Design Documents vs Prototyping
Developers should create design documents for complex features, new systems, or major refactors to reduce ambiguity, catch design flaws early, and facilitate team reviews meets developers should learn prototyping to efficiently explore design options, identify potential issues early, and align with user needs, saving time and resources in later stages. Here's our take.
Design Documents
Developers should create design documents for complex features, new systems, or major refactors to reduce ambiguity, catch design flaws early, and facilitate team reviews
Design Documents
Nice PickDevelopers should create design documents for complex features, new systems, or major refactors to reduce ambiguity, catch design flaws early, and facilitate team reviews
Pros
- +They are essential in distributed teams, large-scale projects, or when onboarding new members, as they document decisions and provide a reference for implementation and maintenance
- +Related to: system-design, software-architecture
Cons
- -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case
Prototyping
Developers should learn prototyping to efficiently explore design options, identify potential issues early, and align with user needs, saving time and resources in later stages
Pros
- +It is particularly valuable in agile environments, user experience (UX) design, and when building complex or innovative products where requirements are unclear, as it enables rapid experimentation and stakeholder collaboration
- +Related to: user-experience-design, agile-development
Cons
- -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case
The Verdict
Use Design Documents if: You want they are essential in distributed teams, large-scale projects, or when onboarding new members, as they document decisions and provide a reference for implementation and maintenance and can live with specific tradeoffs depend on your use case.
Use Prototyping if: You prioritize it is particularly valuable in agile environments, user experience (ux) design, and when building complex or innovative products where requirements are unclear, as it enables rapid experimentation and stakeholder collaboration over what Design Documents offers.
Developers should create design documents for complex features, new systems, or major refactors to reduce ambiguity, catch design flaws early, and facilitate team reviews
Disagree with our pick? nice@nicepick.dev