# Malte Ubl - Design Docs at Google (Highlights)  ## Metadata **Review**:: [readwise.io](https://readwise.io/bookreview/33329103) **Source**:: #from/readwise #from/reader **Zettel**:: #zettel/fleeting **Status**:: #x **Authors**:: [[Malte Ubl]] **Full Title**:: Design Docs at Google **Category**:: #articles #readwise/articles **Category Icon**:: 📰 **URL**:: [www.industrialempathy.com](https://www.industrialempathy.com/posts/design-docs-at-google/) **Host**:: [[www.industrialempathy.com]] **Highlighted**:: [[2023-10-19]] **Created**:: [[2023-10-19]] ## Highlights - A short list of bullet points of what the goals of the system are, and, sometimes more importantly, what non-goals are. Note, that non-goals aren’t negated goals like “The system shouldn’t crash”, but rather things that could reasonably be goals, but are explicitly chosen not to be goals ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hd2xq1q66yckvskd54741nm7)) ^612664589 - The design doc is *the place to write down the trade-offs* you made in designing your software. Focus on those trade-offs to produce a useful document with long-term value ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hd2xqm9v84a64ssdhtz9hnkb)) ^612664769 - In many docs a *[system-context-diagram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_context_diagram)* can be very useful. Such a diagram shows the system as part of the larger technical landscape and allows readers to contextualize the new design given its environment that they are already familiar with. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hd2xrxe7xbhd3kt53nz4p3zz)) ^612664828