During my 5 years in IT as a software developer, I've noticed that developers have a strong distaste towards doing any documentation. The act of taking screenshots and creating documentation seems to be a painful and time consuming experience. In one company I worked for, we had a technical documentation team with two technical authors and they developed all the user guides for our customers. In other companies where I've suggested hiring a technical author, I've been told they are not worth the money, but I'm a little unsure if that rings true.Is it better to have developers stop coding and take half a day to do screenshots and create the various guides or is it worth hiring someone who handles such tasks?
Is there value in having technical authors in a software team?
documentation
I would say it ultimately boils down to how skilled the developer is at writing technical documentation and how much pressure they are under to do other development related work instead, as this will obviously affect the quality.If you have developer(s) who have the time and skill to write quality technical documentation, then great, because no one knows the software better than the developer.Advantages of using an 'outsider' for the technical documentation is that they can write from the users perspective and note things that the developer may not, as it may have already become so ingrained to their routine. The documentation can also be a reflection of the quality of the software, as it may be the first place the user goes before installing/buying, especially if your audience is already technical so it's important to get this first impression right.So, in summary, yes they are valuable to any team and the expense they incur is ultimately worth it (they don't have to be a permanent fixture and you free up some development time too).