Summary: Putting together an engineering design doc in the early stages of your project can help bring clarity and a number of efficiencies to your work.
Get started early
Best Practices - Design Docs is an excellent resource to help you get started. When writing up your design doc early, you will be able to:
- Clarify what you're about to build, allowing you to move faster
- Avoid conflicts with other people's work
- Clarify ownership and avoid duplication of effort
- Enable better collaboration and the ability to build pieces in parallel
- Create a foundation for people to build upon
If you write up your designs after your project is already done, you really only get the last two benefits. Plus in some cases you may get a seething sense of resentment for being made to jump through hoops to satisfy promo committees.
For additional tips, refer to How to write a design doc and get it reviewed.
Incorporate accessibility into your doc
BlueDoc design doc template outlines some considerations you should make when it comes to accessibility. These are things the whole team should be considering throughout the product build process, and are mentioned throughout this site.
- Meet GAR standards
- Get an understanding of accessibility personas
- Take advantage of resources on the Find Support page
More resources
How to Write a Good Design Doc
A slide deck by Brad Frizell touches on what to write and why you should write it