Well-Architected Framework
Writing
It is important to have a way to manage non-code plans and documentation. You can use collaboration tools, such as Google Docs and Hermes, and processes, such as Problem Requirements Document (PRD) and Request for Comment (RFC). These tools and processes help promote conversations on solving problems and gather feedback from coworkers or customers.
Manage your documents
Collaborative document platforms are a good way to work together and share documents. Multiple users can comment, edit, and leave suggestions simultaneously, letting you work asynchronously across your team or stakeholders. In fact, this document started in a collaborative document platform and received feedback from teams within HashiCorp.
As organizations grow, you will need to scale your document management approach. We built Hermes, a document management system designed to help HashiCorp employees author, review, approve, discover, and deprecate documents.
Use PRDs and RFCs
When you and your team are working through a problem and proposing solutions, we recommend a standard collaboration process. You can use a Problem Requirements Document (PRD) and Request for Comment (RFC) to collaborate with your team. A PRD is most helpful for working through an ambiguous challenge with many stakeholders. Generally, a PRD is the first step toward an RFC. The RFC process helps you to articulate and get feedback on the solution you'd like to propose. Your team has valuable experience in areas you may not have, and they can help you surface “unknown unknowns” early on. At HashiCorp, we use PRDs and RFCs to collaborate on problems and solutions. These documents are an integral part of our shared language and core decision-making processes. Most large projects start with a PRD to define the problem and follow with an RFC to propose a solution.
HashiCorp resources:
- Writing Practices and Culture
- Hermes open source document management system
- HashiCorp's PRD template
- HashiCorp's RFC template
External resources:
Next steps
In this section of how to Create high-performing teams, you learned about writing tools to help your team collaborate, share thoughts, and solve problems. Creating high performing teams is part of the Define and automate processes pillar.