Documentation is more important than code longterm

In the short term, writing the code is the most important. My boss, or I need a task done.
I write the code, it does the thing. Move on to the next urgent task. Don’t stop to think or review.

But in the long run? The amount of times I needed to develop an urgent feature, for it to then have no impact or being dropped. It seemed so important, but a few months later it’s worthless. It’s wasted time. Of course if it did achieve its short term goal, then it’s not waste. But often people rush into things, adding features you won’t need.

The code that mattered in the long run, is

• code I published and neatly documented as a standalone project.
• Or code for a specific project, where I wrote clear documentation
• bonus points if I wrote a note about it.

I also would like to add to code that mattered, code I learn from.
But without reviewing your code and writing down learnings, these are likely forgotten.
I made the same tools multiple times, but often made similar mistakes because I’d forgotten years later the exact details of the previous implementation.
note taking and trying to find shared themes, and linking these helps a lot.

I can write the best code, but if nobody knows how to use it, it eventually dies.
Even if I know how to use it, it likely dies a few months or years later when I moved on.

I can learn from reading documentation, even if the related code is 10 years old.
I wouldn’t try to run it, since it wouldn’t be relevant anymore, and it might be in a language i never learned. But I can still learn lessons from it, just from seeing screenshots, and reading the docs.

Looking back on my past jobs, there are times when years ago I remember tackling a similar issue. But even if I could access the code, it wouldn’t be that helpfull, since I don’t have the context around the code anymore. I don’t have the input files, or the database access. And I don’t have access to the documentation or wiki anymore.

2025-06-04