What is 'Software Design'?

[JacquesCarette]

IEEE defines it as

Software design is the process of translating user requirements into a blueprint for building a computer program.

I find that way too narrow. I would much rather go with:

A software design is a set of choices that bridge "what needs done" and "an adequate (blueprint for a) software solution that matches stakeholder's needs."

In the IEEE reading, the 'process' tends to not be an artifact. Whereas a set of choices is much more easily made into an artifact. And, of course, most software solutions have a slew of stakeholders, not just users. Many choices may satisfy user requirements but nevertheless be inadequate; technical debt is merely one facet of this.

As a concrete example, naming conventions are a set of completely unforced choices. But refusing to choose produces an unusable mess. 'Coding style' is another example. Maybe some would call is 'meta design' -- I prefer to call it just 'design'.

I don't think my own version is phrased quite well enough. I think that documentation is part of a "software solution", but the wording gives no hint in that direction. And choices in documentation are design too.