What’s the hardest part of software development?#
Some say it’s cache invalidation, some say it is naming things. We say it’s mostly not about code, but about people.
Or more specifically, about how people communicate concepts, complex thoughts, architectures, and decisions. In one phrase, the most difficult part of software development is documentation.
As Uncle Bob would say, how software developers write documentation and communicate makes the difference between ‘MacGyver’ developers and pro developers.
It’s not the number of years in the industry, not how many lines they can write in a day, not if they know what’s a monad or a generalized algebraic datatype, or how fast they can find the solution to a complex problem.
Documentation is critical for smooth business development.#
Not when you write the first MVP of the product with your one outsourced developer, but really soon after, when you build a team.
As teams work together, the value of strong documentation quickly becomes clear. Without it, people who are onboarding will be frustrated, veterans will lose time searching for the knowledge the team needs, and the entire team slows down.
And unhappy! And of course, in our hyper-competitive business world today, having an inefficient and and drowsy team is a recipe for failure.
Why most developers don't write documentation#
Generally speaking, it starts with the first team members, and the process and culture propagates as the team grows.
Most developers like to write documentation and have good intentions, but when the team gets used to doing things a certain way, it's very hard to turn around.
When the team becomes aware of the problem, makes a plan to turn around their habits and sticks to it, things start rolling, features get shipped, bugs get squashed, refactors become a piece of cake, smiles start to appear, compliments get tossed around and inevitably, your customers will feel it through the better product they receive.
What type of documentation they write, when they do#
Most teams at least produce code comments as a basic form of documentation.
More advanced teams generate some HTML from their code comments and host it somewhere internally, so more people from the organization can reach it.
The problem with both types of teams is that they wrongly believe this is enough or even believe this is good documentation. Unfortunately, for most situations, this is far from the truth, because this type of documentation describes ‘what’, not ‘why’ and ‘how’.
Performant teams communicate on another level. First, they are aware that their team is not only made of people who read code.
We have QA Engineers, Product and Project Managers, Architects, Solution Architects, VP of Engineering, and even CTOs would maybe want to know some of that precious knowledge.
Should they just learn git and git pull to the latest branch that only software engineers know what’s in?
What type of information is considered documentation?#
Most of us would agree that documentation is: diagrams, data flows, changelogs, API methods, REST APIs.
In addition, there are some valuable types of documentation that are not widespread believed to be ‘documentation’ per se, like: technology decisions, whiteboard sketches, complex thought-trains that can get explained only by text, performance bottlenecks, architecture flaws (and/or tradeoffs), latency maps, and more popping up every day as software solves bigger problems and gets more complex.
TURN STATIC DOCS INTO INSTANT ANSWERS
Build beautiful knowledge portals that are easy to navigate, search and share
How can Archbee help?#
Archbee provides an easy to adopt solution for technical documentation that is specifically tailored to software development teams. We've studied many teams and their workflows, we've identified common use cases and coded them into our software's DNA. When your team picks Archbee, you are guaranteed to see upsides like team happiness, synergy and productivity within less than 3 months of using our product.
Try Archbee's full range of features with our free 14-day trial.
Frequently Asked Questions
Documentation. Clear, shared communication of concepts, decisions, and trade-offs is usually the hardest part because it aligns people, not machines.
Great documentation does more than describe code:
- Explains the why and how behind architectures, patterns, and APIs
- Records decisions and trade-offs so they do not live only in people's heads
- Gives non-engineers (QA, PM, leadership) the context to make good calls
- Reduces rework, surprises, and risky changes
- Creates continuity so work survives team changes
Code builds features; documentation builds shared understanding so you can ship the right thing, safely and repeatedly. That communication is what separates ad hoc efforts from professional engineering.
Once you move beyond a solo MVP, good documentation becomes a force multiplier for speed, quality, and morale.
It drives:
- Faster onboarding and time to impact for new hires (first PR in days, not weeks)
- Fewer interruptions for senior engineers and less helpdesk load
- Less rework and fewer defects thanks to shared context and clearer boundaries
- Safer refactors and quicker incident resolution
- Lower bus factor and smoother continuity when people rotate or leave
- Clearer alignment across engineering, QA, product, and leadership
Without it, new hires spin, veterans field constant questions, delivery slows, and morale dips. With it, teams ship faster, fix bugs sooner, refactor confidently—and customers notice.
It is rarely laziness; it is friction and misaligned incentives.
Common blockers:
- Deadline pressure makes docs feel optional or a later task
- Unclear ownership and no shared standards
- Tools that add friction or scatter information
- Fear of staleness and wasted effort
- Culture: if docs are not in the definition of done, they slip
What works:
- Make docs part of the definition of done and code review
- Use lightweight templates (ADRs, runbooks, onboarding) to reduce effort
- Assign clear owners (DRIs) for systems and pages
- Keep everything in one searchable place with sensible structure
- Time-box updates (for example, 10-15 minutes per PR) and schedule doc hygiene days
- Automate nudges (PR templates, CI checks, issue checklists) so updates are not forgotten
When documentation is built into how you ship, velocity increases, quality improves, and interruptions go down.
Comments and generated references explain what code does, but not why it exists, how it fits, or how to operate it safely. Add:
- Architecture: context diagrams, component and sequence diagrams, data flows
- Decisions: lightweight ADRs with options, trade-offs, and rationale
- APIs and integrations: guides, examples, versioning notes, error handling
- Operations: runbooks, incident and postmortem summaries, SLOs, on-call tips
- Performance: known bottlenecks, latency maps, capacity assumptions
- Product context: domain glossary, feature overviews, user flows
- Change history: changelogs and migration guides
- Onboarding: system walkthroughs, access, environments, local setup
Minimum viable set for most teams:
- One system overview diagram plus a domain glossary
- ADRs for significant decisions
- An API guide with examples
- Runbooks for common operational tasks
- An onboarding checklist and local dev setup
Archbee is a technical documentation platform built for software teams. It makes capturing, finding, and maintaining knowledge a natural part of delivery.
How it helps:
- Purpose-built editor and templates for ADRs, runbooks, onboarding, postmortems, and more
- A single, searchable workspace for diagrams, APIs, guides, and changelogs
- Clear structure, ownership, permissions, and version history to keep content trustworthy
- Review workflows and page status so teams know what is current and who maintains it
Expected outcomes: faster onboarding, fewer interruptions, and higher velocity within a few months of consistent use.
Learn more about technical documentation or start a free 14-day trial: https://app.archbee.com/signup.