Software Design Methodology
Classification/Taxonomy Table

The following classification/taxonomy table represents the attributes selected from each of the software design methodologies mentioned in this paper. The purpose of the table is to provide a graphical means of comparing and classifying the attributes ac ross design methodologies.

Attributes	Star Life Cycle (Hix & Hartson)	Gould's	Systems Development Division (Xerox)	Rubinstein and Hersh's	Systematic Design (Dick & Carey)	Lifecycle for Interactive Systems Development (Shneiderman)	Rapid Prototyping (Tripp & Bichelmeyer)	Usability Engineering Lifecycle (Nielsen)	Task-Centered Design Process (Lewis & Rieman)
Specific Stages	Formal	Informal	Informal	Formal	Formal	Formal	Informal	Formal	Formal
Focus on Users	Heavy	Heavy	Heavy	Some	Some	Heavy	Heavy	Heavy	Some
Focus on Tasks			Some	Some	Some				Heavy
Focus on Iterative Design	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Focus on Evaluation	Heavy					Heavy	Heavy	Heavy
Focus on Usability	Heavy	Heavy				Heavy	Heavy	Heavy
Checklist Items		Yes
Focus on Simplicity			Heavy
Focus on Consistency			Heavy
Focus on Clarity			Heavy
Sharing of Design Framework									Yes

There are several items that need to be clarified on the software methodology classification/taxonomy table. First of all, the attribute "specific stages" refers to whether or not a methodology has specific stages (i.e. 1.) Collect information, 2.) Def ine requirements, etc.). I broke the specific stages into two areas - formal and informal. A methodology has formal stages if the stages are systematic. In other words, it the stages are designed to be followed in some predefined order. A methodology has informal stages if it is less rigid or if there is no predefined order that the stages should follow. One other attribute "focus on evaluation" includes not only evaluation, but also testing. These terms were combined because the authors used the te rms interchangeable between methodologies.

I believe that the other attributes are straight-forward and self-explanatory. However, two other items on the table need to be explained. First of all, what do the other labels mean (i.e. heavy, some, yes, or a blank cell.) "Heavy" means that the me thodology focused heavily on that attribute. "Some" means that the methodology focused some attention on the attribute. (Not as much as some methodologies, but more than others.) "Yes" means that the methodology does have that attribute. A "blank cell " does not mean that the methodology doesn't have that attribute necessarily, but that it is not a main focus of the methodology.

The second item that needs explanation is why are some attributes noted with "some" or "heavy" while others are noted with "yes." This is because of the makeup of the attribute. I believe that some attributes were better measured with "heavy" or "some ," while others were better measured with "yes."