OPEN: toward method convergence?

In the object-oriented (OO) field, methods for analysis and design are a major area of interest. Many such methods have been proposed in the past few years, leading to numerous requests for convergence or unification. The authors describe such an effort. Theirs is not the only ongoing attempt at unification, but it has already attracted considerable interest. The aim of the Omega project, leading to the OPEN (Object-oriented Process, Environment and Notation) methodology, is a process model for system development across the full life cycle, including reuse strategies and legacy systems. In addition, OPEN will support human-computer interaction, concurrency, databases, distributed systems, fuzzy logic, artificial intelligence and intelligent agents. OPEN is a true third-generation methodology, incorporating many ideas from other methodologies. These include BON, FOOM, Martin/Odell, MOSES, OBA, OOram, RDD, ROOM, SOMA and Syntropy. Thus, OPEN is not just another methodology. Rather than adding one more to the overall count of current OO methodologies, the OPEN framework will significantly decrease the number of available available methods by superseding MOSES, SOMA, Martin/Odell and others.