Note: This poll was migrated over from a different platform. It doesn’t work, but the results were interesting…so I’m going to keep it here.
Question
What does “[…we have come to value] Working software over comprehensive documentation” mean in terms of user docs? [pick one]
by Michael O'Neill | Sep 1, 2010 | Uncategorized | 18 comments
Sorry, I am not able to understand the question.
But what I know of Agile and documentation is as this. Bare minimum documentation is required and which is decided by the Agile team itself. Main goal is to produce working software at end of each sprint. Bare minimum can be defined like this suppose if all the team member left the team and new team is formed to develop the next version of the software. The documentation at least needs to provide basic information using which new team can start the work.
Google Docs = best wireframing ever.
Comprehensive documentation is vague, as is the majority of this but that is the point. I am a developer for an Agile team in New England and we do indeed prefer working software over the “pamphlet-in-hand” waste that our investors bring us weekly. Just because it’s there in theory doesn’t mean it works in code. We use RoR and we get WORKING SOFTWARE out. “Comprehensive documentation” makes me crave Dramamine.
Agile Software Development is basically a response to the overly bureaucratic methodologies that came before it such as Waterfall Development.
In the manifesto, when it talks about documentation, this again is in response to Waterfall project management, where teams would spend way too much time at the beginning of a project making documentation about what they were going to build, instead of actually building something useful.
That’s why it says software over documentation. It doesn’t mean that documentation is worthless.
It just means that the point of developing software, is to develop good, working software. And that in itself, is the highest priority.
Having worked at a company that utilized Agile software development, user documentation wasn’t left out of the product, it was simply treated as a final stage in a release cycle after the most important part, the working software, had been completed.
But every cycle, user docs had to be upgraded.
It means that it is more important to have a working software than just having a huge of pile of documentation for the user, though documentation for user is also important.
Nothing do with user docs…
I am Tech Lead and working in Agile methodologies. The Agile software development is a group of software development methodologies based on iterative and incremental development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams. It is not all related with any user documents.
So my vote is – It has nothing to do with user docs. It’s clearly referencing design/development docs…
It does not refer to user document as it clearly says that Working software over comprehensive documentation. By that, it’s referencing the design/development docs only.
It has nothing to do with USER domentation
It is clear from the context of the whole agile manifesto that it’s speaking about development docs. We’d rather have something working over something specced.
signatories write:
I’m a software engineer on a team that considers itself Agile. We never considered this part of manifesto to apply to user docs. Actually user docs are part of working software – if the user can’t figure out how that thing works, it is not working at all. And Agile process should apply to user docs as well as code – short iterations, early and frequent customer feedback, etc.
The sentence, out of context, seems to refer to all documentation. However, it really is describing documentation done by the team to design the software. It is not referring to the user documentation.
In the Agile Software Development Environment that I am currently working in, we are staying away from the term “documentation” specifically because of this confusion. We refer to design/business documentation as “artifacts”.
In this context, I think documentation is referred to as the design/business documentation that used to take up a lot of the team’s time, whereas now, we have fully functioning software without needing to spend weeks on documentation.
In the Agile Software Development Environment that I am currently working in, we are staying away from the term “documentation” specifically because of this confusion. We refer to design/business documentation as “artifacts” (which can be viewed later in the archives) and user documentation as “user guides” or “online help” (which ever is more appropriate).
Collobration necessary for the Software Development Life Cycle.
Voted for the last option,.working software is diffrent than the comprehensive documentation which by the way acts and leverages the developement of the software application and its development life cycle.This is mainly done from the employing the right practise for development environment,adpating the right sets of tool for in document and ideas collobration,sharing,viewing and reviewing and testing the modules.Responding to chalanges and queries and the need to change and abopt the blueprint midway brings about a effective development.
Just what it says…. working software over comprehensive [user] documentation.
I voted this way because, working software does not always preclude user aspects.
Just what it says…. working software over comprehensive [user] documentation. i voted because that is what i think it is
I’m a Project Manager in a Software Development team using agile methdologies and I really think the end users need the harness of documentation for training and reference matters, and getting rid of those docs is a “manifesto abuse”.
I voted for “Just what it says…. working software over comprehensive [user] documentation” because that’s what it is in reality. Simple as that, explanation provided.I’m a software engineer and I understood the terms not like other people who didn’t understand the question at all.
I am software engineer.The comprehensive [user] documentation contains detail steps for the design,architecture, and implementation. It also help in code maintenance.