Can we see some real documents? It is as if software design process documents are the closest guarded secrets, because I have never seen a real document being available for case study.
I picked out one at random just to check if my skeptical reaction is fair: https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/tree/master/keps/...
- OK, this is actually a really good and useful doc!
- However, it's not an up-front design doc, it has clearly been written after the bulk of the work has been done, to explain and justify rolling out a big change. (See the "implementation history" timeline: https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/tree/master/keps/...)
- It looks like the template wasn't very useful; most of the required sections are marked "N/A", and there are comments like The best test for work like this is, more or less, "did it work?"
Shades of Parnas! [0]
[0] 'A Rational Design Process: How and Why to Fake It', Parnas, Clements, https://users.ece.utexas.edu/~perry/education/SE-Intro/fakei...
I don’t think this particular doc, although it is a really good doc, supports the design doc process as described in the original article. It looks like good work being done in spite of the process, not because of it. It’s obviously just one data point, but I’d put it down as a negative point.
I wonder if anyone has done a proper investigation into whether the process is a good one?
Example: https://rfd.shared.oxide.computer/rfd/0177
Main index: https://rfd.shared.oxide.computer