Perfecting the image
F.G. Patterson, Raymond Evans · 2002
This work deals with our continuing efforts to establish more effective approaches and models for system development. Our basic idea is that systems originate in the mind as a mental image, and that the system development task is to perfect the image. To perfect the image, our approach envisions a model of concurrent development that is characterized by a continuum of design decisions to "perfect the image" continuously and concurrently. Furthermore, in our model the image (the system) is perfected as a continuum of design decisions on three interdependent dimensions: 1) a mental image in a single mind; 2) a series of symbolic representations that sustain and enable a shared vision or image in a collective set of minds; and 3) the final image the "developed" system.