Development: A Structured Problem Area?

I am currently comparing the theories supporting craft and engineering
approaches to development. Both Dreyfus and Dreyfus in _Mind Over Machine_ and
Donald Schon in _The Reflective Practitioner_ differentiate between structured
and unstructured problems. Computers and mathematics can solve structured
problems, while human intution is required for unstructured problems:

Dreyfus & Dreyfus, Mind Over Machine, p20
As we examine in detail how a novice, if he possesses innate ability and has the
opportunity to acquire sufficient experience, gradually becomes an expert, we
shall focus upon the most common kind of problem area, sometimes called
"unstructured." Such areas contain a potentially unlimited number of possibly
relevant facts and features, and the ways those features interrelate and
determine other events is unclear. Management, nursing, economic forecasting,
teaching, and all social interactions fall into that very large class. Examples
of "structured areas" of decision-making, on the other hand, are mathematical
manipulations, puzzles, and, in the real world, delivery truck routing and
petroleum blending. Here the goal and what information is relevant are clear,
the effects of decisions are known, and verifiable solutions can be reasoned
out. A high level of skill in any unstructured problem area seems to require
considerable concrete experience with real situations....

Is software development a structured or unstructured problem? I think it is
clear that requirements elicitation/generation and user interface design are
unstructured. But, if we postulate that human experts have resolved these two
areas, is what is left still unstructured? If so, why?

I believe that structured problems are susceptible to engineering approaches
while unstructured problems are not. So I am wondering where engineering
advocates will have success and where they will fail.

Derek Richardson


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