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Discussion on: How screwed would your employer be if you died suddenly?

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einenlum profile image
Yann Rabiller

Thanks for this article! I just have a question: how do you fight against this?:

“But sometimes I would stumble upon something I forgot to document and I found it a bit more of a pain to document after the fact.”

The solution I found is Bus Factor Reviews, but do you have any other strategies to keep your documentation up to date and to have feedbacks on this?

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bosepchuk profile image
Blaine Osepchuk

Missing documentation is a big problem.

I'm aware of bus factor reviews but I have to admit I've never done one. I work in a small shop and our systems are about as simple as it gets, by design.

I know everyone talks about the value of automation but if you never do 'x' because you automated it with a tool or a script, you'll soon forget how to do 'x' and then if the automation breaks, you are left struggling.

I had an aha moment when I was watching 'Dirty Jobs' on the Discovery Channel. Mike was supposed to change the tire on a big military vehicle. The tire probably weighed 300 pounds and the military tech was doing it all by hand. No air powered torque wrench or pneumatic jack. Just hand tools. At first I thought it was stupid and then it occurred to me that the tech might need to change this giant tire in a war zone, without power or advanced tools. So they practice with simple tools. There's some wisdom there.

But I've gotten off topic. Here's what I do:

  • keep my stack and systems simple
  • review and update the documentation whenever it changes
  • stay in the same job for a really long time so if something without documentation should break, I can usually remember enough to get it back online

If you can't follow my steps, bus factor reviews are probably more important than ever.