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Agile and Software Maintenance — Maintainability

publish date: 2026/06/04 04:30:6.790094 UTC

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Agile enthusiasts argue that minimising formal documentation does not make systems harder to maintain. What is their key argument?

Formal documentation is always kept up to date and accurately reflects the program code

Automated tools always generate accurate documentation from agile code

Formal documentation is often not kept up to date and does not accurately reflect the code — the key to maintainable software is high-quality, readable code, which agile practices emphasise

Customers are responsible for updating documentation during maintenance

Correct Answer

Formal documentation is often not kept up to date and does not accurately reflect the code — the key to maintainable software is high-quality, readable code, which agile practices emphasise

Explanation

Agile enthusiasts argue that formal documentation is often not kept up to date and so does not accurately reflect the program code. Therefore it is a waste of time to write it. The key to maintainable software is high-quality, readable code — agile practices emphasise writing well-structured code and investing effort in code improvement.

Reference

Software Engineering, Ian Sommerville, 9th edition

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