wikimapping for ddd

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Introduction Cognitive Mapping Concept Mapping Mind maps Dialogue Mapping Wikimaps! Conclusions

Wikimapping for DDDTools for the establishment of a ubiquitous language

Federico [email protected]

Dipartimento di Informatica e ComunicazioneUniversita degli Studi dell’Insubria, Varese

(cc) Some rights reserved.

mailto:[email protected]

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The agility software life cycle: requirement modelling

domain experts

developerssponsors

customers

XP coaches

Brainstorming,domain knowledge

elicitation

user stories

requirement modelling & software development

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The need of a ubiquitous language

A ubiquitous language is a lexicon of keywords shared by everyactor of the software life cycle (Evans 2003):

the model is the backbone of a language used by allmembers. Because of the binding of model andimplementation, developers can talk about the programin this language. They can communicate with domainexperts without translation. And because of the languageis based on the model, our natural linguistic abilities canbe turned to refining the model itself.

The relation between language and the model is an expandingcircle which permit people involved in software to augment theirshared knowledge. It is central to avoid frictions betweendevelopers and customers.

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Official reference about DDD and ubiquitous language

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A traffic monitoring project 1/2A fictional dialogue about a ubiquitous language establishment

• Developer: We want to monitor air traffic. Wheredo we start?

• Expert: Let’s start with the basics. All this traffic ismade up of planes. Each plane takes off from adeparture place, and lands at a destination place.

• Developer: That’s easy. When it flies, the planecan just choose any air path the pilots like? Is it upto them to decide which way they should go, as longas they reach destination?

• Expert: Oh, no. The pilots receive a route theymust follow. And they should stay on that route asclose as possible.

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A traffic monitoring project 2/2Ubiquitous language is a conversational convention

• Developer: I’m thinking of this route as a 3D pathin the air. If we use a Cartesian system ofcoordinates, then the route is simply a series of 3Dpoints.

• Expert: I don’t think so. We don’t see route thatway. The route is actually the projection on theground of the expected air path of the airplane. Theroute goes through a series of points on the grounddetermined by their latitude and longitude.

DDD Quickly, InfoQ.com

http://infoq.com

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DDD and XP user stories: my claimHow the ubiquitous language enters design in a XP team

User stories describe something that is understandable by thecustomer or a proxy, e.g. a domain expert. If the ubiquitouslanguage is externalized during the design process my claim is thatubiquitous language evolution and change is easier to maintain.

They risk to fail if the ubiquitous language is not at least partiallyestablished before starting to write down user stories.

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Ubiquitous language is to be put in the exploration phase!

103

W rite a S tory(C ustom er)

S p ike a S tory(P rogram m er)

S p lit a S tory(C ustom er)

E stim ate a S tory(P rogram m er)

"to o b i g" "do n 't kn ow ho w "

P ha se 1 : E xp lo ra t io n

P ha se 2 : P la nn in g

S ort S tories byV a lue and R isk(C ustom er andP rogram m er)

D ec lare V e loc ity(T racker)

C hoose S cope(C ustom er)

William C. Wake (2000:103)

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Cognitive mapping and ubiquitous language

Customers and domain experts usually say that user stories fail tocapture the “big picture”. On the contrary, cognitive mappingtechniques proved well in make the “big picture” (Gestalt) clearand shared in groups, hence they can be used as an effective toolto establish the ubiquitous language.

Wikimaps are an evolution of cognitive mapping, where definitionsinto the cognitive mapping nodes are wiki pages (we see themlater).

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Why cognitive mapping?

Cognitive mapping considers thinking as a self-organizinginformation system, i.e. informations grow and change, while itmaintains accuracy and relevance.

Empirical evidences. Our brain process complex informationconveyed visually in a very effective way, we typically identify visualpatterns easier than not-visual (e.g. words as concepts).Forthermore, visual images can overcome language barriers.

Knowledge elicitation. Information visualization doesn’t merelycommunicate ideas but it actively, organizes, concises, and clarifiesinfo chunks (Dawkins’ memes) revealing hidden patterns, gaininginsights and discovering new ideas and relations.

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Please tell your experiences in cognitive mapping, if any

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Three different paradigms for cognitive mapping

Cognitive mapping became popular in the 1980s-90s, where it wasuses esp. for educational and self-coaching purposes, e.g.note-taking, brainstorming, time management, etc.

• Concept mapping. Initiated by J. D. Novak (and Canas,2006) and developed in the Institute for Human and MachineCognition (IHMC) over Ausubel’s works on psychology.Official software: CmapTools (free).

• Mind mapping. Discovered and spread by Tony Buzan(2007) and his own international associations.Official software: MindManager (proprietary).

