I have to write software project documentation for an application which will support both iOS and Android. Each platform has its specific features and the mobile app design and requirements are almost the same.
At first, I thought to include all the requirements in one document by separating the platforms side-by-side.
However, why should android devs see the iOS dev part and vice-versa?
Should I write the document separately for each platform or include it in one document? Which one is good for QAs and for the overall professionalism of the software requirement specification ?
Everyone documents a little different but I would say place it into separate documents. I say this because iOS and Android different platforms with different features. This all depends on your scope but scope of a project can change at any time. I feel like it’d would be a bit of a mess.
Let’s say Android Dev’s scope changes and for some reason now you’ll need access to the Phone Contact’s Content provider or maybe the addition of a widget? You make the change and ship out the document to all Devs. If I am a iOS Dev why is there a updated documentation telling me that that I’ll need access to the Phone Contact’s Content Provider(Which is something very android specific)? Or maybe you have to change a piece of your document because the iOS app store denied one of your development practices. The same thing applies and It’s a bit confusing. Not to mention if you try to avoid this and decide to make a change in one platform and only update those devs of their change now your documentation is inconsistent and can lead to other problems.
I would assume you have two separate teams? They’re writing in two different languages for different mobile application stores with their own rules and regulations as well. It would be simpler and easier to manage if they both had their own documentation.
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