By:- Sjaak Brinkkemper

Information and Software Technology 38(1996)

275-280
Presented by Berhanu Herano
August 24,2013
Presentation Outline
Overview of the Article
Introduction
Statement of the Problem/discussion of main idea
Conclusion
Critics on the Article
Title
Abstract
Introduction
Research question
Literature review
Research Design (Methodology)
Conclusion and Contributions
References and Citations



Overview of the Article
Introduction
practice of information system development is different based on
application domain,
analysis and design technique,
programming language
project strategy.
The research identified and defined four important terms and notions in
method engineering. which are
methods
techniques
tools
methodology of information systems development
Overview of the Article
Introduction
Definition and Examples of each important terms
method:-an approach to perform system development. it has directions and
rules
Examples of methods are SSADM,IE, and different OO versions
technique:-a procedure with prescribed notation to perform system
development
examples of techniques are process modeling, logic modeling, and data
modeling with ERD

tool:- a computer based application to support development process. e.g.
CASE tools
methodology of information systems development :-Systematic explanation
and evaluation of all aspects of methodical ISD.

Overview of the Article

Main issues discussed
The author raised important research questions. Some of them are:
Is there a most optimal technique for meta-modeling?
Should tools interoperability be based on storage structure in data-integration
architecture or on a communication structure between the functional components in
control-integration architecture?
How can proper methodical guidance and corresponding tool support be provided to
system development?
How can the quality of methods or tools be expressed in order to compare them in a
sound and scientifically verifiable way?
But the author given more emphasis to questions related to situational modeling
which is one of ISD methods that is adjusted to the situation of a project at hand.

Overview of the Article
Main issues discussion
To support engineering situational methods, standardized
method building blocks (method fragments which are
coherent pieces of IS development methods) are stored in
and retrieved from the data base called method base. Since
every project is different, it is important to characterize the
project to a list of different factors in the method
configuration process which contains project
characterization, selection, validation and assembling of
methods in to situational methods.
Overview of the Article
Conclusion
Finally, the researcher presented method engineering as a research framework
for information system development methods and tools
He defined the main concepts in method engineering: methods, techniques,
tools and methodology.
The researcher also discussed and explained his main research area in method
engineering which was situational methods by using configuration process for
situational methods, CAME tools and method engineering languages.
The author also developed a Computer Aided Method Engineering (CAME)
tool that provides support for the system development process.The tool contains
method administration tool, method assembly tool and the generators.The
author also used method engineering language that helps to describe,
administer, select and assembly method fragments in textual form..


Critics on the Article
Title
The title, Method engineering: engineering of information systems
development methods and tools accurately reflects the content.

In addition it is interesting and doesnt contain abbreviations and
overly general terms.

Therefore, I accepted the title on the basis of the above criterion as
concise and specific.
.
Critics on the Article
Abstract
Since it
Is not more than one page,
Does not contain references,
Does not contain figures and tables,
Enables readers to identify the basic content of the document quickly and
accurately
Enables readers to determine its relevance to their interest
Summarizes the main point of the study.
Therefore , it is a concise summary of the material and is presented properly in the
research.

Critics on the Article
Introduction
The reviewer found that the purpose of the article, which was to describe and clarify
systems development by using method engineering as framework, is clearly stated in
the introduction part. The introduction also contains problem statement which are
described by using research questions and presented important research ideas.
Author Biography
Received his BSc, MSc and PhD 1980,1984 and 1990 from University of
Amsterdam, Radboud University of Nijmegen, University of Twente respectively.
In1992, he became Associate Professor at University of Twente. From 1996 to 2002,
he has been process architect at Baan. Since 2004 he is full professor at Utrecht
University and leads a group of twenty researchers specialized in product software
development and entrepreneurship. He has published several books, papers, and
articles. Therefore, as it is clearly seen on his biography the author has sufficient
knowledge in the area of method engineering.
Critics on the Article
Research questions
The author presented about four research questions and gave more attention to
questions related to situational models and his research questions were based on
extensive literature review

Since the paper gives more focus on research questions that are related to
situational method which is information systems development method that
is adjusted to the situation of a project at hand.
The main research question was:
How can proper methodical guidance and corresponding tool support be
provided to system development?
The author described in detail using different literatures.

Critics on the Article
Literature review
The author reviewed relevant books and articles to
conceptual foundations on the method engineering areas
especially in relation to situational methods.

The author also clearly discussed the area thoroughly by
defining and describing important concepts in method
engineering such as methods, techniques, tools, and
methodology of information systems development.

Critics on the Article
Research design or methodology
Because of the descriptive nature of the research the author did not use
any of the methods of data collection, sampling and measurements. The
author is also not guided by any particular theoretical assumptions to
understand the problem
Clarity of the statement: the author did his best in clarifying the points
in a user friendly manner. In addition he tried to use clear and simple statements
Conclusion and Contribution
The researcher reached his conclusion based on his presentation and
description of main concepts in method engineering and what he did has great
contribution to method engineering or engineering of information systems
development methods and tools because he described situational method which
very important in method engineering .
Critics on the Article
Use of illustrations and figures:
The author used graphs, textual representations and
different figures to describe the configuration process for
situational methods, architecture of case tools, and method
engineering language for method fragments.
Critics on the Article
References and citations


Most of the references used by the author are important,
recent and, are in line with the title.
.

THANK YOU