• Dialogue mapping. Fully explored by Jeff Conklin (2006)through the CogNexus Institute and the Open University.Official software: Compendium (free).

http://www.ihmc.com

http://www.mindjet.com

http://www.compendium.com

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• Concept mapping. Initiated by J. D. Novak (and Canas,2006) and developed in the Institute for Human and MachineCognition (IHMC) over Ausubel’s works on psychology.

Official software: CmapTools (free).



http://www.ihmc.com



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http://www.ihmc.com



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• Mind mapping. Discovered and spread by Tony Buzan(2007) and his own international associations.

Official software: MindManager (proprietary).


http://www.ihmc.com



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http://www.ihmc.com



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• Dialogue mapping. Fully explored by Jeff Conklin (2006)through the CogNexus Institute and the Open University.

Official software: Compendium (free).

http://www.ihmc.com



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http://www.ihmc.com



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Meaningful vs. rote learningRef: Novak-Canas (2006) on the theory and how to construct concept maps

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Maps, concepts, propositions and tagged arcs

Concept maps are graphical tools for organizing and representingknowledge.

• A concept is a ‘perceived regularity in events or objects, orrecords of events or objects, designated by a label’(Novak-Canas 2006).

• A proposition is meaningful statement obtained connectingtwo or more concepts using linking words.

• Linking words are represented by tagged arcs.

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Hierarchical fashion and cross-linking

In concept maps, general concepts are at the top of the map andless general concepts are arranged hierarchically below.

Cross-links are links that put into relations concepts in differentsegments or domains.

Note that in the previous map there were no cross-links, and themap itself was very simple indeed.

A concept map on concept mapping

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How to build a concept map

1. Start from a Focus Question, i.e. it should cleary states the issue asan open problem or topic. Prefer “how” and “why” questions(descriptive and explicative) to “what” or “who” ones (prescriptiveand classificatory). If the problem/topic is very hard, let an expertin the field prepare an “expert skeleton” map.

2. Then build a list of concept as a parking lot, as a set of Post-its.Avoid “sentences in the boxes”.

3. Organize your concepts in domains (horizontal axis) and ingenerality (vertical axis) and define the relations between them.

4. Refine your concept map adding cross-links.

5. Eventually link your concept map with previous ones, so todemonstrate that your understanding is not limited to a singleconcept map, i.e. build a Knowledge Model (Canas 2003).

First phase: a parking lot spread from a focus question...

Second phase: ..and its refinition

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Advantages of paper-and-pencil mind mapping

It’s easy. Take a A3 sheet of paper landscape and write the topic,problem or subject in the center. Then place the BOIs and goalong.

They are perfect for single-user mapping, where you don’t sharethe map itself – they may be even confusing to others, but clearfor you.

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Disadvantages of paper-and-pencil mind mapping

It’s not easy to copy and share. It’s not easy to correct errors –more important ideas should be close to the center. In fact, youoften don’t recognize BOIs at the first glance.

On the contrary, electronic maps may even be route maps toresources as well (other maps, music, videos, etc.)

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Radiant thinking

• Mind mapping begins from a central idea.

• Then related ideas radiate out from the center as branches.They are called Basic Ordering Ideas (BOIs).

• Some branches give birth to minor branches, as minor themesor particular and detailed ideas.

• Like neurons.

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Mind mapping is fast and easy

A mind map is a tree structure of keywords and they relations. Ithas a radiant shape and is much more rich in colours, pictures, anddrawings compared with concept or dialogue maps.

Human brains recognize shapes and drawings better than wordsand numbers, so if you want to remember ideas give them a goodlook.

Be evocative.

Mind mapping is a “human universal” (Brown, 1999)A mind map by Charles Darwin on evolution (Buzan-Buzan, 2000

Kent Beck explained XP with a mind map at XP2007

Kent Beck explains Developer Accountability

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The risk with mind mapping is information noise!

A mind map has a loose syntax and semantics. Unlike concept anddialogue maps, nodes hasn’t any a-priori type and their position inthe map is meaningless. Moreover, arcs are not taggable, andrelations are nodes as well.

The risk of mind mapping is to add useless informations in themap itself, e.g. colours that have more than one meaning. This isparticularly true in collective maps.

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Dialogue maps as solutions to wicked problems

Compendium is based on the conversational or dialogue mappingapproach and derived from Issue-Based Information System (IBIS).Horst Rittel developed IBIS in the 1970s as a method to solvewicked problems.

Unlike tame problems, in the case of wicked problems the problemsolving approach doesn’t fit.

Links (arcs) may be tagged as in the concept map approach.

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Dialogue maps as group support

Dialogue mapping is particulary useful in groups, i.e. supportingthe continous dialogue among stakeholders in the problem in orderto reframe.

Every misunderstanding or disagreement should be reframed as anissue or in an inquiry, avoiding the Answer Reflex (the loopquestion-justification).

