Software Development Document Sequence
Phase 1: Planning & Requirements
- PRD (Product Requirements Document) – Define what to build, success metrics, user stories
- Competitive Brief – Understand market context and differentiation
Phase 2: Design & Architecture
- System Design Document – High-level service architecture, infrastructure, data flow
- Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) – Tech stack choices, database, patterns, trade-offs
- Technical Specification – Detailed implementation approach, APIs, data models, edge cases
Phase 3: Development Standards
- Contributing Guidelines – Branch strategy, commit conventions, PR workflow
- Code Review Guidelines – Quality standards, performance checks, security gates
- README/Getting Started – Local setup, key commands, project structure
- API Documentation – Endpoint specs, auth, error codes (can evolve alongside code)
Phase 4: Quality Assurance
- Test Strategy/Test Plan – Coverage goals, test types, acceptance criteria
- Security Assessment/Threat Model – Data handling, encryption, vulnerabilities
- Accessibility Audit – WCAG compliance, contrast, keyboard navigation
Phase 5: Deployment & Operations
- Deployment Checklist – Pre-release verification, rollback triggers
- Runbook/Operations Guide – Deploy, monitor, troubleshoot, scale
- Incident Response Playbook – Severity levels, escalation, communication
Phase 6: Release & Post-Release
- Release Notes – Changes, known issues, migration steps
- Postmortem/Retrospective – Lessons learned, action items
In practice: Phases 1-2 happen upfront, Phases 3-4 run in parallel with development, Phase 5 finalizes before launch, and Phase 6 follows release. Skills like ADR, Test Strategy, Deployment Checklist, and Incident Response can help you create these in order.