What is effective architecture documentation for software development?

Absolutely needed to set a clear vision, and effectively communicate to all stakeholders what the purpose of the system is, and how the design accomplishes this. It serves as a foundation for high quality customer documentation and communication. In addition, a well documented architecture enables maintainability and scalability as new requirements pour in, and integration with other tools, stacks, or products becomes necessary. Scaling the design is just as important as adding new features - and that only be done successfully when a design is well understood by all stakeholders through clear documentation.

Documentation helps mitigate knowledge silos, facilitates onboarding of new team members, and provides a reference point for discussions and decision-making. It is an essential artifact for long-term maintainability and scalability. Consider a team working on a complex financial management system. The software architecture documentation serves as a guide for developers, architects, and other stakeholders, ensuring a shared understanding of the system's design and rationale.

To have the birds eye view of all the components in the application or domain. It is good to have the overall picture of the architecture, so that it helps the person working on something to understand where exactly the logic stands and what will be the in/out data, what will be the integration, which all things might be impacted. Also from the knowledge transfer point of view it will help the others to understand the entire domain structure.

Documenting architecture serves as a historical reference, allowing future teams to understand the rationale behind certain decisions. This is especially crucial when original team members move on or when long-term maintenance is required. For new team members, well-documented architecture can significantly shorten the learning curve, providing a clear overview of the system's structure & functionality. Also, a well-documented architecture makes it easier to scale & adapt the system as needs evolve over time, since the foundational design principles & constraints are clearly laid out.

Architectural documentation is a huge marker of organizational maturity. Deal-driven SW orgs often include architecture teams with chronically stunted documentation. As a doc person usually embedded with architecture, I have taken to asking the archs whether they feel they are "doing architecture" when they're writing doc. If the answer is No, an executive sponsor usually employs heroism and passion to change the weather, sometimes leading to disappointment. One antidote to high-level inertia I've come to rely on: regular live review boards for major architectural decisions: 1. Forces architects to simplify message into decision-support framework. 2. Enables rapid spread of desired behavior. 3. Makes optimal use of executive cycles.

It's crucial to strike the right balance in documentation - providing enough detail to be useful without overwhelming the reader with minutiae. This balance will depend on the complexity of the system & the knowledge level of the intended audience. Ensure that the documentation addresses the concerns & needs of a diverse range of stakeholders, from technical team members to business executives. The architecture documentation should evolve with the project, reflecting changes in technology, business goals, & user needs. Identify & prioritize the most critical aspects of the system to document, especially those that are unique, complex, or have the most significant impact on the system's overall functionality.

Based on experience we need to document: 1. Code (Straight in the code) 1.1. Complex logic 1.2 Business-related logic 2. API 3. Repositories (README) 4. Architecture 5. Processes 6. Experience (What we tried, what went wrong, what went well, pros and cons between technologies) Documentation reflects our experience. By sharing, creating documentation, we are sharing our experience and knowledge. It pays 100 times in the future. 1. Companies are growing faster with documentation (Imagine top developers giving all the knowledge to everyone) 2. Engineers are understanding projects better with documentation. 3. It automates knowledge sharing (By creating proper documentation there is no need to explain all the code to a requestor)

Document key components, their interactions, and dependencies. Include decisions on technology stack, design patterns, and rationale for architectural choices. Document performance considerations, data flow, and any constraints or trade-offs made during design.

The best documentation is no documentation. At a certain level, developers start to understand that the main purpose of the code they write is to be understood by other people. The computer will understand the most elaborate sh.. stuff, while people(including yourself) who will support it in the future may not. The good code is self-explanatory, with a clear structure and dependency distribution. Simple yet elaborate enough to handle business domain. The only thing I would write is some kind of readme with all the prerequisites to launch the project - it is not good either, but with languages that guarantee no backsupport it is basically the best way. A script that handles it for the dev may be caught in the same trap as the project.

בעת החלטה על מה לתעד בארכיטקטורה שלך, חשוב לשקול את ההקשר, ההיקף והמורכבות של מערכת התוכנה שלך, וכן את הצרכים והציפיות של הגורמים המעורבים. ישנם רכיבים נפוצים לתיעוד שכוללים גורמים מניעים ארכיטקטוניים כמו דרישות פונקציונליות ולא פונקציונליות, הקשר עסקי וטכני, ותכונות איכות שמשפיעות על בחירות העיצוב. כמו כן, ייתכן שתרצה לתעד תצוגות ארכיטקטוניות כמו תצוגות לוגיות, פיזיות, הפצה או זמן ריצה שמראות את המבנה, ההתנהגות והאינטראקציה של רכיבי התוכנה והקשרים שלהם. כמו כן, יש לתעד החלטות ארכיטקטוניות כמו תבניות עיצוב, טכנולוגיות, תקנים ופשרות שנעשו כדי להשיג את הגורמים המניעים והתצוגות הארכיטקטוניות.

I found the extremely helpful approach of treating documentation as code. In most cases, documentation becomes stale and is not linked to the real state of the architecture and software solution shortly after publishing, requiring an enormous amount of resources to keep it up to date. As a result, it is much simpler when it integrated with the codebase, infrastructure, and business processes. Including the process of maintaining documentation in the SDLC helps to keep accurate information. Additionally, when diagrams and specifications are written with tools that support version control, it helps to understand which tickets, decisions, and people affect the architecture and how to incorporate such changes into future development.

