SaaS for Developer Context & Knowledge Management
This post highlights a significant pain point for software development teams: 'developer hours get eaten up not by writing code, but by tracking down the why and what behind the code.' This 'context-scattering' leads to inefficiencies, reduced productivity, and potentially increased onboarding time for new developers. A SaaS solution can address this by centralizing and making accessible all relevant development context.
Product Form: An 'Intelligent Developer Knowledge Hub' SaaS. This platform would integrate with existing dev tools (e.g., Jira, GitHub, Slack, Confluence, internal wikis) to automatically capture, link, and surface context. Key features could include:
- AI-powered Contextual Search: Search across all linked data sources (code commits, pull requests, design docs, chat logs, tickets) to find 'why' decisions were made or 'what' a piece of code does.
- Automated Documentation Suggestions: AI can identify undocumented areas or suggest improvements based on code changes and discussions.
- Dependency Mapping & Impact Analysis: Visualize how different components, decisions, or team members are related.
- Onboarding Accelerator: Provide new hires with an immediate, searchable knowledge base of past decisions and project context.
Expected Revenue: High. Developer productivity is a critical metric for tech companies. Reducing context-switching and improving knowledge transfer offers a clear ROI. Pricing could be per developer seat per month (e.g., $20-$50/seat/month), with tiered plans for enterprise features, storage, and advanced AI capabilities. A team of 50 developers could generate $1,000-$2,500 monthly, scaling significantly with larger teams and enterprise adoption.
Origin Reddit Post
r/startups
Developer time is getting killed by context-scattering. Is this just us? (I will not promote)
Posted by u/coolandy00•07/29/2025
We’ve seen this happen repeatedly; developer hours get eaten up not by writing code, but by tracking down the why and what behind the code.
Most of the time is spent finding specs, digging
Top Comments
u/hangfromthisone
In Spanish, ingeniero, makes a lot more sense because you gotta use your "ingenio" to figure things out
u/OneoftheChosen
You need better documentation and to keep your docs updated.
u/Longjumping-Ad8775
This is a part of being at a startup. You have to figure out what the customers want and then deliver.
u/Longjumping-Ad8775
This is a part of being at a startup. You have to figure out what the customers want and then deliver.
u/CyberneticLiadan
1. Most of developer time isn't actually coding, it's figuring out what we need to code. This is normal.
2. That doesn't mean you shouldn't organize yourselves and remove the accidental comp
u/rm_rf_slash
If you’re on teams, record meetings and use copilot to search transcripts and chats.
Or just document requirements well before running off to code stuff.
u/HoratioWobble
Meanwhile.... https://www.reddit.com/r/ExperiencedDevs/comments/1mbwide/anyone_else_feel_like_noncoding_work_is_now_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_
u/already_tomorrow
It depends.
A lot of what OP talked about should be fairly easily addressed with a proper use of things like a ticket system and git. Especially git. Proper use of git alone will make it eas
u/rm_rf_slash
If you’re on teams, record meetings and use copilot to search transcripts and chats.
Or just document requirements well before running off to code stuff.
u/twelfthmoose
Based on their post history, I’m pretty sure this is some kind of bot
u/ExtinctedPanda
Isn’t that kind of just what software development is? Writing the code has always been easy compared to figuring out what code to write.
u/etTuPlutus
Not just you. This is one of the chief reasons software systems become ungodly expensive to maintain as they age. Nobody knows what the code is meant to do because there is nothing tying piec
u/usa_reddit
Before I write code, I meet with the customer and come up with a requirements document and deliverables.
Are there any of these documents from the initial project still available? Is the
u/OneoftheChosen
You need better documentation and to keep your docs updated.
u/HoratioWobble
lmao! I didn't even notice it was the same OP! I just thought it was a weird coincidence
u/ExtinctedPanda
Isn’t that kind of just what software development is? Writing the code has always been easy compared to figuring out what code to write.
u/HoratioWobble
lmao! I didn't even notice it was the same OP! I just thought it was a weird coincidence
u/usa_reddit
Before I write code, I meet with the customer and come up with a requirements document and deliverables.
