Read Me Driven Development

In a classic software development scenario, a programmer must write and coordinate lots of documentation, such as terms of reference, and this takes a lot of time. I have great skepticism about this, moreover, this skepticism is more and more manifested in the industry.

Developing Empathy

There is a much simpler approach that not only saves the time of employees and the organization as a whole but also allows a better and deeper understanding of the value of what is being developed.

It is called Read Me Driven Development, and now we’re implementing it in our work. Before the development, the programmer writes a Read Me for software. This is a document that the end user should receive in a set with software. It is clear and simple, and it points out how to work with the application.

It is important to understand that programmers as specialists are focused on what they do, rather than what value they bring to the customer. The development of documentation for the user helps them switch the focus of attention to the value of the software that they develop. This comes through understanding who their end user is and why the user needs what they are developing. This is about empathy: it becomes clear how the solution is generally usable, convenient and understandable.

Conclusion

The Read Me file, unlike complex technical documentation, removes unnecessary details and leaves only the most important things. It becomes clear whether this solution needs to be developed or not, how relevant it is and how it will solve current problems. The Terms of Reference concentrates on the details and distracts from the result; a simple Read Me file concentrates on the result and distracts from the details.