The very name “technical documentation” sounds complex. In reality, technical documentation (TD) is there to make complicated things more understandable. Want your clients to get familiar with your product fast? You need a good technical writer and short technical documentation for software manual.
The evidence points out the growing demand for document management systems and TD. Research concludes that the market size is projected to grow from $6.23 billion in 2023 to $18.97 billion by 2030.
Yet, having properly designed TD still requires effort and knowledge. Here, we would like to offer you an overview of TD in software development, to ensure your TD makes an impact and creates value for clients.
Care to know what is technical documentation? And why is it called “technical” in the first place? The mere technical documentation definition is the following — TD is a collection of templates, standards, rules, and notes produced through the product development process.
Why technical? Namely, because it entails the description of the product's architecture or/and functionality in great detail. In simple terms, TD is a how-to guide for everyone involved in the product’s lifecycle: developers, users, and managers.
To illustrate, suppose a client buys a new refrigerator. It is a new-generation model with embedded AI and all kinds of sensors. A customer is an old-fashioned individual who merely tries to catch up with an elusive technological process.
The catch is the following: if the TD for the refrigerator is good, even a user without any proper knowledge of using such an advanced appliance will perfectly get along with it. Naturally, for software development, it is a bit more complex. Yet, the key principle remains the same.
TD is not only about encapsulating information. It is all about the easy, usable, and helpful representation of data. A sign of a good TD is when it empowers users and does not confuse them.
Besides, there are some other goals for which TD is employed:
These general types of TD bring forward many insights and help different shareholders. It all depends on the TD’s audience, and the message TD writers want to convey.
TD's most straightforward answer is written by a technical writer or a subject matter expert. Technical writers are trained to translate complicated product-related language into easy-to-understand content. A subject matter expert is anyone who knows what they are talking about — a developer, a product manager, or a quality assurance expert — and knows what is technical documentation.
The important thing to remember — every developer or engineer who has ever written a single line of code in any given language has at some point references technical documentation of software. What is more striking, even programming languages have TD to make the code-writing process more understandable.
When you need to write technical documentation, remember there are specific types of TD. Here are at least a dozen ones to name:
Looking at these types, you can already grasp a general picture. The technical documentation process encapsulates inputs from multiple experts and various departments. It entails people gathering information throughout the product life cycle. Yet, in the end, all TD comes to two key segments — product documentation and process documentation. Further, we would speak about them in detail.
In its essence, product documentation is there to describe the product in development and offer important instructions on how to handle the product and perform different tasks with it. For instance, tech specification is a good example of product documentation. What is more, consider manuals. All these documents provide specific and crucial information about the product being developed.
In general, there are two particular types of product documentation with different subtypes.
Starting with the first type, it’s worth speaking about the following subtypes: requirements documentation, software architecture documentation, source code documentation, design documentation, QA documentation, and API documentation.
Requirements show what needs to be done to ensure the right product’s functionality. In such a sense, requirements documentation includes all the relevant information concerning systems’ design. Usually, such subtype of product documentation is written in different forms: business rules, use cases, and user stories are only a few to mention.
A proper approach toward writing requirements documentation focuses on integrating aspects like success metrics, maintenance, and business purposes of the product. The documentation sets an endgame threshold, which a fully developed product should reach. Think of it as a final destination point you are driving toward. If you get the final destination and everything goes as you planned, the trip was successful. In such a case, a map with a pointed-out destination and the entire route is a requirements documentation.
Essentially, there are two key aspects to requirements documentation:
What do we have at this point? Requirements technical documentation for software covers various aspects of the product’s functionality. It shows what the product should do when it is fully developed. Requirements documentation should be straightforward. And it is better to use it consistently across the team.
Software architecture documentation, also known as technical specifications, entails all key architectural decisions and steps the leading solution architect takes. Essentially, while requirement documentation illustrates what needs to be built, software architecture documentation explains how the product should be made.
What does it mean? It means the document should explain how each product component will meet the established requirements and show how each element will contribute. Software architecture documentation focuses on solutions, methods, and strategies.
A proper software architecture document includes several key sections:
These elements encapsulate the foundation of software architecture development. Keeping them in mind is important to ensure a smooth product engineering process. To offer several examples of how software architecture documentation looks like, consider the example of Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.
A source code document’s key purpose is to describe and explain how the code works. Notably, some companies avoid this type of documentation. Yet, in many instances, it proved to be important. It helps prevent confusion on various aspects of the code included in the project. Software engineers are the primary audience of the source code technical software documentation.
