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Design Docs at Google

industrialempathy.com · 4,794 words · saved by 2 readers

One of the key elements of Google's software engineering culture is the use of design docs for defining software designs. These are relatively informal documents that the primary author or authors of a software system or application create before they embark on the coding project. The design doc documents the high level implementation strategy and key design decisions with emphasis on the trade-offs that were considered during those decisions. As software engineers our job is not to produce code per se, but rather to solve problems. Unstructured text, like in the form of a design doc, may be the better tool for solving problems early in a project lifecycle, as it may be more concise and easier to comprehend, and communicates the problems and solutions at a higher level than code. Besides the original documentation of a software design, design docs fulfill the following functions in the software development lifecycle: Early identification of design issues when making changes is still ch

One of the key elements of Google's software engineering culture is the use of design docs for defining software designs. These are relatively informal documents that the primary author or authors of a software system or application create before they embark on the coding project. The design doc documents the high level implementation strategy and key design decisions with emphasis on the trade-offs that were considered during those decisions. As software engineers our job is not to produce code per se, but rather to solve problems. Unstructured text, like in the form of a design doc, may be t

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