Simplicity Driven Application Development

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Merten, Maik | Steffen, Bernhard

Affiliations: TU Dortmund, Chair of Programming Systems, Faculty for Computer Science, Dortmund, Germany

Note: [] Corresponding author. Email: maik.merten@tu-dortmund.de

Abstract: In this article we discuss a simplicity-oriented approach to application development along a case study for engineering a web platform for orchestrating predefined service modules. Focus here is the growing demand for agility: 1) earlier solutions typically economically outperform later, more mature solutions, and 2) the half-value times of applications are drastically shrinking. Our simplicity-oriented approach therefore addresses both, the ease of application development, exploiting the so-called 80/20 principle, and the ease of take-up, aiming at removing potential hurdles for user adoption. We will discuss how this reflects on design decisions, in particular concerning the sweet spot where to change from adopting and adapting existing software to custom development.

Keywords: Simplicity, web applications, reengineering, softwere engineering, sustainability

DOI: 10.3233/jid-2013-0008

Journal: Journal of Integrated Design and Process Science, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 9-23, 2013