Dan, Steve, Hitoshi I think, perhaps, there is an analogy between modelling and music.
A composer uses musical notation as the medium for composition and, through familiarity with the medium, can "hear the music" from the notes on the page. For a non-musician, however, the notes are a foreign language and need to be heard to be understood. Similarly, an experienced modeller uses graphical or other notations to define the behaviour of software. Through familiarity with the notations, the modeller can "envisage the behaviour" from the diagrams he or she draws. Both the musician and the modeller are performing an act of translation: from static representations on the page into (in the first case) sound and (in the second case) interactive dynamics. Arguably, both forms of translation require a skill that has to be learned and practised. In order to convey a piece of music to a non musician, the composer will play it on a piano thereby realising the translation. Similarly, to convey a behavioural model it may be necessary to render it into the behaviour it represents. This could be by execution (if the model is executable) or by some form of manual simulation. It may be that "standard modelling language for business people" is not possible, any more than a form of musical notation suitable for non musicians. Rgds Ashley
