Ideas, subjects, and cycles as lenses for understanding the software design process

In this paper we provide an analysts of three pairs of professional software designers each working on a provided design problem To understand these sessions we track the ideas that were generated relate them to one another and categorize them according to the subject being discussed This data is then used to divide the sessions into design cycles each of which represents a period of focus on a given aspect of the system being designed We observe that the designers often consider two subjects at a time and rotate through subjects in an effort to develop them evenly The sessions arc also characterized by a great deal of repetition as the designers regularly reconsider previously stated ideas in new contexts (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved