IT Maintenance

CHAPTER 9Documentation

Documentation of the systems is one of the least exciting subjects for any team. If a vendor provides it, the documents are just there to be reviewed as needed. But if it is for interfaces or customized code developed in-house, someone has to write the documentation. This is a task that is frequently pushed off to the end of the project and often never completely finished before time on the project runs out. The pervasive mentality that documentation is low-priority work drives this situation. But have you considered documentation as an effective risk mitigation tool?

Effective project management teaches us that we need to manage risk. Chapter 19, “Risk Management,” covers the subject as it relates to maintenance risk in ...