ABSTRACT
Those of us in the computer field often tend to see our world as one where things happen rather fast. In the area of computer system development the ’80s was a decade where an overwhelming number of new system methodologies were introduced, and where the overall perspective on system development shifted to include varying degrees of user involvement. Each time a change was trumpeted in a journal or at a conference there was often a chorus of researchers ready to announce the change, as if the world had in fact switched to the new idea. But in the day-to-day practice of developing computer systems, as in most practices, changes are slow, and, in fact quite small.