Are there any of these documents from the initial project still available? Is the
u/Ok-Entertainer-1414
Wow you found one of OP's dozen similar posts where their startup is about to reply with another account to plug their product but pretend it's an organic recommendation
u/HoratioWobble
lmao! I didn't even notice it was the same OP! I just thought it was a weird coincidence
u/forgetforgotforgo
This is super common, especially in early stage teams where documentation is an afterthought. We've started requiring a simple "why" section in every PR description.
Also trying to keep more
u/coolandy00
And processes are in the way, decisions are scattered. I agree Notion helps
u/HoratioWobble
lmao! I didn't even notice it was the same OP! I just thought it was a weird coincidence
u/drteq
u/goondarep
You won’t promote what?
u/coolandy00
And processes are in the way, decisions are scattered. I agree Notion helps
u/Dry_War_747
This is quite literally what software engineering has always been. The best SWEs spend most of their time understanding the problem and researching putting it altogether. Very little time is
u/Longjumping-Ad8775
This is a part of being at a startup. You have to figure out what the customers want and then deliver.
u/goondarep
You won’t promote what?
u/wallpunch_official
Agree with the other comments that this is basically what developers spend most of their time doing everywhere. But here's some suggestions:
\- Finding specs: start with some well-documented
u/ExtinctedPanda
Isn’t that kind of just what software development is? Writing the code has always been easy compared to figuring out what code to write.
u/Ok-Kaleidoscope5627
This is the engineering part of software engineering.
u/xhable
A good ticketing system that links git check-ins to ticket IDs helps.
I wrote one specificly for that task called kribik..but there are others out there.
u/Ok-Kaleidoscope5627
This is the engineering part of software engineering.
u/xhable
A good ticketing system that links git check-ins to ticket IDs helps.
I wrote one specificly for that task called kribik..but there are others out there.
u/Dry_War_747
This is quite literally what software engineering has always been. The best SWEs spend most of their time understanding the problem and researching putting it altogether. Very little time is
u/drteq
u/Western_Objective209
I try to put everything in github. Use Issues to track bugs and feature requests, and tag your commits to the issues. Just turn on git blame annotations in your IDE, and you can see what comm
u/Even_Improvement_270
Sometimes I spend more time *finding* the task context than solving the task itself.
u/tinySparkOf_Chaos
You either:
A) buddy system software engineer and a systems engineer
B) have your software engineer also do documentation of what and why.
C) have systems engineers writing spaghetti code
u/Wyldefire6
There’s different ways to mitigate this. How large is your team? And how old is your codebase? I generally expect developers who wrote the code to be able to find the whys and whats fairly qu
u/ExtinctedPanda
Isn’t that kind of just what software development is? Writing the code has always been easy compared to figuring out what code to write.
u/hangfromthisone
In Spanish, ingeniero, makes a lot more sense because you gotta use your "ingenio" to figure things out
u/hangfromthisone
In Spanish, ingeniero, makes a lot more sense because you gotta use your "ingenio" to figure things out
u/xhable
A good ticketing system that links git check-ins to ticket IDs helps.
I wrote one specificly for that task called kribik..but there are others out there.
u/Ok-Entertainer-1414
Wow you found one of OP's dozen similar posts where their startup is about to reply with another account to plug their product but pretend it's an organic recommendation
u/forgetforgotforgo
This is super common, especially in early stage teams where documentation is an afterthought. We've started requiring a simple "why" section in every PR description.
