Documentation is not a one-time, stop-gap solution. Your data is constantly changing and being updated. New columns are being added (and removed). New tables are being added (and deleted).
Documentation-first cultures are just that — a culture. So how do you go from the initial implementation to embedding documentation processes into the very way your data team functions?
To build a long-term culture of documentation, some amazing DataOps champions incorporated documentation on Atlan as a part of their fortnightly sprint process.
What is a sprint, and how can I incorporate documentation?
Data teams have been adopting Agile sprints as a methodology to make their teams more productive.
Typically, sprints include a breakdown of tasks for new projects to be shipped, broken into individual sub-tasks like the new data assets that need to be created for the project. Broadly, these are the key components of Agile sprints. 👇
Sprint planning
Define the length of the sprint. Typically, you start with two weeks and then change it as required. Plan up-front what you want to accomplish in these two weeks.
The sprint
This is when you and your team execute the sprint tasks in the specified time period.
- Find ways to add documentation tasks in every sprint. For example, each sprint can include a list of new tables or columns that need to be documented.
- These sprints can also include quality checks for new documentation.
For example, at TechStyle, to make sure that the team was following the rules they had created, there was an approval process. The team designated an approver to review new comments and push them into Atlan.
Sprint review
At the end of two weeks, review everything that worked and the challenges you faced (also known as the retrospective). Ensure that these learnings are fed back into the next sprint.