Usually, technical documentation is for other developers and/or administrators.

Imagine:

a) you are a new developer joining a software project. What kind of information would be useful to get introduced to the project.

b) you are an administrator who needs to maintain a software product. What kind of information would be useful (e.g. in case of errors, ...).

a)

  • coding / naming conventions
  • how to run / build / deploy the application
  • maybe an overview of the architecture
  • its place in the system landscape (which other systems interact with it)
  • ...

b)

  • Where the log file is located
  • How to configure the application
  • How to restart / deploy it
  • ....
Answer from JanDotNet on Stack Exchange
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Write the Docs
writethedocs.org โ€บ guide
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reddit.com โ€บ r/technicalwriting โ€บ technical documentation templates/samples/examples
r/technicalwriting on Reddit: Technical documentation templates/samples/examples
February 16, 2023 -

Hi everyone! I have a quick question. Do any of you have a really good example or template of "Software development Technical documentation"? It should include clients' requirements for software, design decisions, architecture and technical/coding part descriptions etc.
I would be glad to receive any help from you, thanks :)

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7

Usually, technical documentation is for other developers and/or administrators.

Imagine:

a) you are a new developer joining a software project. What kind of information would be useful to get introduced to the project.

b) you are an administrator who needs to maintain a software product. What kind of information would be useful (e.g. in case of errors, ...).

a)

  • coding / naming conventions
  • how to run / build / deploy the application
  • maybe an overview of the architecture
  • its place in the system landscape (which other systems interact with it)
  • ...

b)

  • Where the log file is located
  • How to configure the application
  • How to restart / deploy it
  • ....
2 of 2
6

There is, alas, no generally agreed set of documents (and their templates) that all companies follow. Some may employ a project management methodology like SSADM, Prince 2, Agile etc, but even then, it can be highly customized to the business.

What you're really describing here is what you've already alluded to - it is a technical document. What you put in here really depends on the type of project. Even if you design yourself a specific template, the sections will vary widely depending on whether you're writing a console app, a web application or whatever.

Maybe try getting a steer to see what else has been written already and try to follow that.

If you're really a trail blazer, you'll need to keep a firm hand on the document as various audiences will want all sorts of stuff added so you need to be careful it doesn't suddenly morph into a training document or user manual etc.

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