A primer to method engineering

Traditional methodologies for information system (I.S.) development are—by nature—general purpose. As such, they contain an ideal set of methods, techniques, and guidelines that in reality can never be followed literally. They must be tuned to the situation at hand. Steps are sometimes omitted, added, or modified. Guidelines are often modified or ignored to fit special circumstances, such as technology, development expertise, the application, and external factors. [Harmsen, 1994]