System Metaphor was and is an elusive practice of the original XP. It has largely been forgotten over time.

Yet in the past few years, my colleagues and I have discovered the stunning power of a genuine System Metaphor on our own shipping product. This makes us wonder why System Metaphor ever went out of vogue.

This session will explore why Metaphor matters. We’ll examine how our own Music Metaphor reshaped our flagship product, even our company, and how the right metaphor can supply the driving beat that can turn your product into a hit.

Instead of a whole new set of modeling techniques, agile development requires a new way of applying good modeling methods like UML, ER, and UCD, in an incremental, iterative, and evolutionary (Agile) manner. This tutorial introduces an agile software modeling process that strikes the right sufficient-up-front and just-in-time balance. Participants are introduced to a blend of domain modeling, usability modeling, data modeling, and architectural design. We will utilize appropriate UML, ER, and UCD methods in an agile fashion to help limit technical debt, and increase design quality.