The end of "Just ask Sarah"
2 days ago
- #Documentation
- #Organizational memory
- #AI agents
- Documentation's role changes from a courtesy to a primary method for preserving organizational context and intent, essential for agents that lack human-like memory.
- Human engineers carry organizational memory through social interactions and unwritten knowledge, which is recoverable but unreliable; agents lack this and rely solely on available documented context.
- Agents operate within limited context windows and cannot form institutional memory, making them prone to extending existing patterns without understanding underlying reasoning or constraints.
- Undocumented decisions lead to agents perpetuating patterns blindly, potentially extending outdated or accidental designs due to lack of historical context and reasoning.
- Key documentation types—ADRs, specs, and playbooks—introduce friction for agents by capturing intent, alternatives, and reasoning, preventing default pattern extension and aiding both humans and agents.
- The absence of documentation signals organizational priorities, often valuing shipping over explaining, and concentrates costs in agents that lack context, making writing crucial for conveying intent.