Insights into the Elder Care Conundrum through complementary use of SSM and TOC

Whether a parent should move into an assisted care facility can be a difficult decision for families and one that is increasingly evident as the „baby-boomer‟ population ages. This paper explores decisions about how best to care for elderly family members and in particular, whether a parent should move (or be moved) into an assisted care facility (ACF). The problematic situation is described as based on personal experience of the first author initially. Two complementary lenses were then employed as problem structuring aids, providing critical insights into the dilemma facing family members. A Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) was used first, followed by the Evaporating Cloud (EC) method from the Theory of Constraints. This use of complementary lenses in multimethodological fashion allowed the elicitation, clarification and elaboration of assumptions underlying the issue of whether the parent should go into an ACF. As a result, multiple avenues for resolving the issue are surfaced, along with several opportunities for further research. This paper contributes to Community OR by this case study showing how the different frames can work to address the fraught situation in which families can find themselves, as they seek to safeguard their elderly parents by accessing ACF, while also endeavouring to maintain satisfactory family relationships. The paper makes a unique contribution, not just in terms of highlighting the elder care situation and suggesting ways forward, but also in terms of the multi-methodological use of SSM and TOC. Finally, it is significant that the case study arose from the use of SSM in the USA, where such „Soft OR‟ methods are rarely applied

A Quality Framework for Software Development (QFSD)

INTRODUCTION. This research delivers a new complete and prescriptive software development framework, known as the Quality Framework for Software Development (QFSD) for immediate use by software development practitioners. Whilst there are a number of existing methodologies available, and many software development standards they fail to address the complete development lifecycle. A review of current literature supports this assertion. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES. The overall aim of the research is to create a new software development framework, applying it to a substantial number of real-world software projects in two different industrial software development environments and thereby demonstrating its effectiveness. METHODS. Based on a review of the available research approaches and strategies, the researcher selected 'pragmatism' as the most suitable for this research. This selection was driven by two contributory factors. The first was that in order to conduct the research the researcher would have active participation in the majority of the research activities. The second was that the deliverables from the research should be immediately useable for the benefit of software practitioners and hence not be regarded as a theoretical framework. The approach was further refined by adopting Action Research and Case Study strategies. The research was divided in to stages each of which was executed within separate companies. The companies were very different in terms of their business areas, culture and views on quality and specifically quality of software deliverables. RESULTS. The research findings provided a strong indication that a holistic software development framework does provide an improvement in software project deliverables quality and repeatability in terms of schedules and quality. In the case of Fisher–Rosemount it enabled them to attain ISO 9000/Ticket accreditation. In addition, by providing all processes and tools in a single web based environment the adoption by software developers, project managers and senior management was very high