Software Specification and Documentation in Continuous Software Development: A Focus Group Report

Abstract

We have been observing an ongoing trend in the software engineering domain towards development practices that rely heavily on verbal communication and small, closely-interacting teams. Among others, approaches like Scrum, Lean Software Development, and DevOps fall under this category. We refer to such development practices as Continuous Software Development (ConSD). Some core principles of ConSD are working in short iterations with frequent delivery, striving for an optimal balance between effectiveness and efficiency, and amplify learning in the development team. In such a context, many traditional patterns of software specification, documentation and knowledge preservation are not applicable anymore. To explore relevant topics, opinions, challenges and chances around specification, documentation and knowledge preservation in ConSD, we conducted a workshop at the 22nd European Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs (EuroPLoP), held in Germany in July 2017. The workshop participants came from the industry and academia. In this report, we present the results of the workshop. Among others, we elaborate on the difference between specification and documentation, the special role of architecture in ConSD in general, and architecture decision documentation in particular, and the importance of tooling that combines aspects of development, project management, and quality assurance. Furthermore, we describe typical issues with documentation and identify means to efficiently and effectively organize specification and documentation tasks in ConSD.