A typical day in a mid-sized company. The already overworked developer, deep in crunch mode1 gets a quick note: “Would you please make the open invoices visible in the overview of all customers for this project?” Dutifully, he nods. He knows it’s an important project, the task isn’t technically difficult and the boss likes quick and simple solutions.
So somehow “in between” late in the afternoon, he “enhances” the UI, “adds” extra queries to the frontend, “adjusts” the corresponding logic in the backend, and “builds” new views for tje resulting lists. He even goes the extra mile by making the invoices click- and viewable. Tired but satisfied, the developer leans back shortly before midnight with the good feeling of having improved the application.
On the next morning, the boom halls through the corridor. No one agreed on these changes. Originally meant was just an additional column showing total sums. No lists, no dialogs and definitely no clickable documents for everybody. Frustration spreads. Damage control is needed for the entire team, not just for the developer. The time-critical project is set back by days though no one misunderstood something or acted in bad faith.
This is only a fictional example, but one that probably feels all too familiar. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a developer, admin, or project manager. Spontaneous verbal communication “in passing” is always tempting, so simple and convenient. Everyone is instantly satisfied. Work is delegated, seemingly understood, and quickly solved. But it doesn’t establish a binding foundation.
And the more people are involved in a project, the more things tend to start a life of their own. This is especially true when communicating with external parties or non-technical stakeholders, where terms are often interpreted differently. For example, I once noticed in an advanced ERP project that someone kept talking about “services”, but technically meant stored procedures2. A difference with far-reaching operational consequences.
What’s not written doesn’t exist.
A variation of the legal maxim: “Quod non est in actis, non est in mundo”.3 Precision in the description of a work package, ticket, or meeting note prevents misunderstandings. Any written record, no matter how unnecessary it may seem, provides reference, clarity and accountability. Or do you remember exactly what you said six months ago on an unimportant issue then, that’s escalated now?
Context and Asynchronous Communication Matter
But writing down things isn’t enough. It must be structured and findable aswell. So individual thoughts can evolve into something collective within a company.
What is contextualized information? Let’s start with what lacks context: Chats in Teams and similar tools, loose files within a SMB share or SharePoint. Long, tangled email threads, outsiders barely can follow.
In stark contrast, tickets that reference a user, issue and ideally an asset do have context. Tasks in a project that relate to or derive from a previous task have context. A well-tagged, searchable wiki article has context. Ideally, all this lives in a project management tool, ticket system, or wiki.4
Communication should always be asynchronous5 and structured with a clear context so that it remains accessible to everyone, regardless of time and place. That’s what defines professional digital operations.
No Digitalization Without Documentation
In such environments, transparency and traceability of decisions almost become byproducts. Devices, users, and incidents gain a history. Processes, given a “before” and “after”, can be qualitatively measured and improved.
No one can suddenly show up in a meeting with the usual existential question: Why was something implemented exactly this way and not differently? In my experience, these questions usually appear right before a project ends and have the potential to bust it.
Digitalization projects fail for many reasons. One of the most common is the lack of written documentation. Often in combination with unclear communication and improper document management.6 Interestingly, this is often found in environments that pride themselves on being so modern and digitalized, sitting in endless chats and video calls, ultimately wasting valuable time.
In this context, I often refer to Florian Haas’s 2020 FrOSCon talk: “No, we won’t have a video call for that!”7
In this sense,
Yours,
Tomas Jakobs