COGNITIVE EVALUATION OF SYSTEM REPRESENTATION DIAGRAMS

We evaluate diagramming techniques for systems analysts and programmer s from a cognitive perspective. This focuses on how people process inf ormation from system diagrams and how diagrams support the cognitive l imitations of systems analysts and programmers. The paper increases aw areness of the analyst's need for different information views during t he systems development process and provides steps for improving the co mprehension and communication of diagrammatic information. The example s provide ways to develop better diagrams given current tools for thei r development. We hope that future diagramming tools will reflect the cognitive limitations of the analyst by actively highlighting and dyna mically governing the flow of graphic information across multiple info rmation processing views.