Method engineering

[2] It focuses on "the design, construction and evaluation of methods, techniques and support tools for information systems development".

Often the instantiation technique "has been utilised to build the repository of Computer Aided Method Engineering environments".

In other words, with very few exceptions, method development involves isolating, documenting, and packaging existing practice for a given task in a form that promotes reliable success among practitioners.

These discoveries aid in the search for existing methods that can be leveraged to support novice practitioners in acquiring the same attunements and skills.

Unlike procedure development, where a set of heuristics and techniques from existing practice can be identified, merged, and refined, language designers rarely encounter well-developed graphical display or textual information capture mechanisms.

When potentially reusable language structures can be found, they are often poorly defined or only partially suited to the needs of the method.

Scope determination also involves deciding what cognitive activities will be supported through method application.

In those situations, specific language constructs may be designed to help method practitioners organize, classify, and represent information that will later be synthesized into additional representation structures intended for display.

[1] Graphical language design begins by identifying a preliminary set of schematics and the purpose or goals of each in terms of where and how they will support the method application process.

After deciding on the central focus for the schematic, additional information (concepts and relations) that should be captured or conveyed is identified.

This is where the language designer must determine which items identified for possible inclusion in the schematic are amenable to graphical representation and will serve to keep the user focused on the desired information content.

With this general understanding, previously developed graphical language structures are explored to identify potential reuse opportunities.

The purpose of the method largely determines what level of structure will be required of the textual language.

[1] These general activities culminate in a language that helps focus user attention on the information that needs to be discovered, analyzed, transformed, or communicated in the course of accomplishing the task for which the method was designed.

Both the procedure and language components of the method also help users develop the necessary skills and attunements required to achieve consistently high quality results for the targeted task.