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How to reframe Questions...

As in the concept map approach, conversations in IBIS start froma root Question, which may be decomposed in sub-Questions.Questions should be:

1. clear, short, neutral (no “not”), unique (no “and” and “or”);

2. of the “wh” type or “how” (no “yes/no” questions);

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...placing Ideas...

Ideas are proposals for resolution of Questions. They should bepractical and small (Ideas Network).

They are linked to Questions.

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...in order to obtain Arguments

Arguments may either support (Pros) or object (Cons) Ideas.

Arguments are linked to Ideas.

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Questions, Idea, Arguments“The Bohr model of the rhetoric atom”

• Questions

• Ideas

• Arguments• Pros• Cons

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Dialogue mapping made easy

Before every node content, write:

• “?” if it is a Question;

• “:” if it is an Idea;

• “+” if it is an Idea Pro;

• “-” if it is an Idea Con;

• “!” if it is a Decision.

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Putting together cognitive maps and wikis: demo

wikimaps.rubyforge.org

http://wikimaps.rubyforge.org

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Known mistakes made by beginners in mapping

More than one. The main mistake – in every cognitive mappingapproach – is not to analyse ideas, i.e. put more than one ideas ina single node (for example, put a whole sentence in a node, insteadof chunking).

Class error. A common mistake in concept maps is to put a nodeeither too high (abstract) or too low (concrete) in the map itself.Importance. A common mistake in mind maps is to put a nodeeither too distant (less important) or too close (more important)to the center.Wrong type. A common mistake in dialogue maps is to put aQuestion in a Idea or using a Question node for judgements (falsequestions).

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More than one. The main mistake – in every cognitive mappingapproach – is not to analyse ideas, i.e. put more than one ideas ina single node (for example, put a whole sentence in a node, insteadof chunking).Class error. A common mistake in concept maps is to put a nodeeither too high (abstract) or too low (concrete) in the map itself.

Importance. A common mistake in mind maps is to put a nodeeither too distant (less important) or too close (more important)to the center.Wrong type. A common mistake in dialogue maps is to put aQuestion in a Idea or using a Question node for judgements (falsequestions).

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More than one. The main mistake – in every cognitive mappingapproach – is not to analyse ideas, i.e. put more than one ideas ina single node (for example, put a whole sentence in a node, insteadof chunking).Class error. A common mistake in concept maps is to put a nodeeither too high (abstract) or too low (concrete) in the map itself.Importance. A common mistake in mind maps is to put a nodeeither too distant (less important) or too close (more important)to the center.

Wrong type. A common mistake in dialogue maps is to put aQuestion in a Idea or using a Question node for judgements (falsequestions).

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More than one. The main mistake – in every cognitive mappingapproach – is not to analyse ideas, i.e. put more than one ideas ina single node (for example, put a whole sentence in a node, insteadof chunking).Class error. A common mistake in concept maps is to put a nodeeither too high (abstract) or too low (concrete) in the map itself.Importance. A common mistake in mind maps is to put a nodeeither too distant (less important) or too close (more important)to the center.Wrong type. A common mistake in dialogue maps is to put aQuestion in a Idea or using a Question node for judgements (falsequestions).

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When cognitive mapping fail to help ubiquitous language

• if you are catched in either requirement or developing goldplating;

• if you convey more than one concepts in the same node;

• if you want to establish once for all (the “CinderellaSyndrom”);

• if you consider the technique as a silver bullet;

• if you forget the principle of simplicity!

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JooB enters the market!

A new way to improve your professional life!

Three groups: Domain Experts, Development Team One andDevelopment Team Two.

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JooB enters the market!

A new way to improve your professional life!Three groups: Domain Experts, Development Team One andDevelopment Team Two.

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A mind map of JooB made by ESSAP staff members...

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Joob competitors to be analized by Domain Experts

• iHipo

• My Job

• The European Researcher’s Mobility Portal

• careerbuilder.com

• Monster

• EkLaboru!

• LinkedIn

• JobRapido

http://www.ihipo.com/

http://www.my-job.it/

http://ec.europa.eu/eracareers/index_en.cfm

http://jobs.careerbuilder.com/

http://www.monster.com/

http://eklaboru.com/

http://www.linkedin.com/

http://www.jobrapido.it/

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Thank you. Let’s work!

Download these slides at the following permalink:

http://purl.org/net/fgobbo

(cc) F. Gobbo 2007. Published in Italy.Attribuzione – Non commerciale – Condividi allo stesso modo 2.5.

http://purl.org/net/fgobbo

wikimapping for ddd

Technology

conclusionscognitive

evolution of cognitive

cognitive mapping nodes

ubiquitous language

conclusionsubiquitous

cognitive mappingtechniques

ctional dialogue

ubiquitous language441