Also trying to keep more
u/hangfromthisone
In Spanish, ingeniero, makes a lot more sense because you gotta use your "ingenio" to figure things out
u/etTuPlutus
Not just you. This is one of the chief reasons software systems become ungodly expensive to maintain as they age. Nobody knows what the code is meant to do because there is nothing tying piec
u/Dry_War_747
This is quite literally what software engineering has always been. The best SWEs spend most of their time understanding the problem and researching putting it altogether. Very little time is
u/hangfromthisone
In Spanish, ingeniero, makes a lot more sense because you gotta use your "ingenio" to figure things out
u/OneoftheChosen
You need better documentation and to keep your docs updated.
u/cowwoc
This is why some programming languages, such as Java, place such a strong emphasis on readability at the cost of writing speed. Because professional programmers know that 3/4th of the cost of
u/etTuPlutus
Not just you. This is one of the chief reasons software systems become ungodly expensive to maintain as they age. Nobody knows what the code is meant to do because there is nothing tying piec
u/HoratioWobble
Meanwhile.... https://www.reddit.com/r/ExperiencedDevs/comments/1mbwide/anyone_else_feel_like_noncoding_work_is_now_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_
u/lazoras
hahaha do you guys do scrum? or safe?
it has a concept that every developer is interchangable....effectively making in depth awareness of a system impossible....because....someone told the
u/HoratioWobble
Meanwhile.... https://www.reddit.com/r/ExperiencedDevs/comments/1mbwide/anyone_else_feel_like_noncoding_work_is_now_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_
u/rm_rf_slash
If you’re on teams, record meetings and use copilot to search transcripts and chats.
Or just document requirements well before running off to code stuff.
u/lazoras
hahaha do you guys do scrum? or safe?
it has a concept that every developer is interchangable....effectively making in depth awareness of a system impossible....because....someone told the
u/michael0n
Create/run integration tests that use natural language descriptions. For example, "loading image and resizing based on meta tags" should exactly do what it says. If the test has then to call
u/xhable
A good ticketing system that links git check-ins to ticket IDs helps.
I wrote one specificly for that task called kribik..but there are others out there.
u/forgetforgotforgo
This is super common, especially in early stage teams where documentation is an afterthought. We've started requiring a simple "why" section in every PR description.
Also trying to keep more
u/fatsobe
A little unrelated since it is focused on the architecture layer, but gjalla.io is focused on automating the context for devs and coding agents
u/michael0n
Create/run integration tests that use natural language descriptions. For example, "loading image and resizing based on meta tags" should exactly do what it says. If the test has then to call
u/Even_Improvement_270
Sometimes I spend more time *finding* the task context than solving the task itself.
u/forgetforgotforgo
This is super common, especially in early stage teams where documentation is an afterthought. We've started requiring a simple "why" section in every PR description.
Also trying to keep more
u/coolandy00
And processes are in the way, decisions are scattered. I agree Notion helps
u/already_tomorrow
It depends.
A lot of what OP talked about should be fairly easily addressed with a proper use of things like a ticket system and git. Especially git. Proper use of git alone will make it eas
u/HoratioWobble
Meanwhile.... https://www.reddit.com/r/ExperiencedDevs/comments/1mbwide/anyone_else_feel_like_noncoding_work_is_now_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_
u/wallpunch_official
Agree with the other comments that this is basically what developers spend most of their time doing everywhere. But here's some suggestions:
\- Finding specs: start with some well-documented
u/CyberneticLiadan
1. Most of developer time isn't actually coding, it's figuring out what we need to code. This is normal.
2. That doesn't mean you shouldn't organize yourselves and remove the accidental comp
u/desmondlzw
killed slack for product decisions. everything goes in linear/clickup/notion comments. slack is just for "server's on fire" and memes now
honestly though, the dirty secret is that most start
u/desmondlzw
killed slack for product decisions. everything goes in linear/clickup/notion comments. slack is just for "server's on fire" and memes now
honestly though, the dirty secret is that most start
u/SoloAquiParaHablar
Let your code be the its own documentation. Lean into code comments. *Why did they pick framework X? Oh it says right here in the class.*
What also worked for us was 1-pager design docs. It
u/desmondlzw
killed slack for product decisions. everything goes in linear/clickup/notion comments. slack is just for "server's on fire" and memes now
honestly though, the dirty secret is that most start
u/SoloAquiParaHablar
Let your code be the its own documentation. Lean into code comments. *Why did they pick framework X? Oh it says right here in the class.*
What also worked for us was 1-pager design docs. It
u/usa_reddit
Before I write code, I meet with the customer and come up with a requirements document and deliverables.
