SYNOPSIS: Re-dispatch resources based on severity, but don’t leave an incident ‘hanging’. Don’t forget the Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs)!
The following teams survived into this round: i*, URN, Plain Old Text and Rich Pictures.
Following on from round 1, Smokey Ladder now challenged the remaining modelers to show how they would communicate a specific scenario using their modeling approach. Each team had 5-10 minutes under the stopwatch to adapt their existing models or to create new ones -- concurrently and LIVE in front of the audience. Smokey is a bit of a loose canon and likes to ad-lib, but this was the gist of what he asked the modelers to do.
"Ok – so I begin to see the big picture. Let’s delve down into specifics and what the new GC-FEDS is going to need to be able to help me to do. You know that I am looking for a team of modelers who can work under pressure…it is a tough environment that us firemen work in!
I heard about the following scenario last week whilst I was on vacation in the Bahamas: Last Thursday, Mrs. Midling called 911 and reported a crisis at 300 Gotham Street. The dispatcher established that her cat was stuck in one of the few trees in the city. The dispatcher thus sent a minimal crew from Ladder 8 (the nearest available in the area) in a fire engine with a small ladder of sufficient length to retrieve the cat from the tree. While the fire engine was on route, Mr. De Nino called 911 to report that he was learning how to use a blowtorch to make crème brûlée and there was now a fast-spreading fire in his kitchen (375 Gotham Street). The quick-thinking dispatcher immediately re-routed the fire engine that was already driving to the area to Mr. de Nino and they put out the fire. One hour later, Mrs. Midling’s cat fell out of the tree and bruised its coccyx. Mrs. Midling is now attempting to sue the City for damages. Oh dear…. My boss the Mayor is not happy.
So, there is obviously a requirement to re-dispatch resources based on severity, but not to leave other incidents hanging. I have no idea how you computer geniuses would tell computer programmers how to write software to do this. How would you model this kind of more specific requirement for me?
Oh, and pick one of these NFR thingamabobs that I've been hearing about at this conference – the one that you think is going to be really important in the scenario you are modeling for me. Show me how you would communicate this on your model (or come up with a completely new model for me if you like). As always, I’m open to questions, but my time is really pressing – I do have to leave to catch a plane to Tahiti soon, so I have to see this in 10 minutes."
Team i* got to work, rapidly and efficiently sketching out a new i* model.
Team URN decided that the scenario just required a simple update to their round 1 model (in green).
Team Plain Old Text got to work writing some new, you guessed it ... text.
Out came more pipe cleaners and Post-it notes for team Rich Pictures, as they updated their interactive drawing board.
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Why is this website pink? Well, it's a good color for models: Exhibit A; Exhibit B.
