The Hidden Power of Code Documentation

Documenting your work as a programmer is crucial for several reasons, both technical and collaborative:

1. Ensures maintainability
Good documentation helps others (and your future self) understand how your code works, making it easier to fix bugs, add features, or refactor without breaking things.

2. Facilitates onboarding
When new team members join, clear documentation speeds up their learning curve and reduces the need for constant guidance.

3. Promotes collaboration
It allows team members to understand the purpose, inputs, and outputs of your tools or modules—especially in pipelines where multiple departments depend on shared systems.

4. Reduces knowledge silos
If only you know how something works, it becomes a risk for the project. Documentation makes that knowledge accessible and sharable.

5. Saves time in the long run
While it takes time up front, it saves much more by preventing repeated questions, errors, or misunderstandings.

Bonus (especially in VFX / pipeline work):
In studios, tools evolve across shows. Well-documented code can be adapted or reused without reverse-engineering what you did months or years ago.