Process As Pattern

This entry is about the relationship between patterns and the PersonalSoftwareProcess defined by WattsHumphrey.

Are processes an example of WhenToUsePatternForm?

It seems to me that if I am going to do some job more than twice, then the RuleOfThree applies.

To do any non-trivial job, I must accomplish a set of tasks, so the job is a process.

Pattern Name

Process Definition Template?

Problem

What problem does this process address?

Agent

Who is the agent responsible for doing the process?

Context

When does this process need to be done? What inputs are required to do this process?

Input 1
Input 2
...

Forces

Qualities
Attributes
Issues
Priorities

Solution

How do I balance or resolve the forces?

Rule

Specifically how? What method and tasks must I perform?

Task 1
Task 2
...

Reason

Why should I use this process?

Resulting Context

What have I produced as result of this process?

Output 1
Output 2
...

Examples

See scripts in ADisciplineForSoftwareEngineering by WattsSHumphrey

Related Patterns

Is it part of a larger process?
Is there a next phase?
Was there a previous phase?
Is it an instance of a meta-process, e.g. DefinedProcess ?

Author(s) KentSchnaith

Date(s) 11-Feb-97

Another log for the fire...

Can process be separated from methodology? What aspects of Shlaer-Mellor, Booch, OMT, or Fusion can be abstracted up to a higher level? - KentSchnaith

I believe that processes are rarely amenable to pattern form. Empirical research has demonstrated that for effective construction of large, complex processes, repeatable processes are a myth. The few places where repeatable processes seem to work are in organizations with very high cost and low productivity, those these are sometimes necessary to achieve ultra-high safety or reliability.

The patterns of most effective organizations lie not in process, but in structure. See Cain and Coplien, "A Role-Based Empirical Process Modeling Environment," Proceedings of ICSP/2, 125-133, February, 1993, IEEE Computer Press. We still sometimes call them ProcessPatterns, though they're not about process.

-- JimCoplien

See DefinedProcess -- KentSchnaith

Seems better to describe the reason why after the solution.

-- KentSchnaith

EditText of this page (last edited April 21, 2002)
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