Project Documentation

Documentation is a set of documents either provided on paper, or online, or on digital or analog media, such as audio tape or CDs. Some of the examples are user guides, white papers, on-line help, and quick-reference guides. The documentation system has gone under a overhaul such that less stress is paid on paper documentation and is distributed via websites, software products, and other on-line applications.

The process of documentation may be different from one sector/ type, to another sector/type. In general, the process of documentation involves document drafting, formatting, submitting, reviewing, approving, distributing, reposting and tracking, etc., thereby convened by associated Statement of Purpose (SOPs) in a regulatory industry. Note, the documentation must be easy to read and understand and not too long and too wordy, else it may be misunderstood or ignored. A document should be clear, short, using familiar words using a maximum of 15 words to a sentence. Note, only gender hyper neutral word should be used and cultural biases must be avoided. Procedures should be numbered when they are to be performed.

Since every project manager know the importance of having project documentation it must therefore be accurate and constantly updated to keep it current with the project. The process of documentation can be a difficult task for the project managers, irrespective of whether they working in an agile or flat organization. It has been noted many a times that documents acts as a block in the path of efficiently completed projects. For some corporations, documents are a legal requirements that adds risk more than just the project.

Irrespective of the organization’s structure, a project manager must efficiently record and document all aspects of a project that are vital for the success. Throughout the life cycle of the project multiple reports, charts, graphs, documents, change requests and status updates should be maintained. Here, documentation works towards bringing together all the pieces of a project together for a successful finish.

Since no organization has the time or patience for time-wasting paperwork. It becomes therefore important to efficientlyand effectively document maintain the project.

Following requires formal documentation

1. Client-Related Everything – Clear documentation on client meetings, including notes with dates, times and attendees will help everyone recall the decision that was made and clear up any misunderstanding.
2. Legal Dictates – At times the legal team requires to review documentation during the project. Even for public projects, there might be oversight and review processes to analyze the project after its completion. So it is important to know the documentation requirements of the legal team before the start of the
3. Right Amount of Process – Since not everything can be documented so it is better suggested to plan and process, for which you need to put some definition around the project plan and goals to be accomplished. So let your organizational structure guide how much process should be documented. Note, focusing on a layered structure within your resources plan in an agile company would not make much sense. Similarly, operating process-free on a project which requires legal documentation will only get your project in trouble. So, the best approach is to document.
4. Changes to the Project – It is very essential to document the ongoing updates to a project specifically as the project goals shift due to internal factors such as product pivots or external impacts such as personnel changes or budget changes. Usually, in real-time you would be required to work on online project management tool, so that the resources and task changes are scheduled live, and issues are captured as and when they occur. Nevertheless, major impacts to the overall project plan must be added to project documentation in a version controlled manner.

Best Practices

Some of the best practices to align documentation accordingly are,

1. Schedule time – It is very important to take a fixed time out from the busy schedule to think through and assemble the essential document. Thereby schedule specific time in your calendar each week to review and update documentation.
2. Providing right level of detail – It is very essential to determine the right level of documentation for the right audience so as to achieve the desired effect.
3. Smart Storage – Ensure that the documentation is easy to locate and access which includes making sure the infrastructure is in place to access the documentation online and that the folder structure and hierarchy is understandable.
4. Share the documents – It is suggested to use the online project management software to store the documents online with the project, in a collaborative yet secure environment.
5. Regular updation – It is equally essential to keep the project documentation current and up-to-date. It seems easy to get the initial version, but very painful to go back and update documentation and maintain version control.In which case automatic version control allows to manage this process more easily, such that the consumers of the documentation will always trust they have the latest version.