Your Milestone/Epic Design Title Here (prefix with DRAFT/WIP to indicate level of completeness)
Please refer to https://microsoft.github.io/code-with-engineering-playbook/design/design-reviews/recipes/milestone-epic-design-review-recipe/ for things to keep in mind when using this template.
- Milestone / Epic: Name
- Project / Engagement: [Project Engagement]
- Authors: [Author1, Author2, etc.]
Overview / Problem Statement
Describe the milestone/epic with a high-level summary and a problem statement. Consider including or linking to any additional background (e.g. Game Plan or Checkpoint docs) if it is useful for historical context.
Goals / In-Scope
List a few bullet points of goals that this milestone/epic will achieve and that are most relevant for the design review discussion. You may include acceptable criteria required to meet the Definition of Done.
Non-goals / Out-of-Scope
List a few bullet points of non-goals to clarify the work that is beyond the scope of the design review for this milestone/epic.
Proposed Design / Suggested Approach
To optimize the time investment, this should be brief since it is likely that details will change as the epic/milestone is further decomposed into features and stories. The goal being to convey the vision and complexity in something that can be understood in a few minutes and can help guide a discussion (either asynchronously via comments or in a meeting).
- A paragraph to describe the proposed design / suggested approach for this milestone/epic.
- A diagram (e.g. architecture, sequence, component, deployment, etc.) or pseudo-code snippet to make it easier to talk through the approach.
- List a few of the alternative approaches that were considered and include the brief key Pros and Cons used to help rationalize the decision. For example:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Simple to implement | Creates secondary identity system |
| Repeatable pattern/code artifact | Deployment requires admin credentials |
Technology
Briefly list the languages(s) and platform(s) that comprise the stack. This may include anything that is needed to understand the overall solution: OS, web server, presentation layer, persistence layer, caching, eventing, etc.
Non-Functional Requirements
- What are the primary performance and scalability concerns for this milestone/epic?
- Are there specific latency, availability, and RTO/RPO objectives that must be met?
- Are there specific bottlenecks or potential problem areas? For example, are operations CPU or I/O (network, disk) bound?
- How large are the data sets and how fast do they grow?
- What is the expected usage pattern of the service? For example, will there be peaks and valleys of intense concurrent usage?
- Are there specific cost constraints? (e.g. $ per transaction/device/user)
Operationalization
- Are there any specific considerations for the CI/CD setup of milestone/epic?
- Is there a process (manual or automated) to promote builds from lower environments to higher ones?
- Does this milestone/epic require zero-downtime deployments, and if so, how are they achieved?
- Are there mechanisms in place to rollback a deployment?
- What is the process for monitoring the functionality provided by this milestone/epic?
Dependencies
- Does this milestone/epic need to be sequenced after another epic assigned to the same team and why?
- Is the milestone/epic dependent on another team completing other work?
- Will the team need to wait for that work to be completed or could the work proceed in parallel?
Risks & Mitigations
- Does the team need assistance from subject-matter experts?
- What security and privacy concerns does this milestone/epic have?
- Is all sensitive information and secrets treated in a safe and secure manner?
Open Questions
Include any open questions and concerns.
Additional References
Include any additional references including links to work items or other documents.