• Identify the right business model, and most of the business requirements are complete. Business models are the first leverage point.

• Separate the definition of the problem from the definition of the solution. The architect is the second leverage point.

• Build scenarios to clarify the expectations of the business community for how the software solution will fit into their day-to-day work habits. Scenarios are the third leverage point.

• Software developers must acknowledge that by definition, only the business people know the business. However, software developers can hypothesize what the requirements are likely to be.

• Both the business and the software development team will feel more comfortable that they are on the right track when the business validates the first end-to-end thread. By validating the first end-to-end thread, the business model is also validated.

There is nothing new in the commercial world; if you have seen one business framework, you can generalize from it.

At some level of abstraction, everything is the same. So, what level of abstraction yields the leverage to solve the problem?

The principles of unification, and process decomposition should be just standard tools in every software developer's repertoire.

Use them wisely, and use them often.

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