John Reynolds writes about the Fear of the Unseen in his blog over at java.net. So, this is how he starts.

Many problems that businesses have with software seem to involve visibility. The role that specific software components play within an organization are often hidden, obscured, or just plain forgotten.

and goes on to say this.

I think we’ve got a visibility paradox. We need to hide implementation details behind interfaces, but at other times we need to know those very same implementation details.

Now, good designs always hide implementation details. I completely agree. But, what kind of a design approach would you follow when implementing scenarios that require visibility?

I understand visibility here to mean visibility to the Business. Business and Enterprise Software’s purpose of existence is to support the business and in many cases, they are the business.

If I was a business manager, I will not really be interested in the infrastructure components of my software system. I will be happy to leave it to the Geeks.

But what about those portions of the software that drive my business decisions? I would very much be interested in seeing and even be in control of those components.

1. I want to know, how the system is taking critical business decisions?
2. I would like to drive changes to the system that arise out of business requirements.
3. Business Policy matters must be controlled by the business and not by IT
4. Reflect business need in Enterprise System Design.

I was writing about the problem of the blind business last week, and I have made my feelings very clear on that subject in that post.

My opinion is that any modern design that aims to reduce maintenance, improve visibility, reduce turnaround times, promote collaboration between IT & the business cannot even be realized without externalizing and making visible your Business Rules.

And Business Rules Management Systems offer the best design approach towards that goal. You should consider using a BRMS if the business rules are complex, spread out, numerous, or change often.

Related Reading: 10 Steps towards the Agile Enterprise