Docs don't go stale like bread. They atrophy from disuse.
I always force the onboarding process to go through our docs, and I spend a little time with each new person observing their progress looking for regressions in the docs. You can't get that with old-timers because of the echo chamber/curse of knowledge effect.
This breaks down when you have a place that never hires new people. And rather than thinking that's a flaw in my process, I'm starting to think that's a flaw in the business itself. Without fresh ideas and feedback a project stagnates.
I always force the onboarding process to go through our docs, and I spend a little time with each new person observing their progress looking for regressions in the docs. You can't get that with old-timers because of the echo chamber/curse of knowledge effect.
This breaks down when you have a place that never hires new people. And rather than thinking that's a flaw in my process, I'm starting to think that's a flaw in the business itself. Without fresh ideas and feedback a project stagnates.