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Many of those who attend OT2000 will most likely have heard that patterns are showing some noteworthy potential for capturing best practices in software development. However, it is also quite likely that many of these same individuals will have experienced the difficulties in convincing others in their organizations of this potential. Their experiences may be due, in some part, to the fact that the benefits of patterns are realized in the long term while, in the shorter term, there is much work to be done in mining and recording best practices. Comments such as the following reveal that the task of doing this in an organization is not a simple one:
It's tough. We're dealing with product development cycles as short as a couple of months so there is no time to introduce something new. We're into instant gratification. We're not as willing to study things, internalize things, and make them part of the culture in order to get a big payback in the long term [John Letourneau, Lucent Technologies, personal conversation at PLoP'99].
In today's business environment, letting this process happen requires extraordinary management insight. The process requires introspection, which means time, a scare commodity when the rallying cry is "turn that around fast and move onto the next product" [Linda Rising, in The Patterns Handbook, 1998:2].
Introducing and sustaining interest in patterns in an organization requires a long and tedious effort. The many conversations we had with those who have attempted this task and our personal experiences at U S WEST Advanced Technologies (Manns) and BT (O'Callaghan) have allowed us to believe that the challenges are, to some degree, standing in the way of obtaining widespread use of patterns. Although there is certainly a large amount of interest in patterns, much of this interest appears to exist primarily among individuals. Unfortunately, very few organizations have embraced patterns.
The spark for patterns in an organization most often begins with one or more enlightened individuals who has heard about or used patterns and is intrigued over their potential. It then becomes the task of these individuals to enlighten the rest of the organization. This is usually a rather large undertaking. However, it is likely to be easier if one has an understanding of the problems that may be encountered along the way and the solutions that can be used to solve these problems.
Work towards documenting these problems and solutions in the form of patterns was begun by David DeLano and Linda Rising of AG Communication Systems in Arizona during their Introducing Patterns into an Organization workshop at OOPSLA'96. While their patterns form a strong and extremely useful foundation, the emphasis is on the introduction of patterns, with only a few patterns considering how one can sustain the momentum. Maintaining a strong momentum is vital if an organization is to achieve a culture that remains interested in and committed to using and writing patterns.
Therefore the work begun by DeLano and Rising needs to be broadened. Our work over the past year has been attempting to do this in the form of a pattern language currently titled Evolving a Patterns Culture. The first seven patterns in this language were shepherded and workshopped at PLoP'99 this past August. The current version, recently updated following feedback at PLoP is available on the web at: www.cs.unca.edu/~manns
Many others patterns are also being drafted. All the patterns are the outcome of personal experiences and countless conversations with many individuals. While some of these conversations have occurred over the phone and through email, the majority have been at conferences and other gatherings. We have found that listening to the stories of those who have tried to convince others of patterns is an excellent way to mine the patterns in this language, discover the instances of use, and receive the feedback needed to produce a quality language. The working group session we are proposing for OT2000 will do all of these things.
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University of North Carolina at Asheville |
Mary Lynn Manns has been teaching courses in Information Systems, including Object Technology, at the University of North Carolina at Asheville in the U.S. for 18 years. Since her work with patterns at U S WEST Advanced Technologies in Colorado, she has been studying the issues in introducing and sustaining interest in patterns in organizations. Her PhD research is documenting the findings in a pattern language currently titled Evolving a Patterns Culture. Mary Lynn is also on the OOPSLA'99 conference committee, as Chair of the Educators Symposium.
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De Montfort University | Alan O'Callaghan is a Senior Lecturer and Researcher at De Montfort University in its Software Technologies Research Laboratory. Through contract research with industrial concerns, and through industry-based consultancy, he has developed the ADAPTOR pattern language for migrating large-scale business systems to Object Technology.
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This working group will provide an opportunity for:
| Session: Working group 300 minutes | Level: basic | intermediate | advanced |
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Audience: This session is for all those who have attempted to convince others of the value of patterns (or any innovation). It is likely to attract those who have struggled with introducing and sustaining interest in patterns in an organization and those who are expected to face this task in the near future.
| Max 20 |
Deliverables from this session will be:
-- Challenges in institutionalizing patterns in an organization, some
potential solutions, along with the context of the challenges,
consequences of the solution and instances of use will be recorded
throughout the day. These will be transcribed, emailed to each
participant, and posted on the web.
-- Some pattern drafts will be written. These have the potential to be
added to the Evolving a Patterns Culture language.
-- A poster summarizing some of the outcomes of this session will be
created for display during the conference.
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