A Dialectical Basis for Software Development Tool Building

摘要

We identify typical problems in the interactions ofrnpeople with current software-based systems. In particularrnwe observe the need to expend significant on-going effortrnto adapt these systems to reflect changes in the worldrnabout them, the need for people to adapt their workingrnpractices to fit in with these systems, and the inflexibilityrnof these systems when faced with unusual circumstancesrnor the need for change. We believe that these problemsrnfollow, at least in part, from these systems beingrndeveloped and evolved using mechanisms each based onrnone Inquiry System only. This basis leads to assumptionsrnbeing embedded in the mechanisms’ analysis outputs, andrnin system designs and implementations. We suggest thatrnthe problems noted may be mitigated by the use of arndialectical approach to Inquiry System selection forrnsoftware development, based on the work of Hegel, whichrnplaces in opposition different models of a situation basedrnon different Inquiry Systems. We claim that such arnmechanism has the potential to make explicit some of thernassumptions which would otherwise be embeddedrnimplicitly in the delivered system without beingrnquestioned. We outline a research programme intended torntest this hypothesis, and suggest other research directions.