Cost, benefits and quality of software development documentation: A systematic mapping
38% of papers propose new techniques and 29% contribute empirical evidences. Validation research papers and solution proposals are dominating types. Agile development is only mentioned in six studies. Design, code and requirement are dominating document types. Formatted text, models and tool support are dominating document forms. Most papers had only one SUS whose sizes do not increase strictly over time. The average number of participants in survey-based studies was 106. 17% of papers focus on cost, in contrast to benefit (54%) and quality (72%). Only six studies (8%) discuss the development or production cost. Documentation's main usage includes maintenance aid and program comprehension. Most discussed quality attributes are completeness, consistency and accessibility. Only 10% of papers are affiliated with industry.
systematic mapping software documentation documentation benefit