Reading Response for Lecture 06

The two readings for this week are on very different topics and reflect our need to focus both on the more technical aspects of our design and the strategic organizational context in which that design unfolds.

Below is a list of the readings for this class with some suggestions on how to approach them and questions for discussion in class. Please create a post in this discussion consisting of at least 200 words discussing any issue from the required reading for the week (you do not need to address one of the discussion questions below, but you are welcome to do so).  See the Reading Response Grading Rubric for details about how posts will be graded.

The Readings

Larman Chapter 10: System Sequence Diagrams. Up to this point we have been focusing on the system as viewed by its users and other stakeholders. Use cases identify how a proposed system can support users in achieving business goals. Activity diagrams show the business processes in which these use cases occur. The system sequence diagram (SSD) represents our first step into the design of the system itself. This brief chapter in Larman describes these diagrams and why you might want to draw them. Note: do not worry about making sense of Figure 10.1 at this point (this is trying to show you the big UML picture, not explain SSDs).

Discussion questions: What value would a system sequence diagram add to a well written use case? Isn't it just a translation of the success scenario of a use case into boxes and arrows? How does a system sequence diagram move us closer to a good system design? Are there any design decisions being made here? How can you decide if you have drawn a good SSD? What would a bad SSD look like?

Severance Chapter 3: Formulating Strategy. Having laid out their Journey Management Model in Chapter 2, the authors now start to apply it to the story of GMI. In this chapter we follow the GMI protagonists through a high level business diagnosis and strategy formulation.

Discussion questions: How does the process we read about fit in with what we have heard from our three guest speakers? Where would EY or Deloitte fit into this kind of process? Did UHG use a process like this? What we would call systems analysis and design will show up later in the Journey Management Model. How then, does this strategic process relate to what we have been calling systems analysis and design?