Software Designers in Action

Software Designers in Action: A Human-Centric Look at Design Work examines how developers actually perform software design in their day-to-day work. The book offers a comprehensive look at early software design, exploring the work of professional designers from a range of different viewpoints. Divided into four sections, it discusses various theoretical examinations of the nature of software design and particular design problems, critically assesses the processes and practices that designers follow, presents in-depth accounts of key supporting elements of design, and explores the role of human interaction in software design.

With highly interdisciplinary contributions that together provide a unique perspective on software development, this book helps readers understand how software design is performed today and encourages the current community of researchers to push the field forward.

Table of Contents

Section I. Design in Theory
Chapter 1. Designing Designs, or Designs on Design
Chapter 2. Representing Structure in a Software System Design
Chapter 3. Role of Design Spaces in Guiding a Software Design
Chapter 4. Designing Programs as Representations
Chapter 5. Studying Software Design Cognition
Chapter 6. Does Professional Work Need to Be Studied in a Natural Setting

Section II. The Process of Design
Chapter 7. Empirical Studies of Software Design Process
Chapter 8. Accessing Decision Making in Software Design
Chapter 9. What Makes Software Design Effective?
Chapter 10. Identifying and Analyzing Software Design Activities
Chapter 11. Ideas, Subjects, and Cycles as Lenses for Understanding the Software Design Process
Chapter 12. The Cobbler’s Children

Section III. Elements of Design
Chapter 13. The Blind Men and the Elephant, or the Race of the Hobbyhorses
Chapter 14. Design Requirements, Epistemic Uncertainty, and Solution Development Strategies in Software Design
Chapter 15. Designing Assumptions
Chapter 16. Reflections on Representations
Chapter 17. Concern Development in Software Design Discussions
Chapter 18. The Craft of Design Conversation
Chapter 19. Going Meta
Chapter 20. Accommodating Disagreement
Chapter 21. Application of Network Analysis to Conversations of Professional Software Designers
Chapter 22. Conjectures on How Designers Interact with Representations in the Early Stages of Software Design
Chapter 23. Postscript

Appendix I. Design Prompt
Appendix II. SPSD 2010 Original List of Workshop Participants