Are there any of these documents from the initial project still available? Is the
u/already_tomorrow
It depends.
A lot of what OP talked about should be fairly easily addressed with a proper use of things like a ticket system and git. Especially git. Proper use of git alone will make it eas
u/tinySparkOf_Chaos
You either:
A) buddy system software engineer and a systems engineer
B) have your software engineer also do documentation of what and why.
C) have systems engineers writing spaghetti code
u/coolandy00
And processes are in the way, decisions are scattered. I agree Notion helps
u/SoloAquiParaHablar
Let your code be the its own documentation. Lean into code comments. *Why did they pick framework X? Oh it says right here in the class.*
What also worked for us was 1-pager design docs. It
u/SoloAquiParaHablar
Let your code be the its own documentation. Lean into code comments. *Why did they pick framework X? Oh it says right here in the class.*
What also worked for us was 1-pager design docs. It
u/drteq
u/goondarep
You won’t promote what?
u/Ok-Entertainer-1414
Wow you found one of OP's dozen similar posts where their startup is about to reply with another account to plug their product but pretend it's an organic recommendation
u/SoloAquiParaHablar
Let your code be the its own documentation. Lean into code comments. *Why did they pick framework X? Oh it says right here in the class.*
What also worked for us was 1-pager design docs. It
u/goondarep
You won’t promote what?
u/howl-totoro
I think his/her business
u/xhable
A good ticketing system that links git check-ins to ticket IDs helps.
I wrote one specificly for that task called kribik..but there are others out there.
u/oziabr
I'm building unix-way: small connectable pieces of software. usually end up with 0.1% amount of code, which is kinda hacky but understainable by my interns. gives my teams 100-1000x velocity
u/oziabr
I'm building unix-way: small connectable pieces of software. usually end up with 0.1% amount of code, which is kinda hacky but understainable by my interns. gives my teams 100-1000x velocity
u/CyberneticLiadan
1. Most of developer time isn't actually coding, it's figuring out what we need to code. This is normal.
2. That doesn't mean you shouldn't organize yourselves and remove the accidental comp
u/tinySparkOf_Chaos
You either:
A) buddy system software engineer and a systems engineer
B) have your software engineer also do documentation of what and why.
C) have systems engineers writing spaghetti code
u/usa_reddit
Before I write code, I meet with the customer and come up with a requirements document and deliverables.
Are there any of these documents from the initial project still available? Is the
u/Western_Objective209
I try to put everything in github. Use Issues to track bugs and feature requests, and tag your commits to the issues. Just turn on git blame annotations in your IDE, and you can see what comm
u/howl-totoro
I think his/her business
u/Longjumping-Ad8775
This is a part of being at a startup. You have to figure out what the customers want and then deliver.
u/coolandy00
And processes are in the way, decisions are scattered. I agree Notion helps
u/cowwoc
This is why some programming languages, such as Java, place such a strong emphasis on readability at the cost of writing speed. Because professional programmers know that 3/4th of the cost of
u/tinySparkOf_Chaos
You either:
A) buddy system software engineer and a systems engineer
B) have your software engineer also do documentation of what and why.
C) have systems engineers writing spaghetti code
u/Even_Improvement_270
Sometimes I spend more time *finding* the task context than solving the task itself.
u/rm_rf_slash
If you’re on teams, record meetings and use copilot to search transcripts and chats.
