How to Choose the Right Tools and Formats for Document Storage

📌 Common Documentation Tools:

Azure DevOps Wiki

✔ Azure DevOps Wiki – Internal team documentation

✔ README.md (Repos) – Per project/module details

✔ Markdown (Azure Boards) – Feature-specific info

✔ SharePoint/Confluence – Enterprise-wide knowledge

✔ GitHub Pages/Docsify – Developer-facing guides

✔ Notion/Obsidian – Personal notes & project planning

💾 Formats Used:

📝 Markdown – Clean, simple text-based docs

⚙️ YAML – Configuration & pipeline references

📊 Flowcharts – Architecture diagrams (Draw.io, Mermaid, PlantUML)

🔁 Documentation Across the Azure DevOps SDLC

📌 1. Planning Phase

🛠️ Tool: Azure Boards 📄 Docs: Feature descriptions, user stories, backlog grooming

📌 2. Development Phase

🛠️ Tool: Azure Repos 📄 Docs: README, branch strategy, commit guidelines

📌 3. Build Phase

🛠️ Tool: Azure Pipelines (CI) 📄 Docs: CI YAML templates, build workflows

📌 4. Test Phase

🛠️ Tool: Azure Test Plans / Postman / Selenium 📄 Docs: Test strategies, automated test results

📌 5. Release Phase

🛠️ Tool: Azure Pipelines (CD), Helm 📄 Docs: Deployment steps, Helm chart values, secrets handling

📌 6. Monitoring Phase

🛠️ Tool: Azure Monitor, Prometheus, Grafana 📄 Docs: Alerting configuration, dashboards, incident runbooks

📌 7. Maintenance Phase

🛠️ Tool: Azure DevOps Wiki, Incident Trackers 📄 Docs: Incident reports, RCA, change logs

📐 Best Practices for Documentation in Azure DevOps

✔ Version docs alongside code for easy tracking. ✔ Keep it concise, yet detailed enough to be actionable. ✔ Update documentation with every sprint/release. ✔ Use standardized templates for consistency (API specs, PR reviews, incidents). ✔ Integrate diagrams—architecture flow, system dependencies. ✔ Assign documentation owners to ensure accountability.

🎨 Suggested Cover Image for Hashnode/Medium

🖼️ Title:

📘 "Documentation in Azure DevOps: Why, When, Where & How – A DevOps Engineer’s Guide"

🔹 Image Concept:

✔ A desk setup featuring:

• A laptop screen displaying Azure DevOps Pipelines

• Sticky notes labeled "Plan", "Build", "Release", "Monitor"

• A developer writing in a digital notebook titled "Docs"

• Background icons of Git, Azure DevOps, Markdown

🔥 Final Thoughts

Documentation isn’t just a checklist item—it’s the lifeline of a smooth-running SDLC in Azure DevOps.

📌 What’s your take on documentation? Drop your thoughts in the comments! 👇

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