David budgen Software design methods: Life belt or Leg Iron(IEEE Software, Sept/Oct 99) Will the adoption of a design method help the software development process(be a life belt )or is there significant risk that its use will lead to suboptimum solution(be a leg iron )? Argument Two general design characteristics 1. Wicked"nature of any design process Adopting a particular solution approach to a problem may make task of solving it more intractible, i.e., the design process is not neutral 2. Expert designers engage in opportunistic behavior As solution's form emerges, problem solving strategy is adapted to meet new characteristics that are revealed i.e., expert designers do not follow a single methodCopyright Nancy Leveson, Sept. 1999 c David Budgen, Software Design Methods: Life Belt or Leg Iron (IEEE Software, Sept/Oct. 99) Will the adoption of a design method help the software development process (be a "life belt") or is there significant risk that its use will lead to suboptimum solution (be a "leg iron")? Argument: Two general design characteristics: 1. "Wicked" nature of any design process: Adopting a particular solution approach to a problem may make task of solving it more intractible, i.e., the design process is not neutral. 2. Expert designers engage in opportunistic behavior: As solution’s form emerges, problem solving strategy is adapted to meet new characteristics that are revealed, i.e., expert designers do not follow a single method. ���