Best Documentation Strategies for Professionals

Documentation isn't busywork for project managers It's your backup. In fast-paced projects, it's tempting to skip notes and recaps. You might think "we're meeting all the time for alignment, there's no need to write it down." But then: → "That's not what I remember..." → "Who approved this?" → "Why wasn't I looped in?" Without supportive documentation to re-engage appropriately, you could end up opening a risk that could derail things. Here's how effective PMs use documentation as a shield rather than a checkbox: ✅ Recap everything After meetings, decisions, or even quick side chats, send a brief summary. It doesn't have to be a transcript, just WHO, WHAT, and by WHEN. Action items that are regularly shared and tracked are your friend. ✅ Track approvals in writing Verbal agreements are nice. Email receipts are better. Aligning on a decision isn't done until it's documented. Tip: have a shared document that shows all made decisions for alignment. ✅ Version control like your project depends on it One source of truth. Clear ownership. No guessing which doc is "final." Tip: archive old versions in one place, so you can go back to them if needed. Good documentation may feel slow. But slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. Especially when you need to cover your back when things speed up. PS: what's one habit you use to make documentation easier (and useful)? 🤙

🌟 Best Practices in Salesforce Documentation 🌟 Clear, consistent, and up-to-date documentation is one of the most underrated secrets behind successful Salesforce implementations. Whether you’re working solo or as part of a team, great documentation empowers everyone to build smarter, fix faster, and onboard easier. Here’s how to get it right: 🔹 Start With the Basics Be Consistent: Use the same structure, language, and formatting across all documentation. This makes it easy for anyone to jump in and understand your work. Keep It Simple: Avoid excessive jargon. Write like you're explaining it to a smart teammate who’s new to the org. 🔹 Use Visuals and Metadata Wisely Add Diagrams and Screenshots: A simple flowchart or a well-placed screenshot can explain more than a page of text. Descriptive Field Names and Help Text: Include why a field exists, how it's used, and what it impacts. These small notes can save hours later. 🔹 Stay Agile, Not Rigid Document As You Go: The best time to write documentation is when you're in the middle of the work. Don’t wait until later—it rarely happens. Version Control: Track changes to keep a clear audit trail. Even simple naming like v1.2_final_FINAL (okay, maybe cleaner than that) helps avoid confusion. 🔹 Build Organizational Knowledge Create a Metadata Dictionary: Keep a living list of key objects, fields, and relationships in your org. This makes reporting, automation, and debugging faster and easier. Map Business Processes: Tools like Salesforce UPN or Lucidchart can help turn complex logic into digestible visual stories for both technical and non-technical stakeholders. 🔹 Think Long-Term Change Logs: Note what was changed, why, and by whom. You'll thank yourself later. Architectural Decision Logs: For major implementations, document why a particular design was chosen over others. It saves time when scaling or troubleshooting. 🔹 Use Salesforce’s Built-In Tools Leverage Notes, Knowledge Articles, and Chatter Groups to store and share documentation where your team already works. 🔹 Stay Ready for AI AI tools (like Agentforce for developers) thrive on clean metadata and documentation. Well-documented orgs will have a head start as AI takes a bigger role in development and support. 🔹 Make It a Team Effort Encourage feedback and contributions from your team. Documentation improves when it's a shared responsibility, not a solo task. Include key docs in training and onboarding so new team members hit the ground running. 📌 Pro Tip: Don’t try to document everything at once. Focus on areas with the most change or confusion. Over time, your documentation will become a powerful, living knowledge base.

