Re: Digest Number 502

At 10:53 AM 6/16/2004, you wrote:

>I hope these notions spark some conversation ...
>
>Ron Jeffries


This discussion on structured and unstructured problems has sparked a few 
ideas to form in my mind.

Structure and non-structure can co-exist, sometimes on the same and 
sometimes on different levels.  For example, even this discussion has 
structure ? the use of email to propagate it.  And email is almost totally 
defined by precise rules and protocol.   Some of those rules are emergent, 
such as the ones coming out to help weed out spam.  But those emergent 
rules undergo a strict process of approval by the IETF.

Likewise, developing a set of requirements can follow a proscribed process, 
be it up front or more agile.  The actual contents of that process will be 
unstructured.  For example, requirements emerge from discussions with the 
users. You usually don?t say ?Give me the first requirement?.

The development of an overall design may be completely unstructured ? 
developers interacting at a whiteboard.  But as one gets closer to the 
code, more structured rules evolve (e.g. ?you will test every method using 
the proscribed testing framework?).

So I think there?s elements of both structure and non-structure in every 
phase of development.

On a different note, can the recognition of a pattern become a proscribed 
rule?    Recognition of a pattern can be difficult.  Witness all the clever 
graphics for displaying the magic key the user must type in on many 
websites these days.  In another field, I have a neighbor whose post-doc 
research project is creating a program for detecting cancers in 
x-rays.  The recognition patterns that he is finding will become the rules 
for how to detect the tumor.

I had an interesting discussion with a physician who heads the emergency 
room at a major hospital.  He?s used to documenting his diagnosis with 
either transcription or writing notes.  By having an unstructured document, 
he can record his process of coming to the conclusion. Hospitals are going 
to a templated report ? fill in the blank fields or pull downs to record 
findings.  He?s read many templated reports from other hospitals for 
evaluation or legal purposes.  He?s discovered that it?s difficult to 
determine the thought process of the other doctor.  He can?t tell in what 
order the findings were recorded.   So the structure in this case hides 
valuable information.

By the way, the reason hospitals are going to templated reports in order to 
make it easier to collect from insurance companies.  The values in all 
those fields, which might not be recorded in an unstructured report, help 
determine how much money they?ll get.  The values may not be needed in 
actually diagnosing the problem.

Ken



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