Documentation is the moment where curiosity turns into action. If the guidance is unclear, the system itself feels unreliable. Compass is teaching us that documentation needs the same rigor as code.
Principles
- Use a consistent taxonomy.
- Document decisions, not just instructions.
- Maintain living owners for every section.
Seen in these systems
Patterns involved
Operational takeaway
- Assign owners for each major documentation surface and make reviews routine.
- Keep decision logs alongside setup/run docs so context survives turnover.
- Treat docs as an interface contract; update them when behavior changes.
- Publish reference configs and schemas so every system uses the same structure.
- Track deprecations explicitly so old guidance doesn’t linger.
Counterexample
When documentation is treated as optional, teams build competing mental models, onboarding slows, and production changes become risky because nobody trusts the instructions.