Documentation is no fun but a must-to-do in almost every aspect of the work and has to be done constantly and consistently. It’s basically not how you do it, rather, a matter of doing it, in a good structure.
Over time, I have been using OneNote as my main note-taking and documentation tool. But lately, I am obsessed with Wiki-based systems. Tiddlywiki is my go-to system when I need more formal documentation on anything. I still use OneNote during the process but will transfer the final settings or note to TiddlyWiki as a more final version.
TiddlyWiki is a unique non-linear notebook for documenting complicated information. It’s basically a single HTML file that can also be encrypted with a complex password. It’s great for sharing as you won’t be able to directly make changes to it. In order to update, you will need some sort of saving mechanism to be in place. For example, I am mostly on Windows and I use TiddlyDesktop, an open-source tool designed for Windows.
There are also many other good ones out there that is worth noting, such as
- Confluence – a wildly used paid solution, with a free-tier that might be suitable for a small team.
- Wiki.js – a free open-source wiki system.
- Nextcloud – a self-hosted productivity platform.
- BookStack – a simple self-hosted, also an open-source platform, great for Markdown pages.
And speaking of Markdown, it’s also extremely popular when writing documentation. Very easy to get familiar with and so seamlessly to convert to other document formats, such as HTML or Word.