[CipherThrowaway]

So where is the "case for documentation"? The author provides no vision and no actionable recommendations. Documentation is not even mentioned until the end of the article.

Anyone can pat themselves on the back for pointing to the worlds problems and saying "this could be better!"

[guardianbob]

it made a pretty clear case

you document what you can now in hope someone down the line uses it like the German guy and nightingale

[CipherThrowaway]

It's easy to say "document what you can" when you leave "document", "what", and "can" loosely undefined. The article gives us a why and then leaves out the who, what, when, where and how.

If you observe people in their daily work, you will see there are many reasons why people do not document things. Time constraints, incentive structures, liability, general trade-offs and ambiguities. This is true not just in software/engineering but in any line of professional work.

There's plenty of grandstanding about the importance of documentation, but not much interest in understanding why people don't document in the first place.