12. Determining the limits of the function (validation)
a. Scenarios and vignettes*
b. Environmental limitations †
c. Use limitations ‡
Defining Terms
The style of presentation in this book is to develop a reasonably consistent
set of defined terminologies that will clarify the concepts and usage of
terms related to integration work. This lexical exercise (the semantic cir
cumambiency) does not attempt to develop nor cannot potentially achieve a
complete ontology for use with integration, systems engineering, or sys
tems engineering management (Quine 1960). Appropriately then, the author
takes a first step and makes an exiguous effort to formulate a set of quasidefined terminology. Words have meaning. While that meaning is often
ambiguous in both written and verbal usage, it is important to agree on
consistent usage of terminology in order to express the nuances of meaning
uncovered by research.
The terms defined in this book by no means stand up to rigorous stan
dards demanded by scholarship. They only purport to elucidate sufficiently
enough to assist the reader in differentiating between the customarily used
terms in a manner that is meaningful for the purposes of integration. For
example, it is quite common in systems engineering to refer to functional
decomposition and then proceed to decompose processes (as if functions
were the same as processes); lump verification and validation together (as if
* Scenarios are the futurity of possible outcomes of event; vignettes are more detailed
sequences of events that highlight particulars about a scenario (a possible set of circum
stances, conditions, and constraints, i.e., the environment of the future).
† Scenarios limit the concept of operations and the architecture to the environment of the
future. Vignettes work within the structured future environment to determine how a sys
tem’s architecture will respond to various interactions with objects through EMMI. Scenarios
and vignettes are useful tools to discover missing or influential stakeholders, uncover pos
sible sequences of events that are particularly interesting (causal), and to develop strategies
to explore consequences and uncertainties that follow from the consequences of a decision or
actions taken.
‡ Validation of current uses of a product or service involves determining what the product or
service is capable of doing. Validation of future uses of a product or service (aside from being
problematic because of the unknowns associated with the scenarios and vignettes) requires
people other than today’s users to posit those future uses. Today’s users are steeped in today’s
product and service, and oftentimes find difficulties extracting themselves from today’s
thinking. A group of potential users of a future product or service should be presented with
a paucity of information, only appropriately and sufficiently linked to the general notion of
today’s product or service so as not be encumbered thinking about tomorrow’s product or
service in its future environment.
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Foundations in Systems Integration
a. Scenarios and vignettes*
b. Environmental limitations †
c. Use limitations ‡
Defining Terms
The style of presentation in this book is to develop a reasonably consistent
set of defined terminologies that will clarify the concepts and usage of
terms related to integration work. This lexical exercise (the semantic cir
cumambiency) does not attempt to develop nor cannot potentially achieve a
complete ontology for use with integration, systems engineering, or sys
tems engineering management (Quine 1960). Appropriately then, the author
takes a first step and makes an exiguous effort to formulate a set of quasidefined terminology. Words have meaning. While that meaning is often
ambiguous in both written and verbal usage, it is important to agree on
consistent usage of terminology in order to express the nuances of meaning
uncovered by research.
The terms defined in this book by no means stand up to rigorous stan
dards demanded by scholarship. They only purport to elucidate sufficiently
enough to assist the reader in differentiating between the customarily used
terms in a manner that is meaningful for the purposes of integration. For
example, it is quite common in systems engineering to refer to functional
decomposition and then proceed to decompose processes (as if functions
were the same as processes); lump verification and validation together (as if
* Scenarios are the futurity of possible outcomes of event; vignettes are more detailed
sequences of events that highlight particulars about a scenario (a possible set of circum
stances, conditions, and constraints, i.e., the environment of the future).
† Scenarios limit the concept of operations and the architecture to the environment of the
future. Vignettes work within the structured future environment to determine how a sys
tem’s architecture will respond to various interactions with objects through EMMI. Scenarios
and vignettes are useful tools to discover missing or influential stakeholders, uncover pos
sible sequences of events that are particularly interesting (causal), and to develop strategies
to explore consequences and uncertainties that follow from the consequences of a decision or
actions taken.
‡ Validation of current uses of a product or service involves determining what the product or
service is capable of doing. Validation of future uses of a product or service (aside from being
problematic because of the unknowns associated with the scenarios and vignettes) requires
people other than today’s users to posit those future uses. Today’s users are steeped in today’s
product and service, and oftentimes find difficulties extracting themselves from today’s
thinking. A group of potential users of a future product or service should be presented with
a paucity of information, only appropriately and sufficiently linked to the general notion of
today’s product or service so as not be encumbered thinking about tomorrow’s product or
service in its future environment.
123
Foundations in Systems Integration