Design document framework and implementation

¶ … System Integrator That Explains the Overall Design of the Application or the Framework to Be Built

Developing the contents of the design documents includes several steps. Although the theory agrees on most of them, there are essays and article that increase or reduce the number of components for a design document.

As such, according to the Australian Government overseas aid program, the design document should include, among others, a table of contents, listing all figures and tables in the document, a glossary with all relevant terms, an executive summary (with the summarized project description), an analysis, the project itself (with a description of the activities and resources involved) and, finally, the monitoring and management strategies.

The main difference that may appear is actually brought about by the difference between theoretical and practical actions that often occurs in real life. Indeed, one may have properly planned and listed all the actions in the design document, but the real problems that he may face at a time or other during the evolution of the project may be entirely different. For example, an unconsidered risk factor may change the result of a certain point.

In my opinion, the designer is fundamentally helped in his endeavor to develop the project by the analysis and project part of the design document. Indeed, the former analyses the implementation framework, the "development context," but, even more importantly, the "factors or problems that the project should address"

In this sense, elements such as the problem tree analysis or other effective decision tools will help the designer decide upon the sequencing of the design document and project itself.

There are several factors that may help a designer to develop the sequencing and topics of a design document. First of all, he does not need to respect the entire sequence that some theoreticians list as mandatory. He may choose to address some of the real aspects of the project with only the most relevant parts of the content of a design document.

An important factor, almost as in any other activity, is the time factor. If the designer takes a long period of time to complete the design document, it is obvious that the project itself will be delayed and started at a later date. If there is a due time on the project, than any such delay is unwanted.