This post is the second in a short series on how to talk about modeling in the scope of product (or systems) development. You can read part 1 here.

Let’s recall that we talked about a tool and the application of a tool to a specific problem.

Tool and its Application

Sometimes it makes sense to look further than only tools and models. A modeling tool is not just a software package; quite often it is, but there’s more to it. I can create models on paper (or on a whiteboard) or in a PowerPoint presentation, or a blog post like I’m doing now. I might also use more advanced tool support like Visio to draw the pictures or even more advanced tooling to do calculations or simulations. It’s still the same concepts and still the same method that I’m trying to explain to you, but a different tool. So, the moment you ask yourself “are the concepts that I need sufficiently represented in the tool?”, you have a clear sign to start distinguishing between the tool (T), concepts (C), and the method (M) in order to be more specific.

Tool with its concepts and method, and its Application

The concepts are the basic terminology used to describe the problem and they often assume implicitly the relationship between different concepts. A method or a process is a list of steps required to achieve a certain goal. Note that you can use a set of concepts and a certain method without having digital tool support, for example by using a whiteboard or pen and paper.

Some tools may only partially support what you need for your auomation/support purposes (so you may need a set of tools to cover your full need), some tools come with a predescribed method, some come with no method. Not all tools are generic or product-independent: some tools are internal to the company or team that is developing the product and also related to a specific domain. Another relevant question to ask is “Is a method/procedure supported or even assumed/hardcoded in the tool?” In summary, here is a checklist of considerations relating to the various CMT/A elements:

Tool with its concepts and method, and its Application

Of course, if you just use a digital tool once to do some job, these considerations may be overkill, but once you start repeating tool use and need professionalization, these considerations become increasingly important for analyzing and understanding your context and knowing what is underneath the superficial “tool usage” view.

This concludes my second post on How to talk about systems modeling. If you found this helpful, stay tuned for the next post in this series: maturities.