Inferring purpose from artefact

I am often presented with an artefact that is has been created at some stage to address some problem. Inferring the purpose of the artefact can be difficult. What is amazing is that often the people creating artefacts have only vaguest idea of its purpose e.g. for whom, to do what, when, why etc.

It is a bit like someone showing you Stone Henge and expecting you to know its function is to tell the time.

And you are meant to work out they want to tell time.

Or being shown an ancient Pesian bowl and expecting to know they want to tell time

Or being presented with a grand a complication and being expected to know its function is similar to the above.

And you are meant to work out that they want a chime on the quarter hour.

In all cases they may really want something else entirely e.g. they may want a ceremonial assembly point, a lovely ceramic or a beautiful items of jewellery. The real point is that it is very difficult to infer purpose from an entity.

So you need to try and look as clearly as you can at what you want to achieve, rather than assuming what is wanted is a replacement for a current artefact.

http://enterprisesto.blogspot.com/2013/08/technology-architects-need-to-realize.html
http://enterprisesto.blogspot.com/2010/03/artifacts-vs-business-results.html