The following article is part of the self-preparation for the modern BVOP® Project Management Certification program.
Maintaining accurate and up-to-date documentation is essential for any business that wants to maintain a high level of quality and compliance. In regulated industries, such as healthcare, finance, or manufacturing, quality documentation is particularly critical for meeting regulatory standards and avoiding legal issues. However, managing and maintaining quality documentation can be a complex and time-consuming task, especially for large organizations with multiple departments and processes.
In this article, we will explore the best practices for managing and maintaining quality documentation. We will discuss the benefits of having a strong documentation management system, the common challenges that organizations face when managing quality documentation, and how to overcome them. We will also provide practical tips and tools for streamlining your documentation management process and ensuring document quality. Whether you're starting from scratch or looking to optimize your existing documentation system, this article will provide you with valuable insights and actionable strategies for managing and maintaining quality documentation.
Poor quality documentation may cause waste in different areas of project delivery, product management, and development, such as:
- Time waste
- Costs waste
- Development waste
- Delivery and implementation waste
Time and costs wastes are usually obvious and logical, but development and delivery waste is a topic that needs attention.
Poor documentation is considered to be:
- Not well readable
- Contains very long content that is not helpful and requires a lot of time for processing
- Outdated and misleading
- Not related to the project needs
- Missing
Poor documentation may lead to not needed or incorrect development outcomes. If development teams do not fully understand the documentation or if it is confusing, they may spend time developing unrequired or incorrect parts of the product. It can also be a cause of a poorly executed project or an inaccurate product as a whole.
Documentation management also includes creating, maintaining, requesting and sharing documentation intended for research, development, support, marketing, and for all other teams, departments, and parties involved in the project, and product.
The BVOPM office facilitates and supports documentation practices, as well as evaluate them based on business value and status.
Comments from the BVOP™ community on “Quality documentation management”
Anastasiya Vodianova
I have never met any tips and recommendations on document quality management other project management teachings.
Methodology without processes does not help. And delivering the right and accurate documentation is really a process that deserves to be highlighted and emphasized in all projects.
If the documentation does not help teams or customers, it blocks them. I dare say that a project without quality documentation is failing. You will not see this in any other project management trend, but BVOP highlights and imposes this obvious fact that no one dares to talk about.
I recommend that you seek quality documentation and processes related to the documentation with high attention. Check facts. Do not waste time. And remember the saying that little can be more.
Summary
Poor documentation can lead to waste in project delivery, product management, and development. This waste can include time, costs, development, and delivery. Poor documentation is often unreadable, too long, outdated, misleading, unrelated to project needs, or missing altogether. This can result in unnecessary or incorrect development outcomes. The BVOPM office helps manage documentation practices and evaluates them based on business value and status.
- Previous article Documentation management
