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Chiming in late.
I'm struck by the number of people who say that they have documentation
STORIES as part of the iteration. At our small shop, we don't have
documentation stories, we have documentation TASKs. As we task out the
feature story, we add a task to document the feature. The story is not
considered complete until the documentation is reviewed.
Granted, we appear to be much further along the Agile path than many
organizations. Tech Writing has been part of the development group for
more than seven years. Our goal is to have the user documentation
complete no more than three days after the story is complete. Do we
achieve that goal? Not always, but it DOES work. Tech Writing is
always part of the process: Planning, daily standup, code review,
acceptance test review, etc.
Yes, I have to install the latest build daily so that I can see the code
in action. Yes, I have to re-write stuff occasionally. But it is worth
it when I challenge awkward interface or process design. It is MORE
than worth it when I find serious design flaws or coding errors early in
the process.
I can't imagine trying to document a product that I don't get to touch
until it is thrown over the wall, just before release.
CM Tucker
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