Leslie J. Waguespack

Thriving Systems Theory: An Emergent Information Systems Design Theory

Thriving Systems Theory is an emergent design quality framework encompassing both traditional objective metrics and the subjective, aesthetics. It draws theories of design quality in physical architecture originated by Christopher Alexander, the patriarch of design patterns, into the domain of models and information systems. Thriving Systems Theorys fifteen choice properties is an extended taxonomy of systems design characteristics that explicate the experience of satisfaction realized between observer and artifact. The properties also denote design actions that shape that experience. This paper summarizes the synthesis of Thriving Systems Theory, its applicability to information systems, its conformance to the anatomy of a design theory, and the ongoing efforts to demonstrate its contribution to the advancement of design practice.

SCRUM Project Architecture and Thriving Systems Theory

Agile project management continues to gain a widening and enthusiastic following. Agile methods can achieve a high level of satisfaction among all project stakeholders (users, customers, business managers, developers, and project managers) in terms of productivity, product quality, cost containment, time-to-market, and overall morale. Success with agile requires focus on requirements and design as a continuous discovery process, posing challenges for practitioners of more traditional project management both in terms of method adoption and sustained commitment. Thriving Systems Theory clarifies the appeal of agile project structure and processes, helps project teams determine and achieve the optimal portfolio of quality characteristics, and better articulate their value to all stakeholders. Thriving Systems Theory is an emerging framework of systems design quality that translates the research of design pattern patriarch Christopher Alexander on physical architecture design quality into the domain of systems engineering. The satisfaction achieved through agile methods is explained by Thriving Systems Theorys fifteen choice properties of systems design quality. We demonstrate by identifying the manifestation of the choice properties in SCRUM, an exemplar of agile software project management.

A Reuse Reference Grid for Strategic Reuse Goals Assessment

Reuse throughout system life cycles is the most promising organizational policy for cost containment and benefit exploitation available to information system managers today. Large-scale reuse is an expensive endeavor whose benefits are realized when it is applied strategically rather than tactically. The distinction eludes many (and challenges most) IS managers. We present a reuse reference grid for managers to use as an assessment framework to help categorize and assess the cost/benefit of their current level of reuse as a prelude to considering future reuse opportunities.

Program plagiarism revisited: current issues and approaches

Since the first courses were offered in programming, plagiarism has been a perplexing problem. Detection techniques, administrative procedures, and penalties vary greatly. Instructors face an increasingly legalistic system when prosecuting plagiarism cases. Panel members will discuss the prevention, detection, and prosecution aspects of program plagiarism and will present legal and administrative views of the problem.

Christopher Alexander’s Nature of Order

Christopher Alexander is an oft-referenced icon for the concept of patterns in programming languages and design [1–3]. Alexander himself set forth his theory of good architectural design and its pursuit via architectural patterns in three books published in the latter half of the 1970s [4–6]. In a follow-up to his three-volume architectural exposition, he published a four-volume treatise on The Nature of Order that extensively examines his underlying theory and philosophy of wholeness and the properties of life in systems [7–10]

Personal student workstations: prospectus and requirements

One of the most pressing problems in computer science education at the undergraduate level today is providing effective laboratory facil i t ies to allow the theories of the classroom to be experienced through exercise. The problem wi l l reach crisis proportions as the demand for computer professionals continues and the education budgets fail to keep pace! We propose the personal :student workstation as a means of addressing this problem. We present a requirements model (functions students need to perform) as a layered set of capabilities to be provided on a personal student workstation. We group student tasks into levels of workstation function and therefore, levels of laboratory achievement. We report on current efforts to prototype such a workstation at Bentley Col lege.

Promoting Life Using the Relational Paradigm

The concepts of system ecology and life-preserving transformations presented thus far can be integrated into any building process where choices are made. To further illustrate this integration and provide a contrast with that which is provided through the object-oriented paradigm, this chapter describes how these concepts can be realized in and are facilitated by the relational paradigm and engineering processes associated with it.

Protecting Life in System Life Cycles

System development methodologies are variously devised to focus on and address specific development concerns. A project team chooses a methodology to shape what is known as an SDLC for the system under development. To some, SDLC reads “software development life cycle” while to others it reads “system development life cycle.” The distinction may appear insignificant. The distinction may be critical, however, if it denotes a distinct difference in the scope of awareness for the choices that result.

Building Life into Information Systems

Just as Christopher Alexander’s ultimate goal is to enlighten architects and improve their products for society’s sake, incorporating the wholeness theory into systems development can have similar benefits to society’s information systems. The following discussion explores an approach informed by the theory of wholeness and life.

Thriving Systems Through Metaphor-Driven Modeling

Computer-based information systems are certainly among the most complex constructions conceived by humankind. And more often than not, those constructions that may be more complex include embedded information systems of some kind. To address the total range of issues and all the variations of process that are or can be employed in the development of information systems is far beyond the scope of this monograph. Thus, the goal here is to focus on the modes of perception, representation, and understanding that lead to the success of all those efforts expended regardless of any particular paradigm, technology, or methodology – and in doing so, to propose an enlightened context within which to consider those paradigms, technologies, and methodologies.