Extending the Lifecycle Modeling Language (LML) to Enable Decision Patterns and Traceability Extending the Lifecycle Modeling Language (LML) to Enable Decision Patterns and Traceability By John Fitch
by John Fitch Project Performance International
Copyright © 2023 by Project Performance International. All rights reserved. Authored for PPI SyEN
Introduction This article is the fourth in a series that introduces SyEN readers to a novel pattern-based Decision Management methodology. The author hopes to stimulates engineering practitioners to exploit the principles and practices described in this series in order to deliver more value to stakeholders, in less time and with less resources. The first article, Introduction to Decision Patterns (SyEN edition #107, December 2021), recounted the author’s 30+ year journey concerning the discovery, use and refinement of decision patterns, the conceptual basis behind this construct, and the extensive variety of use cases in which decision patterns have been applied. The article introduced simplified examples of decision patterns for Enterprise Strategy, System/Product Design, Process Capability Design, Service Design and Curriculum/Courseware Design. The message: Decision patterns are real and have created value. Building on that foundation, the second article, Decision Patterns – So What? (SyEN edition #111, April 2022), dove more deeply into the potential value created by eight different aspects of a decisioncentric information architecture (aka information metamodel) which, taken together, comprise a novel form of the Digital Thread. Each construct, e.g., the Decision Breakdown Structure (DBS) or Requirement-to-Decision (R-D) traceability, was explored in terms of its representation as class-based entities, attributes and relationships, how this connected thread of knowledge creates new or improved systems engineering capability, and the practical challenges that have been observed when applying this model to the engineering of diverse types of systems. The message: A Digital Thread that overlooks decision traceability is incomplete. The third article, Reverse Engineering Stakeholder Decisions from Their Requirements (SyEN edition #113, June 2022), focused on how to apply decision patterns and decision-to-everything traceability to a specific front-end use case common to any project or strategic initiative. The Decision Blitz process was explained, i.e., how to use a decision pattern to quickly capture your stakeholders’ decisions and to explicitly trace how these decisions have created the boundary conditions for your project. This process provides the engine for a set of project jump-start services that PPI offers our clients. The message: An explicit, context-aware decision model is a great way to jump-start requirements analysis, requirements validation and solution design. The principles and practices shared in the first three articles can be used on solution development projects of any type, supported by only the most rudimentary tooling. However, the ability to fully exploit pattern-based Decision Management at enterprise scale and applied to complex systems demands better software solutions. And the foundation for such tooling is a well-documented and sufficiently complete and rigorous modeling language that supports capture of the essential data June 2023
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