no spec's

[Bill Swallow <bill_swallow -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

[Ed wonders:]
   I'm writing a manual for a product with no specs. 
   The developers don't write anything about what 
   they're up to, and what they're planning for the 
   future. Part of the problem seems to lie in the 
   fact that most of the source code for the product 
   is licensed from another company.
   Have other people encountered this problem? What 
   have they done to resolve the situation? What can I

   do to persuade the developers to put their ideas to

   paper?

Does the company who sold you the code have any
documentation? You could get some basic info from
that...

I think the specs should then be your pet project. As
you are interviewing developers for info, keep a firm
record of what they are telling you, and put together
a specification of your own. If you do it right and do
it well, I wouldn't be surprised if you're rewarded
for it.

Most developers don't put their ideas on paper. Big
development groups don't consider the big picture -
that's up to the Director of development, usually. The
individual developers are all given a very basic task
- make their part work. 

You must have a director or leader in development that
you can talk to - get the basics from that person
(design intent, backbone infrastructure, base code,
etc.) Then with that info, go to each developer and
interview him/her on what their part does. Ask them
specifics related to what the director told you. Get
in their heads and don't stop taking notes.

That's what I'd do, anyhow. Build you own spec, or at
least an info library to reference when you write the
user docs.

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