Or just document requirements well before running off to code stuff.
u/Ok-Kaleidoscope5627
This is the engineering part of software engineering.
u/OneoftheChosen
You need better documentation and to keep your docs updated.
u/Even_Improvement_270
Sometimes I spend more time *finding* the task context than solving the task itself.
u/etTuPlutus
Not just you. This is one of the chief reasons software systems become ungodly expensive to maintain as they age. Nobody knows what the code is meant to do because there is nothing tying piec
u/wallpunch_official
Agree with the other comments that this is basically what developers spend most of their time doing everywhere. But here's some suggestions:
\- Finding specs: start with some well-documented
u/michael0n
Create/run integration tests that use natural language descriptions. For example, "loading image and resizing based on meta tags" should exactly do what it says. If the test has then to call
u/Longjumping-Ad8775
This is a part of being at a startup. You have to figure out what the customers want and then deliver.
u/etTuPlutus
Not just you. This is one of the chief reasons software systems become ungodly expensive to maintain as they age. Nobody knows what the code is meant to do because there is nothing tying piec
u/wallpunch_official
Agree with the other comments that this is basically what developers spend most of their time doing everywhere. But here's some suggestions:
\- Finding specs: start with some well-documented
u/cowwoc
This is why some programming languages, such as Java, place such a strong emphasis on readability at the cost of writing speed. Because professional programmers know that 3/4th of the cost of
u/lazoras
hahaha do you guys do scrum? or safe?
it has a concept that every developer is interchangable....effectively making in depth awareness of a system impossible....because....someone told the
u/twelfthmoose
Based on their post history, I’m pretty sure this is some kind of bot
u/tinySparkOf_Chaos
You either:
A) buddy system software engineer and a systems engineer
B) have your software engineer also do documentation of what and why.
C) have systems engineers writing spaghetti code
u/Even_Improvement_270
Sometimes I spend more time *finding* the task context than solving the task itself.
u/wallpunch_official
Agree with the other comments that this is basically what developers spend most of their time doing everywhere. But here's some suggestions:
\- Finding specs: start with some well-documented
u/michael0n
Create/run integration tests that use natural language descriptions. For example, "loading image and resizing based on meta tags" should exactly do what it says. If the test has then to call
u/Western_Objective209
I try to put everything in github. Use Issues to track bugs and feature requests, and tag your commits to the issues. Just turn on git blame annotations in your IDE, and you can see what comm
u/Ok-Kaleidoscope5627
This is the engineering part of software engineering.
u/Dry_War_747
This is quite literally what software engineering has always been. The best SWEs spend most of their time understanding the problem and researching putting it altogether. Very little time is
u/OneoftheChosen
You need better documentation and to keep your docs updated.
u/drteq
u/oziabr
I'm building unix-way: small connectable pieces of software. usually end up with 0.1% amount of code, which is kinda hacky but understainable by my interns. gives my teams 100-1000x velocity
u/fatsobe
A little unrelated since it is focused on the architecture layer, but gjalla.io is focused on automating the context for devs and coding agents
u/fatsobe
A little unrelated since it is focused on the architecture layer, but gjalla.io is focused on automating the context for devs and coding agents
u/Dry_War_747
This is quite literally what software engineering has always been. The best SWEs spend most of their time understanding the problem and researching putting it altogether. Very little time is
u/desmondlzw
killed slack for product decisions. everything goes in linear/clickup/notion comments. slack is just for "server's on fire" and memes now
honestly though, the dirty secret is that most start
u/Western_Objective209
I try to put everything in github. Use Issues to track bugs and feature requests, and tag your commits to the issues. Just turn on git blame annotations in your IDE, and you can see what comm
u/lazoras
hahaha do you guys do scrum? or safe?
it has a concept that every developer is interchangable....effectively making in depth awareness of a system impossible....because....someone told the
u/CyberneticLiadan
1. Most of developer time isn't actually coding, it's figuring out what we need to code. This is normal.
2. That doesn't mean you shouldn't organize yourselves and remove the accidental comp
u/fatsobe
A little unrelated since it is focused on the architecture layer, but gjalla.io is focused on automating the context for devs and coding agents
u/Wyldefire6
There’s different ways to mitigate this. How large is your team? And how old is your codebase? I generally expect developers who wrote the code to be able to find the whys and whats fairly qu
u/howl-totoro
I think his/her business
u/Ok-Kaleidoscope5627
This is the engineering part of software engineering.
