Documentation for Cognitive Approach to Pattern

Abstract or Introduction

In October 1994 Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, and John Vlissides published the groundbreaking book “Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software”. As a result, software engineering processes changed and adopted the power of reusable knowledge in the form of patterns. More than 15 years later, adoption of software design patterns in general and enterprise architecture patterns in particular are woefully short of most expectations.
The general notion of a pattern ingrained in human minds, takes many different forms. Historically, patterns have played a major role in helping humans overcome recurring problematic events, activities, and outcomes. Weather patterns, traffic patterns, behavior patterns and many other types of patterns have been successfully adopted by humans to understand (i.e comprehend) and mitigate complex problems. Patterns provide early insights into potential problems or hazardous situations as well as create opportunities to find proven solutions. The art and science of finding patterns and identifying subsequent opportunities for utilizing patterns is increasing in significance especially in technology intensive systems.
Documenting patterns is a complex task involving appropriate capture of reusable and reapplicable human knowledge. Current pattern documentation templates capture detailed knowledge rather than promote rapid comprehension and adoption of a pattern. As a result, many documented patterns are under-utilized causing a waste of valuable knowledge.