Speaking about the components of the documentation, there are the following:
It is better to have the document composed in short sections. It is crucial to have a brief description and possible examples for each one. Though the source code documentation is specific to software engineers, it still needs to be understandable. Namely, it can smooth the process of code development.
Design documentation covers all the bases on the product’s look and feel. Perhaps, it is the most extensive subtype among all other product documentation subtypes. It means that we have many things to cover further.
One can divide design documentation into several stages. The first phase is about research. The stage focuses on:
As you can see, the research stage is about information collection and anticipation of how it can be used to get the most out of the product’s functions.
The second phase is about prototyping and designing. During the stage, a person compiling documentation often works with different deliverables while updating the documentation with the product owner, UI designers, and the development team. There are several key documents included in the phase:
Through stages of researching and prototyping, you can have sufficient information to understand what solutions the product should offer and what steps should be upheld. It is hard to underestimate the importance of design documentation.
When you have a product’s design ready and a working prototype, it is time for testing. It is when quality assurance (QA) documentation enters the stage.
There are several types of QA documentation involved:
Having good QA documentation depends on a range of factors. Luckily, there is a range of tools available to ensure every document is intact and offer some unique insights concerning the product’s functionality. This source provides various templates for QA experts. This platform provides useful information on the testing process per se. Finally, this source offers an SDK for software testing particularly.
The final element in the system documentation segment. Application Programming Interfaces (API) documentation exists to inform developers on effective use and connection to selected APIs. Notably, almost any given software product has its particular APIs.
Technical writers present API documentation in the form of guides and tutorials. Notably, this type of documentation must have several available APIs available. Besides, each API should have specifications illustrated as well. API documentation helps developers save precious time researching available APIs by themselves.
There are several instruments to use when designing API documentation. For instance, RAML 2 HTML is an available simple-to-use documentation generator with RAML specifications included. Also, there is Swagger, the platform offering free self-documenting services. It is designed to create as well as update an array of APIs.
With proper API technical software documentation, you save your developers’ precious time and redirect it elsewhere. Essentially, it makes it possible to work on several projects at once.
The documentation represents the user documentation segment. SysAdmin documentation does not provide any information on operating the product or given software. Instead, this document focuses on installation and updates that assist the professional with proper product maintenance.
Usually, there are two SysAdmin documents used:
As you can see, SysAdmin documentation was designed to help system administrators compile an easy-to-understand manner in which users can install, update, and use the product. In this type of documentation, it is paramount to be succinct, straight to the point, and less technical as possible.
The final element of Product Documentation. It deals with end-users and explains how the product can help users solve specific issues. Naturally, the document should be presented in the simplest way possible. The end-user documentation can be offered in print, online, or offline forms.
There are several types of end-user documentation:
When compiling end-user documentation, technical writers must be imaginative. Naturally, the users are not all tech-savvy, which means the information on the product must be clear and understandable.
End-user documentation is the final aspect of product documentation. Further, we should cover process documentation and overview its key constituents.
In contrast to product documentation, process documentation focuses on the essential phases required to complete tasks in product development. This documentation emphasizes how the team working on the project should describe the process and not explain what the process is.
Process documentation often includes plans, schedules, estimates, and roadmaps. Usually, this documentation is written before the start of the project. Besides, process documentation can be altered as the project progresses.
Roadmaps are used as process documents to ensure the sound development process. Most notably, their goal is to make a direct link between the process and the project's goals. Roadmaps can be created based on prioritizing tasks, timelines, and low- and high-level objectives.
Essentially, the experts outline three key types of roadmaps:
Roadmaps help share information quickly and effectively. With roadmaps, teams receive updates, explore new points, and edit the entire product development process. Luckily, a range of options for developing roadmaps is available online. Most of the platforms include free trials, which means you can use them, get familiar, and understand whether you need to purchase a premium plan.
If you are looking for a place to start, consider ProductPlan, Roadmunk, and Roadmap Planner. Roadmaps are at the heart of process documentation. Yet, some additional process documents can positively impact product development.
When it comes to additional types of process documentation, there is an array to consider:
Among the aforementioned documents, it is crucial to discern several key ones. For instance, progress reports help evaluate the success of the product’s development and ensure the development team is on the right track. Besides, working papers record thoughts, ideas, and notes. Developers, engineers, and system administrators offer their vision of the product and process, translating into working papers. Finally, coding and design standards ensure that all aspects of product development are kept consistent.
