Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this as a consolation in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it's because it is hard. It's one of the hardest things that people do.

Comprehensive documentation does not ensure project success, in fact, it increases your chance of failure.

Automation also reduces the need for documentation.

Design is an inherently messy process, and along the way many descriptions are discarded after serving their purpose.

Outside your extreme programming project, you will probably need documentation: by all means, write it. Inside your project, there is so much verbal communication that you may need very little else. Trust yourselves to know the difference.

It’s probably fair to say that poor documentation kills more libraries and tools than any other issue.

But making written documents that actually help the team produce good software is a challenge.