I’m coding like a madman on Archi to implement the brown paper Sketch View, requiring lots of refactoring.
The Sketch View is inspired by the ArchiMate specification document defining an “Introductory viewpoint”:
“The Introductory viewpoint forms a subset of the full ArchiMate language using a simplified notation. It is typically used at the start of a design trajectory, when not everything needs to be detailed yet, or to explain the essence of an architecture model to non-architects that require a simpler notation. Another use of this basic, less formal viewpoint is that it tries to avoid the impression that the architectural design is already fixed, an idea that may easily arise when using a more formal, highly structured or detailed visualization. We use a simplified notation for the concepts, and for the relations. All relations except “triggering” and “realization” are denoted by simple lines; “realization” has an arrow in the direction of the realized service; “triggering” is also represented by an arrow.” – ArchiMate Specification 1.0 p.72
This is in some ways similar to the description of modelling processes using conversation techniques whose aim is to capture the essence of the model:
“In architecture development, we find a number of common conversation techniques where it concerns the communication of architectural models:
– Brown-paper session: Structured brainstorm-like group session (up to about 15 people) in which items (keywords or short phrases) are elicited from the individuals in the group in answer to a question such as: ‘What are the key functionality issues in our current IT architecture?’ Typically, every individual item is written on a small adhesive note (‘Post-It’). The items are then collected on a sheet of paper (traditionally of the cheap brown kind) and, by means of an open and creative group process, structured and categorised. This may involve adding, deleting, merging, or changing items. Usually, a mediator or facilitator is involved.” – “Enterprise Architecture at Work”, Second Edition, p.82
