Typically, documentation which is one of the means of harvesting knowledge on a project gets the least importance as the project nears completion. When any project starts, every project manager lays emphasis on knowledge harvesting and yet its importance diminishes as time goes by. Why does that happen?
One of the reasons is that people believe that documentation needs to be done at the end. As the project nears completion so much has transpired and documentation during the course of the project is in emails, in post-it notes, and people's brains that it is impossible to convert that into documentation that is coherent and meaningful. As a result, even if sufficient time is allocated at the end of the project to complete documentation, the documentation that is created is incomplete, lacks context (why certain things were done) and becomes merely an academic exercise
The consequence of incomplete and insufficient documentation is that the product or service created as a result of the project is not easily maintainable thereby increasing the total cost of ownership (TCO).
Project manager can take some simple steps to circumvent this problem:
1) Take bite-sized-documentation approach - document things as they happen without having to re-write. Provide a control mechanism to measure whether this approach is working and that the documentation is leverageable.
2) Do not take a one-size-fits-all approach - depending on type of project and its duration, different types of documentation may be necessary. Being pragmatic will ensure good documentation and team members will be more willing to complete documentation
3) Always use a central repository to store documentation - sharepoint, project wiki, etc. are good options. This eliminates the need to have to bring it all together towards the end of the project
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