[DevDojo] Introduction to Design Doc

In this course, we will explain the basic concepts of using Design Doc for product development and introduce the template that is currently in use at Mercari. We will also cover how to write a good design doc and deal with it in Mercari.

Transcript

1. 1
   Design Doc
   Ashish Kumar
   Mercari Acquisition & Activation Team / Software Engineer
   

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2. Design Doc - What?
   A technical spec about a feature or a system which includes the
   rationale for each decision made.
   The purpose of design doc is to aid in the critical analysis of a
   problem and the proposed solution while also communicating
   priority, effort and impact with different stakeholders
   

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3. Design Doc - Why?
   ● One reference for everything related to that project
   ● Speed up implementation by having a clear reference and direction
   ● Improve quality by getting feedback from various stakeholders
   ● Find flaws/issues before they happen
   ● Improve code review quality
   ● Get alignment with architecture and other technical detail
   ● Help to onboard new members
   

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4. Design Doc - When?
   Spec
   Discussion Design doc Development
   PM plans/create a new
   idea
   Design and
   functionalities are fixed
   Start development
   after getting approval
   for design doc
   

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5. Design Doc - Process
   Design
   Discussion Review
   Code
   Before writing code,and/or
   while prototyping
   By people having an insight for the
   domain
   Incorporate insight and idea
   Similar to “develop/review code” but It
   costs much less if written before
   actual code
   

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6. Design Doc - Lifespan
   ● Draft version and iteration
   ○ Shared initial draft with teammates
   ○ Update until find a stable version
   ● Review
   ○ Shared with wider audience
   ● Implementation and Iteration
   ○ Start implementation when reviews are done or almost done
   ○ Update if anything minor changes while implementation
   ○ For major changes create another version
   ● Maintenance and Learning
   

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7. Design Doc - How?
   ● Follow the templates to start
   ○ Some teams have their own template
   ● Put it in Team Drive
   ● Get feedbacks by review
   

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8. Design Doc - Teams
   ● Each team may have a different process
   ○ Design Docs may be required before implementation of some features
   ○ Other engineers or the tech lead may need to approve
   ○ Templates might be different
   ○ Some teams may not have a design doc flow
   ● Individual
   ○ Even if your team does not require it, you might write design docs for your own learning
   

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9. 9
   Thank you!
   

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