Product and process documentation encapsulates the key aspects of the product and the process involved in the product development cycle. At this point, with an array of multiple documents included in both product and process segments, it is easy to get confused. So, to help you avoid confusion, we’d like to provide several tips and tricks on writing helpful TD.
There is a myriad of options in technical documentation software. The key is to find the right tool that will do the job and won’t cost you a fortune. At this point, we’ve searched through many sources and developed a list of the best technical documentation software one can find.
ProProfs is used by various Fortune 500 companies like Sony, Cisco, and Accenture. Besides, the company delivers services to millions of users monthly. When visiting the platform, one can find above a million content elements offered in more than seventy languages. It is considered one of the leading online training resources with one of the largest libraries of various tests.
Yet, ProProfs is much more than a training platform. It has a technical documentation tool embedded in its knowledge base. Here, you can find many technical documentation templates that can be extremely useful in practice. ProProfs is a company that helps seamlessly improve productivity, profitability, and efficiency.
Confluence is one of the platforms that everyone heard about. As a part of a broader resource of Atlassian, the company manages to support an international group of more than 250,000 customers. Along with Confluence, the firm offers instruments like Trello, Jira, and Bitbucket, which no company can afford to avoid these days.
Confluence help to collaborate, create, and organize content. It is a team workspace that makes work much more effective. In addition, Confluence is a great technical documentation software. As a flexible platform, Confluence allows a user to create a documentation space and use the pre-established templates to manage technical documentation of software in minutes. Here, you can find out how to do that.
SimpleMDE is a platform using a drop-in JavaScript text for the sake of writing an understandable markdown. The editor allows users to use a familiar toolbar and toolkit to work with a different syntax within a technical document. Upon working with the text, SimpleMDE makes viable suggestions and uses algorithms that help a user find any given mistakes within the technical documentation, which preserves a great deal of time.
SimpleMDE is the tool used by people who have already worked with syntax in technical documentation. If you don’t have any idea about technical documentation, the platform should not be the first one on your list. However, as soon as you receive enough practical knowledge of working with such documents, SimpleMDE will be something that you need to have in your arsenal.
KnowledgeOwl is a unique platform helping make the world a better place by offering outstanding customer service. It is a cloud-based knowledge management software one can find suitable for businesses of all kinds and sizes. KnowledgeOwl can be most useful in HR and customer support departments. The platform offers a range of elements like creation, management, navigation, search, and advanced reporting capabilities in its core functionality package. In general, all these features help effectively organize and manage information.
What is important is that KnowledgeOwl allows users to manage and share information in the form of online manuals, portals, user guides, handbooks, and technical documents. For a reasonable price and with a 30-days free trial, you’ll be able to manage product and technical documentation easily. Interested? You can sign up for a demo here.
MarkdownPad is the instrument technical writers often use. The tool’s key function is about making notetaking easy and seamless. The platform can be easily integrated to create attractive and easy-to-understand HTML documents. A user can turn a plaintext document into an elaborate piece of technical documentation with an interactive toolbar and clickable elements.
Technical writers vouch for MarkdownPad. Many find various benefits in the instruments. Some of the primary advantages of MarkdownPad for technical documentation are the following: semantic meaning for content, quick writing of rick formatted text, and an easy-to-use navigation system. Equipped with such an instrument, a technical writer within your company will be pleased to use MarkdownPad for the benefit of your company.
Apiary is one of the pioneers in helping companies handle application programming interfaces (APIs). It is a front-end solution used for creating, designing, and governing various APIs in a cloud. To highlight the importance of Apiary, one should offer the following fact - in 2017, the company was acquired by Oracle. As a result, the acquisition created the most comprehensive API Integration Cloud, which offers unique API design and governance capabilities.
Apiary offers unique features that allow users to share enterprise data vital for creating cloud-based experiences and applications. The company supports OpenAPI industry standards showing a high degree of compliance. In such a context, Oracle and Apiary can help companies handle many challenges, and technical documentation is one of them. One of the biggest advantages of Apiray is about interactive features it offers. Here, you can see how it can help you write technical documentation.
Document360 is a Software as a Service (SaaS) knowledge management platform that can be used for software projects and various documentation, including product and technical ones. With the platform's interface, users can design, create, and manage rich documentation for internal and external offerings. One of the key benefits of the tool is its customization capabilities. Respectively, it makes Document360 applicable across all businesses, big and small.
