Perfecting the image

This work deals with our continuing efforts to establish more effective approaches and models for system development. Our basic idea is that systems originate in the mind as a mental image, and that the system development task is to perfect the image. To perfect the image, our approach envisions a model of concurrent development that is characterized by a continuum of design decisions to "perfect the image" continuously and concurrently. Furthermore, in our model the image (the system) is perfected as a continuum of design decisions on three interdependent dimensions: 1) a mental image in a single mind; 2) a series of symbolic representations that sustain and enable a shared vision or image in a collective set of minds; and 3) the final image the "developed" system.