In defense of “doc culture”

One of the things a lot of Amazon (and ex-Amazon) folks talk about is "Doc Culture." It's nothing new for most of us to praise that part of the culture and even adopt some of it in our next roles. But what if you work for yourself? Should you still write docs? The answer, to me, is yes. And the reason why might surprise you.

Those of us with ADHD are awesome at creatively divergent thinking. It's one of the many reasons we're great hires for disruptive teams and companies. The problem? Many of us love starting projects and then struggle to actually FINISH those projects. It's not entirely our fault, though. Dopamine levels in the brain are positively correlated with our level of interest in a task. If a task is inherently boring to someone with ADHD, dopamine levels are so low that our brain is unable to “activate” to do the task. We can't pay attention even if we want to.

"New" and more challenging tasks come with a dopamine hit because we want to learn something new, but as the task carries on the newness wears off and it becomes harder to pay attention. It's probably why so many of us can speak multiple languages, and can recite the entire history of the Russian Empire leading into the Bolshevik Revolution. (Just me? Okay, then...)

Also, many of us with ADHD come pre-loaded with "analysis paralysis" software embedded in our DNA. We are so good at divergent thinking and seeing possible outcomes that our brains overload with information and often just shut down.

But writing a doc before starting a major project solves two major issues for us neurodivergent people. First, it forces ADHD brains to slow down and "decode" the shorthand thoughts in our head into a long-form narrative that everyone can understand (at least after a few more cups of coffee and some rounds of copyediting). We have to provide data points and reasoning for our arguments, which can help clear the aforementioned paralysis.

Second, it helps keep the document review and conversation "on the rails." Everything that needs to be discussed is in (and only in) the doc. Often, those with ADHD have a hard time presenting to groups and staying on topic. If you know someone with ADHD you may have experienced their need to tell the entire history of something before finally getting to the point they were trying to make 20 minutes later.

In so many areas of business, I see teams and entire companies skip the "strategy" step and jump directly into "tactics." This is especially true for those with ADHD who see the urgency in solving customer problems and react to the dopamine it introduces into their brains. It can be a costly and often painful way of working. While it might take more upfront planning and time to write your thoughts out, it can save you so much time on the back end to have a written plan, agreed upon by everyone involved, with a timeline for execution that can keep you motivated throughout a given project.