Functional Evolution of Software: FOCUs Model of Design Rationale

摘要

In this poster we present the FOCUs model for representing design rationale. The FOCUs model assimilates the benefits of the MacLean, Young, Bellotti, and Moran's (1996) QOC model and the interdisciplinary constraints and pressures represente in Rasmussen, Pejtersen, and Goodstein's (1994) domain maps. A set of FOCUs maps for a prticular design problem can be generated and organized into a lattice to represent design rationale from the most general to most speciifc detail. We have applied the FOCUs model tothe development of a smart scheduling feature in two different but related software applications. We argue that the FOCUs model is particularly useful for tracking the evolution of functional prototypes and concept demonstrators.