Authors use their judgement in incorporating everyone's comments, getting
readers who are at odds together to work out differences. Most conflicting
commennts are resolved without face-to-face meetings. The meaning of the
words (labels on diagram boxes or arrows) are a subject of conflict at the
begining. As the modeling details boxes on diagrams at one level at the
next level down, the meaning of the words are clarified and stablize. One
reason for this is that language is not so good at expressing complex webs
of system dependencies, but when words are attached to visual
representations of those dependencies, their meaning becomes associated
with something more tangible and more likely to be the same in different
people's minds. The group knows (subconsciously) the meanings are the
same, because the disagreements stop and the communication gets much
better.
IDEF0 is a method. It can be done with paper or you can use computer
programs to support drawing, etc. At least two books and many reports
explain IDEF0. I can get exact references and post later, if desired.
-- Mel (dickover@umd5.umd.edu)