Unidentified Users of Design Documentation

Abstract

When working with system development and design, one is urged to write design documentation. The design document should be constructed in a specific way and should include all necessary information. However, the users of the design document are not stated and seem to be secondary. This study's aim is therefore to investigate who the users are. A literature review was conducted to answer the question. The literature showed that design documentation is a tool to communicate design and it should include relatable information. The essential role of design documents within software projects were also discussed and hence, they are included in this study. The literature review revealed that the system developer and the individuals which are involved in the production of the software is the users. To investigate this further, a hypothesis was formed and thereafter an observation was done, where videos of system developers were observed. The observation showed that system developers do not verbalize the importance of design documentation. Secondly, the study showed how unidentified the users are and that the discussion of who they are is limited. Furthermore, the design documentation is a valuable tool for communicating amongst other designers but if the documentation is not read, it is argued to be a waste of valuable time. The results presented within this study, therefore indicates that a definition of who the user is of design documentation is required.