12.6 Summary

The CBAM is an iterative elicitation process combined with a decision analysis framework. It incorporates scenarios to represent the various quality attributes. The stakeholders explore the decision space by eliciting utility-response curves to understand how the system's utility varies with changing attributes. The consensus basis of the method allows for active discussion and clarification amongst the stakeholders. The traceability of the design decision permits updating and continuous improvement of the design process over time.

Elicitation of information from real-world projects is difficult. As researchers, we are charged with creating methods that are usable by real-world engineers in real projects. These methods need to produce useful results quickly and at a reasonable "price," in terms of the stakeholders' time. As we have discovered in our experiences with the CBAM, solving a problem in theory and in practice are very different. We have already modified the CBAM considerably as a result of several applications of this method to NASA's ECS.

In spite of the practical difficulties, we believe that the application of economic techniques is inherently better than the ad hoc decision-making approaches that projects (even quite sophisticated ones) employ today. Our experience with the CBAM tells us that giving people the appropriate tools to frame and structure their discussions and decision making is an enormous benefit to the disciplined development of a complex software system.