The instrument’s features allow managing multiple projects and configuring many users simultaneously. Besides, an analytics option shows the precise history of the document used. With Document360, users can keep their knowledge base content relevant and fresh. Here, you can witness the service’s technical documentation archive to see examples of how technical documentation can be handled effectively.
HelpJuice is another cloud-based knowledge management solution. The platform makes it extremely easy for users to deliver instant knowledge to customers and employees. Massive volumes of information can be handled and shared in minutes. Using HelpJuice software, even users without ample experience in working with information can handle critical data seamlessly and without breaking a sweat.
Knowledge base software like HelpJuice can help customers effectively work with different types of documentation, including technical ones. Interestingly, HelpJuice invests massive efforts into self-help integration, to make users more knowledgable and skillful in using documentation. As a result, the knowledge base reduced the need for customer support by up to 60 percent. Here, you can request a free demo.
Doxygen is considered one of the primary and well-recognized tools for generating multiple documentation formats from various annotated C++ sources. What is more important, the platform supports numerous popular programming languages, including the following: Objective-C, PHP, C#, Java, Python, and IDL.
Essentially, Doxygen can help users in three key ways. First, one can use the tool to generate text in an online documentation browser in HTML and offline reference manuals. Second, a user can configure Doxygen to extract the entire code structure from the undocumented source files. It can be a game-changer when looking for a quick way in a massive source distribution. Third, the platform can be used to create normal documentation in the form of manuals and websites.
It is also worth considering that Doxygen was developed under MacOS X and Linux, making it highly portable. Here, you can glimpse Doxygen’s manual to easily navigate within the tool’s infrastructure.
ClickHelp is a current and unique online document management tool many software companies use. It is widely regarded across the globe and is considered to be a staple across technical documentation software. ClickHelp is great for creating and publishing user manuals, FAQs, tutorials, and many more documents. As a cloud-based platform, it can be used across different operating systems.
When it comes to the most interesting ClickHelp features, it is important to consider the following: easy import and export from and into HTML, Microsoft Word, and CHM; quick publishing option; role-based permissions; built-in analytics; translation module to work with multilingual documentation. These elements help users work with technical documentation easily and without any stress. Here, you can book a demo for ClickHelp.
HelpDocs positions itself as not just another knowledge base product everyone used a million times. In reality, while the platform offers basic knowledge base services, it’s much more than that. HelpDocs is proud of its fast customer support, its independence, and profitability. Since 2016 the company has been working on a reliable and effortless piece of software, one distinguishable from competitors. While the company is relatively young, it has already managed to get customers from Fortune 500. Many people using HelpDocs vouch for its reliability.
When it comes to working with technical documentation, HelpDocs created the entire developer hub. It is considered a marvel for technical writers. Here, you can access that hub and plunge into the world of technical documentation from HelpDocs perspective.
BitAI is an incredibly powerful document collaboration platform. It is an advanced and innovative end-to-end document solutions for teams of all sizes. With BitAi, users can easily manage and track all the given documents in one place. The platform indicates that the landscape of working with documents have changed forever. It is no longer enough to integrate text and images to have wholesome documentation. Much more digital content need to be integrated to make a great piece of technical documentation.
BitAI created an entire ecosystem allowing teams to generate smarter content and collaborate online. The company intends to follow the changing digital landscape and scale its outreach to help as many users as possible. While looking for creating approaches toward customers, BitAI have introduced its YouTube channel with many interesting insights on technical documentation. Here is an example of how one can learn to work with technical documentation under four minutes.
Previously, we’ve offered several useful tools and platforms that can help deal with specific types of TD. However, it is important to follow a particular path with particular steps regardless of the instruments. From documentation plan to final editing, there are six essential steps you need to follow:
These steps and tricks do not exhaust the existing array of tips you can use. However, they can be a good start.
Technical documentation of software requires effort, concentration, time, and imagination to write. However, TD plays like a smooth medium between stakeholders if it is written correctly. It ensures the proper product development cycle and gives an accurate vision of how each process step needs to be done.
Good technical writers and subject matter experts can potentially translate highly technical and incomprehensible information into something everyone can use.
You need to ask yourself whether to invest in a good TD and help users get the most out of your product or keep generic TD and potentially face massive errors and malfunctions. Remember — good technical documentation is crucial for successful web development!
Roman Zomko
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