System Design
Beginner
System Design Interview Framework
Turn ambiguous product prompts into a clear, production-grade design plan.
25 min
3 sections
requirements
tradeoffs
interviews
1
2
3
01. Start with the product contract
Section 1 of 3
Good system design starts by narrowing the problem. Define users, core actions, success criteria, explicit non-goals, and the quality attributes that matter most: latency, durability, availability, consistency, cost, security, and operability.
text
Prompt: Design a food delivery tracking system
Functional requirements:
- Customers see courier location updates.
- Restaurants update order status.
- Support agents can inspect the timeline.
Non-functional requirements:
- p95 location update latency below 2 seconds.
- Order state must not be lost.
- Support audit trail retained for 7 years.
Non-goals:
- Route optimization.
- Driver payroll.
- Restaurant menu management.Back to Course