Design Documents

Ah, the software engineering cycle. Application develoment cycle. All the documentation that goes along! Just fun!

Is NOT!

I've been working on a Design Document for a project. The technical writer side of me says it better be good. The technical side of me says, it better be a good Design Document and other developers should be able to look at this document and engineer the solution. The practical side of me says, since the business doesn't really respect the technical writing and always wants things done their way, which is "how they've always done it", why should I bother? The practical side also says, just get it done and put it out there. Since I'll be the one developing with another developer who already knows the details, we won't really have to come back to the Design Document and criticize it.

You see, this is all part of the new process we're following. We have a process that we try to follow for each project and this process addresses each step of software engineering cycle. Documentation, design, implementation, testing and all. How ever this causes our time estimates to be thru the roof. Which could be a good thing for us.

When all is said and done, I wouldn't buy a solution from me if I saw one of my estimates. What a jerk!