Imagine the chaos that ensues with a team of +30 people creating 100s of pages of content for a dozen clients… Every single month. Well, that’s Content Distribution . Minus the chaos, because we’ve heavily invested in building a culture of documentation from day one. Most people have never been in orgs that successfully implemented it, so they have no idea how huge the benefits of building a culture of documentation are. Here are just a few benefits: - You enable the people you hire to do something as well as you (or better) - Junior team members start to punch above their weight - You’re able to hold your team accountable to executing their responsibilities in a specific way, every time - Your workload gets more async as the need for real-time collaboration decreases - Your team spends less time organizing work in meetings and more - time working - You’ll see increases in efficiency by keeping people unblocked with clear, specific instructions After 6 years of documentation, 1,000+ pages of SOPs in our KB, I want to give you a simple framework to start implementing it too: ✅ It all starts with the most senior person Everyone on your team is busy. If you don’t make time for this in the beginning, no one will. Expect to create the first 30-50 docs before you can roll out creation responsibilities to the team. ✅ Just start somewhere Don’t overthink it - document the next few tasks you’re working on. ✅ Actually use it Whenever anyone on the team asks a question that’s answered in the KB, link them to the KB instead of answering the question directly. ✅ Use a dedicated app Your KB needs to give your team the information they need. when they need it, easily. The harder information is to find, the less usage you’ll see. At first, Google Docs works, but discoverability begins to suffer at around 50 KBs: - It lacks a nested view - It’s not easy to internal link to other docs - The search functionality is bad - Shared drives have a lot of friction We use Slite. ✅ Loop in your team Before you ask your team to contribute documentation, you need to create a doc on HOW TO CREATE DOCS. It should include: - Naming conventions - Internal linking requirements - Linking to required external resources - Organizational standards - Sharing and security policies Now you can start with holding your direct reports accountable. Once they build a habit, start rolling it out to their direct reports. The rest of the org can’t be held accountable until your direct reports are. ✅ Scope documentation into your team’s workload Give your team a full plate of regular work AND documentation - guess what won’t get done. The solution is to scope documentation work into your team’s main goals. ✅ Keep your knowledge base up to date The work doesn’t stop here. There’s going to be organization and naming conventions issues, and more. Keep your documentation up to date, especially in the beginning. We do it every 3-6 mo

Documentation Is Developer Engagement Too often, documentation gets treated like an afterthought, like something tacked on after the "real work" is done. But for developers, documentation is the interface. It’s how they learn, evaluate, and decide whether to adopt your tool. It’s your first conversation with them, whether you're present or not. In my years working across content strategy, developer support, and advocacy, I’ve seen firsthand: great documentation accelerates adoption, reduces support burden, and builds trust. But here’s the secret sauce... it doesn’t live in a vacuum. That’s where developer relations comes in. What if we applied core DevRel pillars (education, engagement, and enablement) to documentation itself? ✅ Education: Use docs not just to explain what but to show how. Embed learning paths, interactive examples, and real-world use cases. Developers want context, not just syntax. ✅ Engagement: Treat documentation like a living part of the community. Invite contributions. Encourage feedback. Recognize contributors. Open-source projects have shown us that when docs are community-driven, they evolve faster and stay relevant longer. ✅ Enablement: Think beyond static docs. Create sample code, companion videos, walkthroughs, and live workshops that connect directly to your docs. Help developers build. Documentation isn’t just about shipping content. It’s about creating a developer experience that says: “We see you. We’ve got your back. Let’s build something amazing.” Curious to hear how others are evolving their documentation strategies. Are you bringing DevRel principles into your docs? What’s working? #developerrelations #documentation #devrel #contentstrategy #developerexperience #docsascode

Think you’ll remember every step of your bioinformatics project 3 months from now? You won’t. And it will cost you. 1/ In bioinformatics, you juggle dozens of datasets, run endless scripts, tweak parameters. It’s chaos. Without notes, it’s disaster. 2/ Documentation isn’t for now—it’s for the day you open an old folder and can’t recall why you even made it. 3/ You need to record: The question you’re answering Why the analysis matters Data sources & versions Every command you ran 4/ Forgetting these isn’t rare—it’s inevitable. The human brain isn’t built for 10,000 command-line details. 5/ Example: Without a note, you won’t know if STAR --outFilterMismatchNmax 2 was a choice or a copy-paste from Stack Overflow. 6/ Good documentation is a time machine. It lets you drop back into the exact mental state you had when you ran the analysis. (I was saved by my documentation yesterday, again!) 7/ And it’s the heart of reproducibility. If no one can follow your steps, the science is dead. 8/ Start simple: Keep a README in every project Write clear markdown notes for each step Track changes with Git or GitHub 9/ Expand with automation: Turn repeated steps into scripts Use Jupyter or RMarkdown to mix code + explanation Build pipelines in Nextflow or Snakemake 10/ Example: A README can say: “Aligned reads with STAR v2.7.8a using GRCh38. See align. sh for exact parameters.” That saves you days later. 11/ Example of automation: Instead of typing 5 commands for every sample, make process_sample.sh and run it with ./process_sample.sh sample1. 12/ More proof: Projects that use Snakemake or Nextflow don’t just run faster—they explain themselves. The pipeline is the documentation. 13/ Key takeaways: Documentation is a survival tool Automate where possible Without reproducibility, your science is meaningless 14/ If you work in bioinformatics, your future self is your most important collaborator. Write for them. I hope you've found this post helpful. Follow me for more. Subscribe to my FREE newsletter chatomics to learn bioinformatics https://lnkd.in/erw83Svn

