Andreas Munk-Madsen

Method engineering: who's the customer?

This paper reports from a large Danish effort to engineer an object-oriented method for analysis and design of computer systems. Over a period of six years a method was developed based on new ideas on how to learn object-orientation supplemented with well-known ideas of how to work object-oriented in systems development.

Soft Systems in Software Design

This paper explores the possibility of applying soft systems thinking as a basis for designing application software and it outlines a new method for software design (Mathiassen et al. 1991). The method is called ‘Rapid Systems Modelling’. It supports systems developers and users in going from a problematic organisational situation to the design of a new and modified computer application for that situation.

Modelling Events in Object-Oriented Analysis

The concept of objects is widely applicable in software development. In this paper, we explore its capabilities in modelling various kinds of phenomena in object-oriented analysis and design. We argue that the dynamics of objects in the real world are different from the dynamics of objects within the computer system. There is much to be gained from explicitly modelling events in object- oriented analysis thereby concieving real-world objects differently from the classical way in which we understand and design objects as parts of a software system. The paper examines a well-known approach to object-oriented analysis, it provides specific advice on event modelling, and it outlines a way of representing events in object-oriented software design.

Success Factors and Motivators in SPI

The authors report in this article from a survey of medium-sized and large software companies in Denmark where major variations were found in the practice of software process improvement SPI. Many software companies intend to do SPI; but few companies invest the necessary effort in improvement, and few perform maturity assessments. In general, across the surveyed companies, the effects of SPI are very limited. The study also found that internal motivators are more frequent than external motivators. This article presents and discusses the survey and the results. It also discusses implications for IT organizations and professionals and recommends: 1 assessing the maturity level; 2 allocating sufficient resources to SPI; and 3 creating a positive feedback loop between SPI benefits and SPI efforts.

Combining two Approaches to Object-Oriented Analysis

There has been an immense growth in object-oriented methods to analysis and design. Many of these methods differ only on insignificant points and it is often difficult to deduce what the exact characteristics of the methods are before having tried them out in practice. All the more, there is a need for examining these characteristics and discussing fundamental aspects of object-oriented analysis and design. We believe that one such fundamental discussion is the handling of events in analysing the problem domain.