Fixing the Most Hated Task: Modern Approaches to Software Documentation

Software documentation is important, but almost no one likes to do it. Many of us have probably had some bad experiences with documentation in the past and thus want to avoid it completely. However, increasingly complex systems demand a stronger reliance on well-structured documentation.

This talk explores why documentation is more critical than ever for developers, product owners, and all kinds of managers. We will empathize with the excuses (which you will all identify with) and the reasons (which might surprise you). We will gain insights from the history of software documentation and its current, promising trends. We will tackle typical challenges and their established solutions. We will explore the role of reverse engineering and whether AI can assist is us with that. But most importantly, we will see documentation as something that helps us, the company, and especially all the developers and stakeholders who come after us.