In my experience, creating design templates and starter guides has made engineers kick off the documentation process sooner and faster. It has also helped maintain consistency across the organization.

The best way to document: 1. Document your code and API 1.1. Document your code like you will be reading it in 10 years. Short, easy, main points of the algorithm, steps, inputs and outputs, with technical details if needed 1.2 Document your API without fancy technical stuff, only what you're expecting to see, what you're returning and what is the contract (Remember there is not only Software Engineers who reading the API docs) 2. Writing test with useful description. 2.1. It helps to understand what went wrong 2.2. It helps to follow the logic of a method 2.3 It helps to understand all the dependencies to execute a method 3. Add README to explain the project and key points of it.

הפורמט והסגנון של תיעוד הארכיטקטורה שלך עשויים להשתנות, אך ישנם כמה כללים כלליים שיכולים לעזור לך לתעד את הארכיטקטורה שלך ביעילות. יש להשתמש בתבנית או במסגרת סטנדרטית כדי להגדיר את ההיקף, המבנה והתוכן של תיעוד הארכיטקטורה שלך; לדוגמה, התקן IEEE 1471-2000 או התבנית arc42. כמו כן, יש להשתמש בשפה ובמונחים משותפים שהם מובנים ועקביים ברחבי התיעוד והקוד שלך; לדוגמה, המודל C4 או הסימון של UML. חשוב להשתמש ברמת ההפשטה והפרטים המתאימים שמתאימים למטרה ולקהל היעד של התיעוד שלך. ניתן להשתמש ברמות זום או דקדוק שונות

Create documentation that is clear, concise, and accessible. Use tools like UML diagrams, sequence diagrams, and flowcharts to visually represent the architecture. Provide code comments that explain complex or critical sections of the codebase.

Documenting should be integrated into the development process. Create documentation as decisions are made and revisit it during significant milestones. Regularly update documentation to reflect changes in the architecture and ensure that it remains a reliable reference.

In my experience, incorporating all relevant documentation updates into the ‘definition of done’ for every story and task made a significant difference in keeping the documentation up to date. Essentially, we integrated documentation updates into our daily development tasks.

When to document: 1. On every change to codebase 2. On every new implementation (what the implementation does, key points and complex logic description) 3. On every new business decision (why we decided to go with approach A, not B) 4. On every failure (what went wrong, what lessons learned) 5. On every success (what went well, what helped to achieve) 6. On what you are feeling you'd need in the future. Documentation might be tedious, and sometimes it feels like it doesn't offer much, but imagine there is no docs: 1. No knowledge transfer 2. No clear understanding why we are doing it 3. To understand codebase we need to go through it 4. To understand an API we need to manually check it 5. Repeat the same mistakes

In agile development environments, documentation should be integrated into sprints or iterations, ensuring it evolves in tandem with the code. Aim to be proactive in documenting, rather than reactive. Anticipating changes & potential areas for expansion can save time & effort in the long run. Regularly updated documentation can serve as a risk management tool, helping to identify potential issues early on. It's important to find a balance between providing sufficient detail & maintaining agility in the documentation process. Begin documenting at the start of the project. Early documentation should include high-level design concepts, goals, & constraints. Integrate documentation updates into regular development cycles.

One thing I've found helpful is incorporating visual diagrams into architecture documentation. While detailed text is essential, visual representations such as UML diagrams, flowcharts, and system diagrams provide a quick and intuitive overview. Visuals enhance understanding, especially for stakeholders who may not be deeply involved in the technical aspects. It's a powerful means of communication that can convey complex architectural concepts in a digestible format.

In my experience, I've discovered that adding documentation directly in the code repository creates a great connection between the code and its documentation. This approach makes it easier to grasp all the details and understand how everything fits together.

Choose platforms that not only allow easy access for all relevant stakeholders but also provide necessary security measures to protect sensitive information. The documentation platform should ideally integrate well with other tools used in the development lifecycle, such as issue tracking systems, continuous integration tools, & project management software. Opt for tools that support collaborative editing, versioning, & commenting to facilitate teamwork & peer reviews. The chosen platform should make it easy to update & maintain documentation, keeping pace with the rapid changes in a software development environment. Few examples: - Dedicated Repositories (DMS) - Code Repositories (GitHub) - Living Documentation Tools (AsciiDoc)

Developing documentation dynamically from the beginning and beholding contributors to a standard convention will mitigate degradation in the quality of the documentation as well as improve maintainability of the product. Most gaps, errors, and inconsistencies arise from a deviation in application of the established processes and parallel efforts failing to rectify their mutual interfaces. Stay consistent and stay dedicated to documentation and it will pay for itself in the long run.

One of cool vector of improvements is automatically generated documentation. For example: commit changes to exact file or entity triggers workflow which extract comments from it, parsing it and update related pages or instructions on your documentation. Such kind of automation will allow you to always have bleeding edge instructions on your critical infrastructure.

Creating documentation may seem a bit boring, but it is very inspiring when after some time you get feedback from people who use it. Your work immediately makes sense.