Why Web and Mobile App Developers Need Design Document?
In this fast-paced digital world, developers and project managers are demanded to deliver the product in less time. But, most of them fail to provide the desired outcome even in the presence of today’s high-level languages, and advanced tools. Due to lack of planning and expertise, most web and mobile app development companies are unable to fulfill the expectations of the clients and come up with the desired product. This is where design document comes in.
What is a Design Document?
A perfectly-drafted design document is a high-level solution to the problem faced by most programmer today. It provides all the required details that anyone involved in the project can understand the problem and code the design without having to face difficulties. When you write the first line of code for a website, you must have clarified all the requirements and prepared a design/plan.
Instead of understanding the requirement and associated problem in detail, some developers jump into the Implementation and resolve the issues as they go. This rush makes development process much more difficult and time-consuming. Having a professionally-prepared document ensures several things such as you are performing what the client wants; when you are finished, you actually deliver what you are expected to do.
The design document describes what kinds of content will be required for your website or app, how they will be organized, how content will be drafted, and what the final product will look like. An experienced developer can read the design document and provide the right solution with ease.
What makes a good design?
A design document will be considered perfect if it meets the requirements in a practical way. If any part of the document cannot be proved, then it must be revaluated again. Many developers try to incorporate additional functionality into the product, and that eventually add unnecessary complexity. You must be able to list down at least one sound reason, related to the requirements, for why a product decision was made. That reason needs to be clearly documented. If you are unable to come up with a clear idea of the product decision, then it is probably not adding any value.
The designing document can be distributed in the following parts:
Server Architecture
Your technical architects determine what web content settings are required for your system and the servers expected for each environment. This information also ensures that you have the well-resourced hardware needed to support your web content system.
Information architecture
The information architecture defines the information structure of the website and how visitors will navigate through the site in a browser.
Design architecture
The design architecture explains what your website will look like, and what elements will be needed to develop your site. You will be required to specify components, presentation templates, and themes.
Authoring Architecture
The authoring architecture defines what kind of content will be needed for the website and what content management strategies will be applied when updating any text or image. You will also need to specify what authoring templates are needed for your system, what workflow will be used for updating and managing manage changes.
Content acquisition architecture
It is used to determine what existing content will be added to the web content system, how it will be added, and what content will need to be produced. Delivery architecture
Delivery architecture
The information architect and technical architect need to determine what delivery methods are most suitable for the site you are going to deliver.
Maintenance architecture
There are several tasks that you need to prepare that will maintain the integrity and strength of your web content system. Your technical architect and database architect need to define what maintenance methods are needed for your system.
