Documentation Isn’t Optional
Stop Relying on Memory and Start Creating a Knowledge Base
Tribal knowledge. Every software development team’s favorite invisible asset. You know the type: Bob, who’s been with the company since dinosaurs roamed the earth, holds all the secrets of your codebase in his brain, like a mythical keeper of knowledge. Need to know why a decision was made seven years ago about a core component? Better hope Bob’s not on vacation.
Here’s the thing: Bob is a bottleneck. Every time your team relies on someone’s memory instead of documented information, you’re slowing everything down—bug fixes, new features, updates, you name it. Your time to market gets longer, and so does your frustration. Yet, here we are, treating documentation like it’s a nice-to-have rather than the critical tool it actually is.
Why Relying on Tribal Knowledge is a Disaster Waiting to Happen
Picture this: you're in the middle of a sprint, something breaks (because, of course, it does), and suddenly the whole team is scrambling like headless chickens, trying to figure out what went wrong. It turns out the issue is tied to a piece of logic from way back, and no one knows how it works because the person who wrote it either left the company or is unavailable. But wait! Someone remembers that Bob from QA might have worked on something similar. Cue the Slack pings and hallway "quick questions," and voilà, you’ve just lost half a day chasing down information that should’ve been written down in the first place.
The fact that teams let this happen repeatedly is almost impressive. Instead of using a knowledge base or documentation system, we rely on a handful of people’s memories as our single source of truth. And if those people leave? Guess what—you’ve got a massive knowledge gap. Suddenly, your highly agile team is crawling at a snail's pace because no one understands half the systems in production.
It’s Not Optional, It’s Survival
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we need to write documentation so detailed that it reads like a novel. The point is to create one source of truth that the entire team can access. And no, I don’t mean scattering it across Confluence, a random Google Doc, that one Slack channel, multiple GitHub repos, and Bob’s email inbox. Fragmented documentation might actually be worse than no documentation at all because now, you’re not just hunting for the knowledge. You’re trying to find where it’s stored in the first place.
What does a proper source of truth look like? It’s centralized, easily accessible, and, most importantly, updated regularly. You don’t want your team sifting through outdated specs from 2017 while trying to solve a 2024 problem. Documentation needs to live in a system that everyone uses regularly and trusts as reliable.
How Tribal Knowledge Delays Progress (and Hurts Morale)
Let’s talk about real-world impact. When you rely on tribal knowledge, here’s what happens: your issue resolution time skyrockets. People spend more time asking questions than solving problems. Product launches are delayed because no one understands the implications of changing a single line of code buried in a module written three years ago. And the cherry on top? Morale plummets because no one likes feeling like they’re working in the dark or constantly dependent on a select few.
I worked with one team where this was a daily struggle. Every time we encountered an issue, we had to pull in someone with historical knowledge to figure out what went wrong. It got to the point where we scheduled meetings called “Ask Bob,” where Bob would answer all the questions that could’ve been addressed in 10 minutes if we’d documented things properly. But since Bob was our human documentation, no progress could be made without him.
Less is More, But It Has to Exist
The trick isn’t to over-document—it’s to ensure key knowledge is captured and shared effectively. Make sure the critical stuff—how core systems work, why certain decisions were made, and the logic behind complicated features—is accessible. A well-maintained knowledge base doesn’t just prevent bottlenecks; it empowers your team. They don’t need to wait for someone else to explain the system to them—they can look it up and get moving.
One team I worked with finally stopped playing “Ask Bob” and created an internal knowledge base. We didn’t go overboard; we just documented the essentials - how our most important systems functioned, key architectural decisions, and high-level process flows. Within a quarter, the difference was staggering. Bug fixes went from taking days to hours, feature development sped up, and the team stopped relying on a few key people to solve every issue. Everyone had access to the knowledge, which significantly reduced frustration and delays.
The Fine Line
There’s a common fear that too much documentation will slow down development. Here’s where it gets nuanced. Don’t turn your documentation into a bureaucratic nightmare. There’s a fine line between documenting every breath your team takes and ensuring the essentials are covered. I’m not saying you should document everything before writing a single line of code. And yeah, if you’re writing pages and pages of documentation over having a bias towards action, you’re probably doing it wrong.
Too much upfront documentation can be just as bad as too little. You’ll get stuck in analysis paralysis, and by the time you finish writing your plans, the requirements will have changed. Agile teams need flexibility, but that doesn’t mean skipping documentation altogether.
The goal here is balance. Document the essentials, keep it simple, and update it as you go. Documentation shouldn’t be a chore. It should be a tool that helps your team work better, faster, and more independently. Keep it lightweight and focused on distributing knowledge, not writing the next great American novel.
The Bottom Line
At the end of the day, the people on your team are incredibly valuable. But they shouldn’t be the only source of truth. Documentation isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s a must-have. Without it, you’re leaving yourself vulnerable to bottlenecks, delays, and unnecessary frustration.
Stop relying on Bob’s memory and start building a system that allows your team to thrive. Documentation is about freeing your team to focus on the work that matters instead of spending hours digging through their memories (or someone else’s).
Let’s make sure we’re spreading knowledge, not hoarding it, and finally get rid of the idea that documentation is optional. Because trust me, it’s not.
📅 Coming Next Week
