I used to think programming was about abstraction, and then I got into architecture, and I realized it was upstream from that. The deeper I go into requirements, the more I see that architecture is down from these abstractions we elicit from an organization.
I’ve also had the sense for a long time that I’ve been reaching to place what I know in a broader context, a methodological and diagrammatic view of what I do and how it fits together. Somehow, the work with requirements feels like it’s filling in key missing pieces for me.
I’m reading a terrific book by Widrig and Leffingwell called Managing Software Requirements: A Unified Approach and so far it is terrifically rich and satisfying. It is probably not suited to those who are unfamiliar with the software development process. Normally I’d wait and write a review except I suspect I will read parts of this off and on. Highly recommended from what I’ve read so far.