Agent orientation as a modelling paradigm

Abstract

SummaryRequirements analysis is a crucial step in systems development. Today’s systems are increasingly more diverse, more dispersed yet interconnected, more fluid and constantly evolving. Traditional modelling and analysis techniques based on mechanistic principles and assumptions are inadequate for dealing with the complexity and dynamism of the new environment. In the requirements engineering area, new techniques are being developed based on social conceptions of complex systems. They offer richer concepts for analyzing user needs and stakeholder wants, for discovering and exploring alternatives, and for assessing their viability. This paper argues for a modelling approach where agents have intentionality, autonomy, sociality, contingent identity and boundaries, strategic reflectivity, and rational self-interest.