I first came across method (it had not at that point taken on the pretentious and spurious -ology that it would later sprout in imitation of the true sciences) a long time ago when I was working at a large life insurance company. Our IT manager had assembled the more senior members of the development departments and wheeled in a consultant to tell us all about a data-oriented method for the analysis and design of computer systems. Being a well-behaved and good-mannered bunch, we developers sat and listened in silence—but come question time, it was a different matter. We asked masses of questions, but two obvious categories of question dominated.