Templates and Examples - The Practice of Cloud System Administration - page 475

Appendix D. Templates and Examples
D.1 Design Document Template
Below is a simple design document template as described in Section 13.2 .
Title:
Date:
Author(s): (add authors, please link to their email addresses)
Reviewers(s): (add reviewers, please link to their email addresses)
Approvers(s): (add approvers, please link to their email addresses)
Revision Number:
Status: (draft, in review, approved, in progress)
Executive Summary:
(2-4 sentences explaining the project)
Goals:
(bullet list describing the problem being solved)
Non-goals:
(bullet list describing the limits of the project)
Background:
(terminology and history one needs to know to understand the design)
High-Level Design:
(a brief, high-level description of the design; diagrams are helpful)
Detailed Design:
(the design in detail; usually a top-down description)
Alternatives Considered:
(alternatives considered and rejected; include pros and cons of each)
Security Concerns:
(security/privacy ramifications and how those concerns are mitigated)