Lightweight analysis of software design models at the whiteboard

While many software design tools exist and are in use daily, when faced with a design problem, developers will more often then not turn to the whiteboard to work on potential solutions. It has been observed that the sketches that software engineers create in this process transition from quite informal, rough sketches to sketches that reflect design notations like UML diagrams or user interfaces with quite precise layout and content. This behavior leads to an interesting opportunity: what if, during this refinement phase, it becomes possible for a whiteboard sketching tool to insert lightweight analyses that provide the developer with feedback about their design at hand? This paper investigates this opportunity, particularly focusing on exploring whether it might be possible to add a lightweight analysis and feedback mechanism to one sketching tool, Calico, that gives the designer insight into the perceived performance of their application.