The most useful framework I’ve come across so far to help with the ‘social construction’ of this debate about documentation is Cynefin, developed by Dave Snowden. It’s well worth looking him up on YouTube. He’s also a guest on the Boss Level podcast. The framework helps us locate work in various domains of knowledge and activity, and also allows us to consider how movements between these domains happen. The framework suggests that only knowledge and activity in the ‘obvious’ domain lends itself to proceduralization. The complicated domain calls for guidelines. Story-telling and metaphor might be useful forms of documentation for the complex domain, whereas the ‘chaos’ domain calls for fast, rehearsed action.
Go have a read, have a listen, have a think, and record your thoughts here. I’m interested to know if anyone else can find value in the Cynefin framework relevant to this debate.