The knowledge contribution of engineers to software development: a case study

The focus of the authors is on the domain knowledge advantage of end user prototyping (EUP). The authors present the case history of an industrial engineer in an aluminum manufacturing company who becomes a sophisticated user of microcomputers and successfully prototypes an expert decision support system. Previous work in the field is extended and enhanced, and how EUP builds upon the domain knowledge possessed by end users, and thereby overcomes the domain knowledge deficiency of software engineers, is demonstrated. When compared to rapid prototyping by software engineers, prototyping by end users enables more effective utilization of domain knowledge