Software Development Pearls: Lessons from Fifty Years of Software Experience

Chapter 3

Lessons About Design

Introduction to Design

If the domain of requirements is about defining problems and the characteristics that solutions must have, design is about crafting those solutions. Some people say that requirements are about what and design is about how. It’s not that clear-cut.

As Figure 3.1 illustrates, the boundary between requirements and design is not a crisp black line, but rather a fuzzy gray area (Wiegers 2006a). During requirements exploration, it’s valuable to take some tentative steps into design thinking, such as by creating prototypes. Contemplating how the problem knowledge might lead to a solution helps people refine the product’s requirements. Users who interact with a prototype find that it clarifies their ...