From the “Bricks” of IS Curricula

As punishment in the biblical story of Moses the slaves were told they had to make bricks without straw. This was impossible because bricks made without straw had the appearance of strength and function, but could not withstand the proof of actual use. The slaves' punishment was therefore not only to make bricks, but also to find the straw on their own with which to make them. In this day and age it would seem that many of our Information Systems curricula ask students to learn to make systems without teaching them about design. We are good at teaching students how to make software systems that do things but not so good at teaching students how one way of doing things in a system design is better than another. In this essay I consider the role of teaching systems design in preparing an IS professional and the forces that have come into play over the history of computing that have in many cases frozen out the study of design from the IS curricula.