Systems Development: The Processing Stages
Anne C. Steele, Kathy Brittain White · AEDS Journal · 1983
This study experimentally investigated the cognitive processes used during the design phase of the program development cycle. The results indicated that design skill was not a unitary skill. Two distinct and unrelated cognitive processes were discovered One of the skills detected was a skill typically ascribed to the design phase: the designer must be able to specify a sequence of steps leading to a solution when presented with a problem specification. The other skill discovered was unexpected: the designer must be able to recognize the problem that led to that solution when presented with a solution. It was concluded that curricular materials need to be developed that stress both of these skills.