Systematic integration of design methods

As software becomes more complex, designers are attempting to integrate design methods so they can start with a clear and accurate specification. Although designers typically commit to one method, they often find that its notation is not rich enough to express semantic concepts such as data persistence or that it lacks the guidance needed to choose design entities, such as objects or classes. Consequently, they attempt to borrow useful ideas and notations from other methods. Design method integration has many benefits, but designers lack a framework to make such efforts more systematic and cost effective. The author describes a possible framework and uses it to guide the integration of the Booch and OMT design methods