u/CyberneticLiadan
1. Most of developer time isn't actually coding, it's figuring out what we need to code. This is normal.
2. That doesn't mean you shouldn't organize yourselves and remove the accidental comp
u/Ok-Entertainer-1414
Wow you found one of OP's dozen similar posts where their startup is about to reply with another account to plug their product but pretend it's an organic recommendation
u/cowwoc
This is why some programming languages, such as Java, place such a strong emphasis on readability at the cost of writing speed. Because professional programmers know that 3/4th of the cost of
u/lazoras
hahaha do you guys do scrum? or safe?
it has a concept that every developer is interchangable....effectively making in depth awareness of a system impossible....because....someone told the
u/twelfthmoose
Based on their post history, I’m pretty sure this is some kind of bot
u/rm_rf_slash
If you’re on teams, record meetings and use copilot to search transcripts and chats.
Or just document requirements well before running off to code stuff.
u/HoratioWobble
Meanwhile.... https://www.reddit.com/r/ExperiencedDevs/comments/1mbwide/anyone_else_feel_like_noncoding_work_is_now_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_
u/howl-totoro
I think his/her business
u/oziabr
I'm building unix-way: small connectable pieces of software. usually end up with 0.1% amount of code, which is kinda hacky but understainable by my interns. gives my teams 100-1000x velocity
u/Dry_War_747
This is quite literally what software engineering has always been. The best SWEs spend most of their time understanding the problem and researching putting it altogether. Very little time is
u/drteq
u/Wyldefire6
There’s different ways to mitigate this. How large is your team? And how old is your codebase? I generally expect developers who wrote the code to be able to find the whys and whats fairly qu
u/usa_reddit
Before I write code, I meet with the customer and come up with a requirements document and deliverables.
Are there any of these documents from the initial project still available? Is the
u/Ok-Entertainer-1414
Wow you found one of OP's dozen similar posts where their startup is about to reply with another account to plug their product but pretend it's an organic recommendation
u/twelfthmoose
Based on their post history, I’m pretty sure this is some kind of bot
u/ExtinctedPanda
Isn’t that kind of just what software development is? Writing the code has always been easy compared to figuring out what code to write.
u/HoratioWobble
lmao! I didn't even notice it was the same OP! I just thought it was a weird coincidence
u/ExtinctedPanda
Isn’t that kind of just what software development is? Writing the code has always been easy compared to figuring out what code to write.
u/michael0n
Create/run integration tests that use natural language descriptions. For example, "loading image and resizing based on meta tags" should exactly do what it says. If the test has then to call
u/Ok-Kaleidoscope5627
This is the engineering part of software engineering.
u/goondarep
You won’t promote what?
u/cowwoc
This is why some programming languages, such as Java, place such a strong emphasis on readability at the cost of writing speed. Because professional programmers know that 3/4th of the cost of
u/desmondlzw
killed slack for product decisions. everything goes in linear/clickup/notion comments. slack is just for "server's on fire" and memes now
honestly though, the dirty secret is that most start
u/oziabr
I'm building unix-way: small connectable pieces of software. usually end up with 0.1% amount of code, which is kinda hacky but understainable by my interns. gives my teams 100-1000x velocity
u/Western_Objective209
I try to put everything in github. Use Issues to track bugs and feature requests, and tag your commits to the issues. Just turn on git blame annotations in your IDE, and you can see what comm
u/forgetforgotforgo
This is super common, especially in early stage teams where documentation is an afterthought. We've started requiring a simple "why" section in every PR description.
Also trying to keep more
u/fatsobe
A little unrelated since it is focused on the architecture layer, but gjalla.io is focused on automating the context for devs and coding agents
u/already_tomorrow
It depends.
A lot of what OP talked about should be fairly easily addressed with a proper use of things like a ticket system and git. Especially git. Proper use of git alone will make it eas
u/twelfthmoose
Based on their post history, I’m pretty sure this is some kind of bot
u/etTuPlutus
Not just you. This is one of the chief reasons software systems become ungodly expensive to maintain as they age. Nobody knows what the code is meant to do because there is nothing tying piec
u/howl-totoro
I think his/her business