How documentation and open communication leads to better collaboration

It's a known issue that developers often not prioritize documentation at work. Documentation and open communication are often related and critical in an open-source project environment. By the end of this talk audience members will be enlightened about how accessible documentation and open communication leads to a more productive, autonomous, and inclusive team. Also how we can apply these concepts at work having in mind open-source environment context.

Transcript

1. How documentation and open communication leads to better collaboration @isabelcmdcosta
2. Documentation Open Communication
3. Problem • Developers often overlook documentation • Lack of documentation in projects and teams • Cross teams miscommunication
4. My theory • documentation leads to a more productive and autonomous individual contributors • accessible documentation and open communication makes for a more inclusive team
5. Reflecting...
6. Workplace • In person or remote • Fixed set of team members • Direct reach to colleagues • Not always transparent collaboration Open Source • Full remote • Diverse set of contributors • No direct reach to individuals • Open communication and collaboration
7. Bus factor “(...) the number of team members who, if run over by a bus, would put the project in jeopardy. (...)” source: https://deviq.com/bus-factor/
8. Challenges Writing good documentation it’s like art Outdated documentation How much is enough or too much
9. Effects of caring about this Autonomy Inclusive Productivity
10. How can I improve • Provide clear descriptions in pull requests and issues • Document important decisions • Try to avoid private conversations • Responsibility of everyone in the team • Put yourself into other shoes
11. Thank you! Feel free to reach out! @isabelcmdcosta @isabelcosta isabelcosta.github.io