Design Documents The Blueprints Developers Actually Follow
A friend in Product said to me last week: "Our design documents are beautiful PowerPoints that no one reads. By the time we build the feature, it's nothing like what we designed." I've heard this complaint so many times. Design documents are supposed to be the blueprint for development, but too often they're either too high-level (just pictures and buzzwords) or too detailed (getting lost in implementation minutiae).
Something I've noticed recently is how the best design docs focus on decisions and trade-offs, not just requirements. They explain why certain approaches were chosen and what alternatives were considered. This context helps developers understand the intent behind the design.
The issue? Most design documents are written for approval, not for implementation.