Introduction
Documentation is a central resource for users and employees who need to learn how to operate software or complete a process. It provides a place for everyone to access the same information, ensuring a shared understanding that helps them perform tasks. Without documentation, people are left to figure things out on their own, often leading to mistakes, wasted time and frustration.
Writing documentation takes time, but it’s worth the investment. Detailed documentation provides several benefits, and a few best practices can significantly streamline your documentation process.
What’s Documentation?
Documentation is a broad term that describes any written or visual resource that offers instructions, specifications or troubleshooting advice. The documentation could appear online in a knowledge base or offline in a printed handbook (although the latter is less likely these days).
Regardless of where it’s published, every type of documentation serves a similar purpose: to make knowledge consistent and accessible. It institutionalizes what’s known about a product, process or service so that everyone who needs to use it can reach a shared understanding. As its subject matter changes, documentation evolves alongside it to continually offer accurate information.
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Why Is Creating Documentation Important?
Documentation provides a valuable resource that teaches users and employees how to get something done. Whether it’s onboarding new employees, configuring a web server or calling an API, good documentation can make tasks more straightforward. If done well, it’ll result in the following benefits.
Improved Efficiency
Documentation outlines the most efficient way to complete a task or troubleshoot an error, reducing the need for guesswork. This information ensures readers spend less time experimenting and are likelier to complete processes right on the first try.
Better Knowledge Sharing
When employees discover process improvements or better troubleshooting techniques, they can update the related documents to communicate them to everyone instantly. Documentation collects this information so team members can learn from each other and collaborate more effectively.
This is also true of end users — when internal teams improve a process or update a product, they can share these changes with customers through revised documentation.
Improved Customer Satisfaction
If people can’t figure out how to use a product, they’re likely to switch to another platform. So, when designing a new piece of software, it’s essential to create accompanying documentation. Storing it in an online help center is best practice, as it’s more easily accessible for customers, and designers can update the resource as the product changes.
Types of Documentation
There are several types of documentation, and they all fall into one of these two categories:
- Internal documents shared with employees outline the organization's business processes or describe proprietary assets.
- External documents support users or third-party developers as they get to know a product.
With those two categories in mind, here are some of the most common types of documentation you’ll encounter.
Process Documentation
Process documentation is typically internal and describes the best procedure for completing a task. Standard operating procedures are the most common example of process documentation, but companies could also create workflow diagrams, new employee onboarding checklists and maintenance instructions.
Software Documentation
Software documentation is an external resource users refer to when learning how to use a software product or service. User guides and troubleshooting walkthroughs are common examples. But any document that describes the best way to use an application is software documentation, whether published on a wiki or printed in a user manual.
Technical Documentation
Technical documentation is similar to software documentation — it’s external and describes the best way to use or interact with an application. But it’s written for developers and engineers who already understand the syntax of an application's programming language. API documentation is the most common example, but technical resources also include specifications and technology infrastructure documents.
Objective Documentation
Objective documentation includes meeting records, quarterly reports and statement-of-work contracts. These documents define contractual obligations or the details of an event as it happened. The goal is to record something without bias so stakeholders can assess it accurately and use it as a basis for their actions.
Some of these resources are strictly internal, while others must be released regularly to comply with relevant regulations. For instance, companies have to release quarterly financial reports to the public, while they can keep internal meeting notes confidential for team use only.
How To Write Documentation: 4 Best Practices
Here are four tips for writing good documentation that serves its purpose.
1. Use Templates
Templates give you a starting outline for documentation so you don’t need to begin every project from scratch. They also establish formatting and style conventions you can follow to maintain your documentation’s consistency. The Scribe Gallery offers over a hundred detailed templates for everything from IT documentation to troubleshooting guides.
2. Automate
To save time, look for opportunities to use automation platforms in your documentation process. These tools are great at handling repetitive tasks that follow patterns, like reformatting documents or checking for errors. Use them to streamline the parts of the process that don’t require human involvement.
Scribe, for example, can capture screenshots and automatically generate instructions as you complete a task. This frees you up to spend more time developing new products in ways only a human can.
3. Use a Knowledge Base
A loose collection of PDF documents could quickly become inaccurate, so they’re not the best way to store company guides. Instead, publish resources on an online knowledge base where users can browse information seamlessly. It’s easier to maintain because all the articles exist in one searchable environment rather than spread across several folders.
4. Write as You Go
Don’t put off writing documentation until the completion of a project. You’ll quickly realize there’s a mountain of it to write, and you don’t have enough time to create it. Instead, chip away at your documentation throughout the project’s lifecycle, drafting pieces as you solidify details about a product or process.
Perfect Your Documentation With Scribe
Writing and maintaining great documentation improves employees’ and users’ experiences. Creating these resources takes time, but there are ways to streamline your documentation process.
A documentation tool like Scribe is a perfect example. Our platform can automatically generate process instructions that you can share with readers instantly. Try the free AI Document Generator or download the app to see what it can do for your documentation process.
FAQs
Who’s Responsible for Creating Documentation?
Documentation creation usually falls on whoever is most qualified to write and update it. Many teams have a group of technical writers explicitly hired for that purpose, but that isn’t always the case. For example, developers should manage software documentation because they know the most about the application.
What Are the 3 Rules of Documentation?
The “3 Cs” is a general rule of thumb that explains what makes good documentation. When creating guides, consider how the following affect your writing:
- Consistency means your documentation avoids contradicting itself, and its formatting and styling are the same throughout.
- Compliance means your documentation describes everything the reader must know about regulations they must adhere to. Examples include privacy practices and data retention laws.
- Completeness means your documentation covers everything about its subject matter, leaving nothing to guesswork.
What’s the Difference Between Documentation and a Knowledge Base?
A knowledge base is an online platform where you assemble documentation. It isn’t the documentation itself — instead, it’s a navigable website where every guide is a unique article.
You can avoid a knowledge base by publishing resources in a shared cloud folder or printing them into a series of manuals. But we recommend using a dedicated database if possible, as it’s the easiest to maintain.
