Feedback on my idea to boost internal documentation
The problem that I'm trying to solve is that internal/tribal knowledge on a software development team is lacking and makes it rough for new devs and for experienced devs having to re-explain things.
It would be ideal for everyone to catch themselves when explaining things and switch to documentation mode, but that might not be reasonable given all of the immediate priorities.
To try and alleviate yet another thing for devs to remember to do when they get the chance, why not have a slack integration for that?
The initial idea is a slack integration that allows anyone on the team to submit a request for new documentation or an update to existing documentation. Upon formulating the request, the dev can:
- View pending requests (to discourage submitting duplicate requests)
- Upvote any pending requests
- Assign the request to someone
- Provide a brief description of what it is they are looking to accomplish with the documentation (a tutorial, how to solve a common problem, understanding how something works or why it works in a given way, etc.).
More senior developers on the team can view and manage the pending requests, also upvote them, reassign them, and ultimately pick up requests in order of most voted.
In an effort to make it easier to catch opportune times for documenting an interaction, the slack integration can detect when a questions is asked in a chat and send a prompt asking if a documentation request should be created in response to the question. Alternatively, the dev asking the question could also tag the message or thread to trigger the request process.
What do you guys think? Is this a problem that you have currently? How do you solve it today and do you think my idea can help?
