Nicolas Mangano

Software design sketching with calico

Despite the availability of a host of software design notations and associated tools, software developers are known to frequently turn to the whiteboard when faced with a specific design problem. There, they typically engage in an informal form of software design that relies heavily on sketching. However, whereas whiteboards afford flexibility and fluidity, they at the same time limit a designer in only being able to draw and erase content. This paper presents Calico, a novel software design tool that leverages electronic whiteboards to enhance the design experience with explicit support for the creative, exploratory aspects of design. Specifically, Calico offers a grid, scraps, and a palette together with gesture-based input to address several natural behaviors exhibited by software designers, including frequent shifts in focus, use of low-detail models, and use of a mix of notations. To evaluate Calico, we performed a laboratory experiment involving eight pairs of graduate students and collected and analyzed six corporate design sessions that employed Calico. Results are promising and indicate the benefits of Calico, while they at the same time highlight several ways in which it can be enhanced.

The design and evaluation of a tool to support software designers at the whiteboard

Despite the availability of advanced software design tools, software developers are known to frequently turn to the whiteboard when faced with a specific design problem. Free from any restrictions, they engage in an informal form of software design that relies heavily on sketching. However, whereas whiteboards afford flexibility and fluidity, they at the same time limit a designer in only being able to draw and erase content. This paper presents Calico, a novel software design tool that leverages electronic whiteboards to enhance the design experience with explicit support for the creative, exploratory aspects of design. Specifically, Calico offers a grid to partition the drawing space, scraps to organize and manipulate the content, and a reusable palette together with gesture-based input to address several natural behaviors exhibited by software designers, including frequent shifts in focus, use of low-detail models, use of a variety of notations, and a tendency to refine representations. To evaluate Calico, we performed a laboratory experiment involving the design of an educational traffic simulator. Through a three-pronged analysis examining the use of Calico’s features, design behaviors exhibited by the participants, and the nature of the design conversations, we show how Calico benefits the design process as it takes place at the whiteboard.

Supporting informal design with interactive whiteboards

Whiteboards serve an important role in supporting informal design, providing a fluid and flexible medium for collaborative design. Interactive whiteboards offer the potential for enhanced support for manipulating content, managing sketches, and distributed work, but little is known about how this support affects the practice of informal design. To understand the opportunities and challenges, we first conducted a literature review, identifying 14 behaviors that occur during informal design. We then designed an interactive whiteboard system to support all of these behaviors and deployed the system to three groups of designers. Through usage logs and interviews, we examined the effects of interactivity on whiteboard use across a wide spectrum of design behaviors, identifying ways in which interactive whiteboards support the practices used in physical whiteboards and where they enable designers to work more effectively.

Calico: a prototype sketching tool for modeling in early design

Design is an inherently creative process, particularly so during the early stages of design when a solution is just beginning to form. At this time, the more formal models and modeling languages to which we are so accustomed in software engineering serve a limited if non-existent role. But this does not mean that modeling is not relevant during early design; on the contrary, it is critical. It is just that a different form of modeling and overall design process takes place. In this paper, we present early results from our foray into exploring how designers can be supported in the early, highly creative stages of software design. We particularly build upon the existing body of work in creativity and general design, and apply key lessons found there to the construction of Calico, a prototype sketching tool for modeling in early design.

Enabling a classroom design studio with a collaborative sketch design tool

The use of a studio approach - a hands-on teaching method that emphasizes in-class discussion and activities - is becoming an increasingly accepted method of teaching within software engineering. In such studios, emphasis is placed not only on the artifacts to be produced, but also on the process used to arrive at those artifacts. In this paper, we introduce Calico, a sketch-based collaborative software design tool, and discuss how it supports the delivery of a studio approach to software design education. We particularly describe our experiences with Calico in Software Design I, a course aimed at introducing students to the early, creative phases of software design. Our results show that Calico enabled students to work effectively in teams on their design problems, quickly developing, refining, and evaluating their designs.

A tool for distributed software design collaboration

In this video demonstration, we present our collaborative software design tool, Calico, for use at both the interactive whiteboard and the tablet PC. Calico has several unique features to fluidly manipulate sketches and make them into scraps to represent software design notations. Further, a grid helps organize sketches in a design session, and also serves as a metaphor for coordinating a distributed design activity across both drawing spaces and users.

Blending freeform and managed information in tables (NIER track)

Tables are an important tool used by business analysts engaged in early requirements activities (in fact it is safe to say that tables appeal to many other types of user, in a variety of activities and domains). Business analysts typically use the tables provided by office tools. These tables offer great flexibility, but no underlying model, and hence no consistency management, multiple views or other advantages familiar to the users of modeling tools. Modeling tools, however, are usually too rigid for business analysts. In this paper we present a flexible modeling approach to tables, which combines the advantages of both office and modeling tools. Freeform information can co-exist with information managed by an underlying model, and an incremental formalization approach allows each item of information to transition fluidly between freeform and managed. As the model evolves, it is used to guide the user in the process of formalizing any remaining freeform information. The model therefore helps users without restricting them. Early feedback is described, and the approach is analyzed briefly in terms of cognitive dimensions.

Inkus: a freehand method of creating business process models

Business process modeling has become an industry wide practice for business transformation consulting. Tools that support business process modeling are designed for experienced users to draw a process with precision and professional appearance. These tools are not conducive to sketching quick business design ideas. In this paper, we explore a non-intrusive business process sketching tool which allows free hand sketches of process ideas and slowly brings the users to the required common business vocabulary. We also explore adding business values that support process design thinking, along with sketching. Our goal is to help unleash creativity in business designers and enrich the design process with values beyond drawing. This paper presents a design concept and an implemented prototype of such a system.

Liberating Expression: A Freehand Approach to Business Process Modeling

Tools that support business process modeling are designed for experienced users to draw a process with precision and professional appearance. These tools are not conducive to sketching quick business design ideas.This demo proposal presents Inkus, a non-intrusive business process sketching tool which allows freehand sketches of process ideas and slowly brings the users to the required common business vocabulary. Our goal is to help unleash creativity in business designers and enrich the design process with values beyond drawing.

A demonstration of a distributed software design sketching tool

Software designers frequently sketch when they design, particularly during the early phases of exploration of a design problem and its solution. In so doing, they shun formal design tools, the reason being that such tools impose conformity and precision prematurely. Sketching on the other hand is a highly fluid and flexible way of expressing oneself. In this paper, we present Calico, a sketch-based distributed software design tool that supports software designers with a variety of features that improve over the use of just pen-and-paper or a regular whiteboard, and are tailored specifically for software design. Calico is meant to be used on electronic whiteboards or tablets, and provides for rapid creation and manipulation of design content by sets of developers who can collaborate distributedly.