Tech Due Diligence TEAM-6: Internal Documentation and Knowledge Base

Set up a central knowledge base on a platform your team will actually use - Notion, Confluence, GitBook, or a docs-as-code approach with Markdown in Git. Organise it with a clear information architecture: engineering (architecture, coding standards, development environment setup), operations (runbooks, deployment procedures, incident response), product (domain glossary, feature specs, user research), process (development workflow, review process, release management), and decisions (Architecture Decision Records, technology evaluations). Embed documentation into your workflows so it becomes a habit rather than a chore. Include documentation updates in the definition of done for features. Require ADRs for significant technical decisions. Have new hires review documentation during onboarding and flag gaps they find. Schedule periodic review sessions to keep things current. Fight stale documentation actively. Out-of-date documentation is worse than none because it creates false confidence. Assign ownership for each documentation area, set periodic review schedules (quarterly for fast-changing areas), archive outdated content rather than leaving it in place, and set up reminders for documents that have not been reviewed within their cycle. Make documentation easy to find. Good content that nobody can locate is worthless. Implement full-text search, maintain a clear table of contents and navigation structure, cross-link related documents, and use tags or categories for browsing. Measure whether your documentation is working. Track coverage of critical areas (cross-reference with your bus factor assessment), how long it takes people to find information, who is contributing and how often, and what feedback new hires give about documentation quality during onboarding.