Hate how boring and time-consuming documentation feels? Yeah, same. But here’s the thing: the more you avoid it, the more you hurt your future self and miss opportunities to showcase your skills properly. So if you want to make documentation less painful (and actually useful), here are 6 tips I use with my clients to make it faster, clearer, and more impactful: 1. Start with an overview What’s the purpose of your project? What problem did it solve? Just 3–4 lines to set the stage. Make it easy for anyone to understand why it matters. 2. Walk through your process Break down the steps: How did you collect the data? How did you clean, analyze, or model it? What tools or methods did you use? This shows how you think and how you solve real-world problems. 3. Add visuals A clean chart > a wall of text. Use graphs, screenshots, and diagrams to bring your work to life. (And bonus: you’ll understand it faster when you come back later.) 4. Show your problem-solving What roadblocks did you hit? How did you fix them? Don’t hide your struggles, highlight them. This is where your value really shines. 5. Summarize your results What did you find? Why does it matter? What’s next? Answer these three questions clearly and your audience will instantly get the impact of your work. 6.  Use a structure that makes sense Try this flow: Introduction → Objectives → Methods → Results → Conclusion → Future Work Simple. Clean. Effective. P.S: After every milestone, take 5 minutes to update your notes, screenshots, or results. Turn it into a habit. ➕ Follow Jaret André for more data job search, and portfolio tips 🔔 Hit the bell icon to get strategies that actually move the needle.

🛠️ In my last post, I shared 7 reasons why data documentation is still so hard. Now let’s talk solutions: Here’s how leading data teams are solving each challenge today: 1. It’s no one’s core responsibility → Make documentation part of the workflow. Don’t allow dbt model PRs to merge without a model description. Treat documentation like tests—required for production. 2. Data is always changing → Use automated lineage and change detection. Get alerted when upstream tables or columns change. Use AI to auto-update or review the new docs. 3. Manual documentation doesn’t scale → Leverage AI to generate table and column descriptions. Start with smart defaults based on naming patterns and SQL logic. Let humans review and refine. 4. Your tools are fragmented → Adopt a centralized metadata platform. One place that connects your warehouse, dbt, BI tools, Airflow, ... so you can see the full picture. 5. Documentation is hard to find → Bring docs to where people work. Show table descriptions in query editors. Surface lineage in BI tools. Make metadata searchable in Slack. Metadata platform can help bringing documentation to tools that users are already working with. For example, Select Star has chrome extensions, Slack apps, and MCP server, that will display the relevant information within the apps. 6. No feedback loop → Track usage and engagement. See which docs are viewed or ignored. See which data assets are being viewed. Let users comment or flag stale content. 7. Lack of ownership → Assign data owners by table, dashboard, or metric. Use metadata tools to operationalize the data stewardship. Notify owners to review/update docs, when questions get asked, when things go out of date. Good documentation is no longer about extra work. With AI and metadata automation, it can be integrated into how your team already works. This is exactly what we’re building at Select Star—drop me a message if you want a look. Anything I missed? Also happy to elaborate more on any of the points.

