How to avoid knowledge decay in software engineering

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Key takeaways:

Software engineering knowledge decay is structural. Fast cycles and churn strip context, even from teams that try to document.** Most code work is upkeep:**only 15-20% is new, the rest is modernization and maintenance.- AI’s real value is in capturing the reasoning behind code, not just the code itself.

In software engineering, knowledge decay has some long-lasting effects. Most of us have experienced a colleague who unexpectedly departs their job, leaving the rest of the team scratching their heads to fill in the gaps. Perhaps their day-to-day work was never jotted down.