The Power of Documentation – An Overview

Introduction

Have you ever wanted to never forget anything, down to the smallest detail [Gagić 2019, Cunningham 2006, Yassine 2003]? How about knowing all you ever wanted to know and being prepared for whatever life throws at you, making faster, more accurate and all in all smarter decisions , learning easily without any additional effort from information and events; even the ones that didn’t make it into the halls of your shameful memories (that is a strength, believe me) [Cowan 2014, Abu Shama 2018, Cowan 2012, Carpenter 1990]? Did you want to share your thoughts faster, wider and deeper down time than any person could dream of (current record 162.98019259 AU / 162.98019259 mi) and > 30.000 years [Voyager 2023, Valladas 2001, Vandenbroucke 2018]?Or is it time that you are after? Are you perhaps scrambling from one meeting to another, talking instead of working, with productivity seemingly high but nothing ever getting done?

Then let me tell you about a tool that makes all this and more possible:

Documentation

Yes, the process of writing or drawing or whatevering ones thoughts onto stone, paper, a notebook, the computer, phone or whatnot for purposes like storage, distribution or study and reading or otherwise consuming the produced media. Doesn’t sound like much, does it?

Many people at least don’t think much of documentation. They have a resistance against it which lead to a treatment worthy of evil stepmothers. Even my nosy partner in crime only gets close enough to documentation to poke it with a stick.

The naysayers point out that documentation requires too much time and work for what it offers. It even invites mistakes (everyone has seen that one folder with those latest dozen versions of the presentation) and is inflexible. And all those arguments are true, at least for a time.

In the beginning of setting up any kind of documentation-system, it does require work and might not pay off its due immediately. And the arguments can remain true if documentation remains unattended. If left to its own devices, it can even can develop nasty outcrops.

PIC of something slimy / evil / tentacles growing in a left alone jar or box or so

But if you use documentation and care for, it unfolds its true potential.

PIC – mascot could come to life

Want to find a mail, but only know the name of the project? Good documentation will have it for you [Foer 2012]. Want to remember something for later? Just write it down and it will stand ready, for centuries if need be [Schacter 2002].
Want to learn about a topic? Start writing and you will naturally learn about it, without any additional effort necessary. But watch out! You might become an expert [Rivard 2000, Schäferhoff 2021]. Want to share your thoughts with a project-team, your company or the world? Also here documentation comes to your help in all its forms and colors [Project Practical 2024 – 2, ProjectPractical 2024].

“Every hour invested into documentation by anyone saves literally x100 productivity hours…”
[Kravcenko 2023]

Examples

…of history

We and certainly I aren’t the first to realize all these benefits. Documentation has impacted humanity far earlier and left its mark in the annals of our history, by being no less than one of its major pillars of development. After the first introduction of the written word, humanity didn’t make a jump for nothing after all [Hallo 1971].

In fact, the tool of documentation was so successful and necessary for the technological advancement of humanity that multiple civilizations seem to have developed it independently (Mesopotamia: 3400 – 3100 BCE; Egypt: 3250 BCE [Regulski 2014]; China: 1200 BCE [Bottéro 1996]; Mesoamerica: before 500 BCE [Fagan 1996]) [Harford 2017].

Again and again throughout history we see its effect on progress on small and grand scales from these “humble” beginnings to a major push in scalability of writing through Gutenberg [Rees 2006], the introduction of peer reviews in 1731 by the Royal Society of Edinburgh [Shema 2014], and as we are probably all thinking why not mention the whole development of the scientific method throughout recorded history [§ Achinstein 2004]. This globally applied documentation system had one of the most remarkable strong effects throughout every aspect of life. It effectively advanced knowledge on a scale undreamed of.

“Written language is the single most important invention. Ever. Human life as it existed at any point past the Neolithic only happened because we could create “permanent” communication via writing.”
[Comedian70 2023]

…of today

And also today, we observe that every country in the world applies documentation to keep track of…everything. A part of documentation, called “Big Data” by the cool kids these days, has also become another industrial turning point, with companies realizing and experimenting to generate value …with mixed success [Günther 2017]. Individuals too have benefited from documentation.

Niklas Luhmann is a good demonstrator of the capabilities of clean documentation, and to extend on the previous paragraph, devised every data-scientists wet dream; the Zettelkasten.

Thanks to this documentation-method Luhmann, was able to publish 50 books and over 600 articles; and that’s just counting the published works. More than 150 more manuscripts ranging into 1000-page-territory remained after his death [Cevolini 2016].

…from personal life

Documentation isn’t just about such grand results like hundreds of publications, generating billions in another market-bubble or elevating humanity to its next stage of evolution. It can also be effective for a common person, like me.

Over the course of my life it enabled all of my major achievements like:

getting a master’s in engineering…
…soon to be followed by a PhD
working successfully in a multitude of industries ranging from
- teaching
- construction
- aerospace
- materials
- automotive
- energy
- IT

And just these past few months, my documentation-habits allowed me to

organize a wedding
buy an apartment
take care of our new and beloved dog as well as a super chaotic “wive to be” (⇐ These words were written with her consent.)
start a business
create not one, but two blogs
publish a book
and manage all those small itty bitty other tasks and commitments that fill up a life.

And I am certain that I wouldn’t have managed half of these accomplishments in the same or even double the time-frame without documentation. I would have been lost, hopelessly and utterly lost, more times than I would like to admit. And I know it because I see these and other signs in all those plans I set out where I don’t apply my documentation methods (aka bad documentation).

I forget what was discussed last week, heck yesterday, and more often than not, life is a bitch when it comes to details. In those cases, plans fall through, misunderstandings within the team have a field day and time is wasted and wasted once more on meetings, discussions, clarifications and cleanups. And in the end, quality, like the original project goal, is a hushed word at most.

Outro

Despite all off above’s tooting, we must keep in mind that while documentation is a powerful tool that allowed societies of the past to turn into empires, organizations today to dominate the market, and individuals to succeed, it isn’t the silver bullet for all problems.
For one it requires work and for two more is necessary. Documentation is a tool that supports you, it doesn’t lift anything on its own.

But exactly that is why I want to explore deeper into the realms of documentation. In coming articles, I will take a more in depth look into benefits and base-rules of what can be called “Good Documentation” for organizations and individuals as well as the basics of how documentation achieves these benefits and best practices with concrete examples.

Stay tuned ;).

Sources

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Bottéro 1996	Bottéro, F. (1996). The Origin and Early Development of the Chinese Writing System.
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