We often talk about technical debt in software teams, but have you ever considered 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘁? 👀 It’s the hidden cost of undocumented or inaccessible know-how in a growing company. In my experience, teams feel this pain daily, even if they don't have a name for it. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗯𝘁? Knowledge debt is the backlog of important information that hasn’t been documented or shared widely. At first, a little tribal knowledge might seem harmless—everyone just asks Alice for deployment steps or Bob for tricky client questions. But that ends when Alice is on vacation or Bob leaves. Just like technical debt, knowledge debt accumulates "interest." Every time we postpone writing a how-to guide or skip recording the "why" behind a decision, we create knowledge debt by borrowing against future productivity. Rushing a project without docs is like a short term hack in code—it works for now but leaves everyone struggling later. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗯𝘁 ❌ 𝗪𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴: We lose around 1.8 hours a day searching for info—nearly a full day per week even for a small team! ❌ 𝗢𝗻𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲: Relying on “ask Joe” for information slows down onboarding, estimated to cost companies millions in lost productivity. ❌ 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: When information is hard to find, decisions come to a stall. 68% of companies face project delays from missing info. ❌ 𝗥𝗲𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗹: Nearly 59% of R&D and product teams later discover the expertise or project they recreated already existed within their company. ❌ 𝗙𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗻: 81% of employees feel frustrated when they can’t access the info needed to do their jobs, which can erode morale and push talent to leave. 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗯𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 ✅ 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲: Use internal wikis or docs and lead by example—record key decisions and insights. ✅ 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘀: Host brownbag sessions, circulate newsletters, and rotate team members across projects to share knowledge. ✅ 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽: Pair newcomers with veterans to transfer implicit undocumented knowledge. ✅ 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘁: Designate “knowledge champions” or host Documentation Days to regularly “pay down” your debt. This pays off not only with the team, but also with the coming of AI agents who can utilize this knowledge to reliably and accurately get things done. ✅ 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲: Invest in tools that unify scattered information. Paying off knowledge debt turns a liability into an asset. When your team's know-how is documented and accessible, you build 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹! New hires get up to speed faster, teams feel unblocked to do their best work, and learnings compound across projects.

Could someone run your business without shadowing you for a year? If the answer is no, you’re not building a company. You’re building a bottleneck. I call it the founder trap—where all the magic lives in your head, and no one else knows how to replicate it. You know the product. You know the market. You calm the client, close the deal, and put out the fires. But here’s the problem: Buyers don’t want to buy you. They want to buy what you’ve built. And if your strategy, systems, and decision-making vanish when you leave… Your valuation drops—or the deal dies. One buyer told me: “The moment I hear ‘we don’t have that documented,’ I mentally deduct 10% off the offer.” Here’s the truth: Your secret sauce doesn’t lose value when you write it down. It gains value—because now, someone else can use it. That’s what makes a business transferable. And that’s what makes it sellable. TAKEAWAY: Start small. Build a documentation mindset. You don’t need to systemize everything overnight—but you do need to start. Here’s what that can look like: 🟡 Year 1: – Record yourself explaining key workflows – Map out your 3–5 core processes – Use Loom videos for repeatable tasks – Make documentation part of team leads’ roles 🟠 Year 3: – Build a shared knowledge base (Notion, Confluence, etc.) – Define how decisions get made—not just what gets done – Document your customer journey: acquisition to retention – Track key metrics in a central, visible place 🟢 Year 5: – Create a “How to Run This Company” manual – Systematize hiring, training, and leadership development – Map interdependencies across teams – Review + update documentation quarterly—it’s a living asset The less your business depends on you… the more it's worth. → Want to know how transferable your company is right now? Download our Sellability Checklist: https://lnkd.in/ghW8zsqT #MandA #ExitStrategy #BusinessValuation #FounderAdvice #Transferability #ProcessDocumentation #BusinessSystems #SOPs

Many thought leaders emphasize driving transformations through the lens of people, which I wholeheartedly agree with. People remain the heart of how an organization operates. How do we achieve this? One often overlooked aspect is high-quality procedure documentation.   Procedures are detailed instructions for completing tasks. They are crucial because they: - Improve productivity by eliminating the need to decipher unclear documentation - Break down silos, enhancing team collaboration - Facilitate scalability and growth by simplifying onboarding of new employees - Are the key to consistent and great customer experiences - Manage risks and ensure regulatory compliance - Foster problem-solving and continuous improvement   I’ve seen many organizations struggle with maintaining quality procedure documentation. In one of my consulting projects, we cleaned up a disorganized repository that was a massive pain point for the company.   What’s the key to success? Defining a consistent structure aligned with the business context. The best practice is to organize procedure documentation according to your complete inventory of processes using the Process Inventory framework. This approach offers several benefits: - Scope Definition: Clearly defined boundaries ensure no overlaps in documentation. - Ownership: Assigning a Process Owner for each process ensures accountability for creating and maintaining high-quality documentation. - Employee Alignment: Provides clarity on which employees execute processes, making it easier to close knowledge gaps. - Risk Management Alignment: Helps the risk organization verify that procedures provide the right risk and compliance controls.   This is only possible if an organization inventories every process they perform through the Process Inventory framework. To learn more about this framework, check out my book 'Digital Transformation Success' https://a.co/d/bmYf0oG   #Transformation #PeopleFirst. #ProcessInventory #BusinessScalability #ContinuousImprovement