In this blog I explore sensemaking and conceptual modelling in Requirements Engineering – in the context of market driven software intensive product engineering.
What ?
- sensemaking is the process of representing knowledge about the candidate problem and solution so that engineers can think, understand each others, agree, verify… so that they can engineer.
- conceptual modelling is the toolbox which enables sensemaking
Why ?
- Because I believe the mission of cognitively enabling the engineering teams is the core purpose of requirements engineering (RE). “Cognitively enabling” means here “delivering the concepts with which people think together”
- Because sensemaking is where Requirements Engineers maximize the value they deliver. This is the part of the job which “makes sense” (in various dimensions here). This is the part that is fun.
- For employers and RE team managers, sensemaking is attractiveness, motivation and retention. This is investing in the future.
- Because, although good conceptual models ultimately look simple and obvious, I have observed they are often poorly realized and therefore disregarded. Conceptual modelling is “an art [..] which requires apprenticeship” [Bernhard Thalheim].
- Because, as automation (Knowledge Graphs, ML, AI, ..) is freeing (human) software engineers from repetitive tasks towards higher level of abstractions, from writing code towards model-driven engineering, conceptual modelling will play a key role interfacing humans and machine while they make sense of “what we do want to build, and why”. This is me being excited.
- Because conceptual models, with both their formality and their quality of being grasped in a short glimpse, may become handy when exchanging knowledge with machines – not only in the context of engineering.
In short, a bunch of topics I feel delighted to dive into.
I hope you’ll enjoy, feel free to contact me and react.
I have initially published this page in the post Why Recognizing.
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