the right place:
  • (links to) trouble-shooting tips to system monitor items
  • docs should go to the same repo as code goes

• The book "Specification by example" was referenced http://specificationbyexample.com/