Adding Documentation as a part of workflow

[Dheemant]

The reason for this thought is usually we deploy the product but we fail to update the documentation for the same,whats the best possible way to make sure documentation is completed ,does adding documentation after UAT in the workflow logical ?

Currently we are adding an subtask,but I believe that's like an additional effort.What are you're suggestions

[Bill Sheboy · Accepted solution]

Hi @Dheemant  -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

@Charlotte Wilke describes a good way to manage documentation using Confluence, which makes it more convenient for a team to complete the work.

Have you paused to talk to your team about documentation issues, such as:

• What do you do with documentation you create?  That is, why is it valuable to you?
• Where in your process do you normally document?  For which step is documentation in  your definition of done/exit policy?  What else is in the definition of done that is skipped and why?
• What does the team think are reasons documentation doesn't happen when expected?

The answers to these questions may guide your choices, and how you experiment to improve. 

For example, perhaps the team feels rushed/overloaded, and so take a "shortcut" to skip documentation.  For that situation it may help to make space and raise visibility to the value of the documentation.

Best regards,

Bill

[Dheemant]

@Bill SheboyThank You for the Guidance :-)

[Charlotte Wilke · Accepted solution]

You can include the documentation as a status in the workflow, for example, we also have this after the test phase.
As a tool for the documentation I would recommend Confluence. Here, a structure for documentation can be set up with little effort, such as requirements, solution design, changes, test and everything that would be important in the technical documentation. Here you can also easily store a summary of meeting logs and decisions made (there are simple templates for everything).
You can connect the Jira project with a Confluence Space via the tab "Project Pages". This way you can jump directly from the project to the Confluence documentation.

Later, you have the option to download this space in PDF or CSV or other formats and share it with colleagues or stakeholders if necessary, in case not everyone in your organization has Jira access or the documentation needs to be provided to customers.

Hope that helps a little bit. 

Kind regards, 

Charlotte

[Dheemant]

@Charlotte WilkeThank you, Yeah I do use Confluence for doc management and I am documenting the same activities as you have mentioned above,I was trying to lookup for different ideas or ways for avoiding missing document updates or creation ....like if its a part of workflow I would need to complete it before I mark as done.

[Charlotte Wilke]

If you set the documentation as workflow status, you also have the possibility to visualize this workflow on a Kanban board and to move the issue cards to the next status, which makes the whole thing visually clear and attentive to open tasks.

I wish you much success working in the new Atlassian environment and for your projects!

Greetings Charlotte