Documentation

Why do companies write documents?

I place documentation in a special category because it is writing that is meant to last. You might be required to write docs for your app or service or onboarding docs for future hires.

Some companies go as far as to follow Documentation-Driven Development, meaning no code is written until the docs for that code are agreed on first. Jeff Bezos is famous for introducing “Six Pager” narrative memos, which are briefings structured like mock press releases to go through the exercise of envisioning what the project will look like on launch day and working backward. These are required before any major project is started at Amazon.