| Since its introduction in 1997, the Unified Modeling Language (UML) has become the de facto standard for object oriented systems development. Promoted as a unified approach which incorporates the ‘best practices’ of previous notational methods, UML promises to alleviate many of the ills that have long afflicted the software industry. However, there is a severe lack of empirical evidence supporting the claim that UML leads to greater performance impacts, and many problems are still associated with its usage (e.g. complexity, inconsistency, difficulty to learn, incompleteness).; Task-technology fit theory suggests that for an information technology to impact performance it must first meet the needs of the user, i.e. there must be a fit between the task requirements of the user and the functionality of the system. This study extends prior task-technology fit research by investigating how individual and task characteristics impact UML utilization. A survey research instrument has been developed specifically to examine the unique issues related to UML. The methodology and rationale for this study are described as well as implications for further research. |
