Overview

In Design, you establish a physical solution to satisfy the requirements identified in Analysis. Apart from an assessment that the proposed development is viable, you may not have worried about physical implementation before this point. Now you must create an architecture into which the different physical elements will fit, and define how each element will be constructed.

The role of the Design stage is often confused for two reasons: many developers cannot separate the logical analysis of requirements from the physical design, and have started to design their system during Analysis, while others may want to skip the structural part of Design and get down to coding. If you are in the former position, you must re-document your structure in the standard fashion - this will check that you haven t missed anything, and that your planned design is sensible and consistent. If you are in the latter position, STOP! It is very dangerous to try to build things without a properly defined structure, and you will almost certainly find yourself reworking them.

You should try to understand how the design is going to be used by the people who will build, test and maintain the system, so that the design documentation meets their needs. Ultimately, when the system is built, and it s being modified and maintained, the design documentation is arguably the most important of all. It s what most people will actually read to do their jobs. Skimping on it now (or even worse, postponing or ignoring proper...