Samurai Programmer.com

Documentation is one of the least sexy things about programming.  We know why we have to do it, but it is so much easier not to.  In many cases, the documentation that is prepared is ignored, destroyed, or simply lost.  Even using SourceForge for project management, the documentation is falls into two categories: Ignored and Not Created.

My question for consideration is:

How do you get your coworkers to pay attention to documentation without beating them over the head with it?

(I know that method works -- waiting for the statute of limitations to run out gave me an excuse not visit another state...)

No one likes to create documentation because they know as soon as its written its outdated and typically no one reads it. So why waste the time.  I alwyas liked to write the documentation first for projects and get sign-off then do the code. This way the documentation governs the development decision process. Minor updates to the documentation can be made while development is progressing.

When the documentation is done first it can feed the development, qc/qa, training, marketing, sales, etc processes.