Design Guidelines

One fallacy is that there is one true design methodology. This is not the case. There is no right or wrong way to create a design. There are many design methodologies available today, and they all have their proponents. However, the primary issue is not which design method to use, but simply whether to use a method at all. This can be expanded to the entire software development process. Many organizations do not follow a standard software development process. The most important factor in creating a good design is to find a process that you and your organization can feel comfortable with. It makes no sense to implement a design process that no one will follow.

Most books that deal with object-oriented technologies offer very similar strategies for designing systems. In fact, except for some of the object-oriented specific issues involved, much of the strategy is applicable to non–OO systems as well.