1. Is it actually more effective, for you, to draw a few sketches to think something through before you code. Why or why not?

2. What are the trade-offs of modeling with others? In what situations would you be faster or slower? Get a better result? Learn something new?

3. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of working closely with your business stakeholders. Who would you consider a stakeholder and why?

4. How long would you keep a sketch for? Why? In what situations would you keep it for a long time? Clean it up and put it into a sophisticated modeling tool? Discard it completely?

5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of traveling light, of producing just barely enough documentation for your system? Consider three scenarios: the original development team stays on to continue working on the system; the original development team changes slowly over time with some people leaving and some new people coming on to the team; and the original development team disperses and the system is assigned to another team to maintain and support. How light can you travel in each of these situations?

6. Discuss the trade-offs between a "big design up front" approach to modeling versus an evolutionary approach. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? What type of skillset would be required for each? Why?

7. Search the Web for software modeling tools. Identify ten features that you believe are important to have in a modeling tool, describe why each feature is important, and then rate three of those tools against those features. Which one "wins"and why?

8. Search the Web for information about the model-driven architecture. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach? How realistic is the MDA? Does this seem like a viable strategy to you? Why or why not?

9. Compare and contrast small development groups of three or four people versus larger development groups of ten to twenty people. Take into consideration management issues, communication issues, logistical issues, decision-making ability, group dynamics, skills, and knowledge. What do you believe is the ideal size for a development team? Why.

10. Is it important for the stakeholders to be co-located with a development team? Why or why not?