Design – Build – Run: Applied Practices and Principles for Production-Ready Software Development

4.3. The Analysis and Design Outputs

The design elements are the inputs into the development and test activities. Design is not just about designing the core application; it is also about designing the environments, tools, and processes. This section looks at some design elements that can be used as inputs into the development activities. The design elements can be broken down into two parts: functional design elements and technical design elements. The functional design elements focus on the functions of the system, whereas the technical elements focus on how it is going to provide them.

These items can either be fed from or feed into the requirements. As the design builds up, these will become more apparent. The primary analysis and design outputs discussed in this section include:

• Scope

• Requirements (both functional and non-functional)

• Use-case diagrams and use cases

• Navigation maps

• Storyboards

• Page layouts and specifications

• The data dictionary

• Architecture and application component specifications

4.3.1. Scope

As mentioned previously, it is important to set the scope early on. The scope is one of the most important outputs of the analysis and design activities. With everything considered and in its place, the scope enables you to avoid wasting time looking into unnecessary areas and features. The scope is intended to set out what's going to be included and what's not going to be included. It is important to word the scope in an unambiguous way. You don't want things coming back ...