Essence of Modeling

A model is an intentional abstraction of reality: a simplified, structured way of describing a system so people can understand it, communicate about it, and solve problems together. It is not the real-world thing itself, but a useful approximation that captures the essential elements, relationships, and patterns of a subject domain. 

A model is an abstraction of reality according to a certain conceptualization.

Modeling is the process of organizing information for community use in the form of a model.  The model provides a framework for human communication about the subject domain, a mechanism for explaining conclusions about the subject domain, an a mechanism for managing varying viewpoints within the subject domain.

A map is one of the clearest examples of a model. You might have heard the phrase, "The map is not the territory."  The map is not the actual territory, but a map can be quite useful in navigating a territory. A map includes just enough information about the terrain to serve specific needs, and “a model is similar to a map” in this way.  In other words, a map is a model: a deliberate simplification that represents reality in a way that is fit for a specific purpose.

This relationship matters because it highlights the essence of modeling itself: choosing what is important, omitting what is unimportant, and creating a shared structure that helps a community of stakeholders understand and operate within a specific complex subject matter referred to as a "domain".

A subway map is a clear example of a model with a very specific purpose. A subway map does not attempt to represent the full terrain of a city; its streets, buildings, elevation, or geography. Instead, a subway map intentionally simplifies reality to highlight only the features that matter to a subway rider: station locations, line connections, transfer points, and the order in which trains move through the subway network. In this way, a subway map is a model because it is a purpose‑built abstraction. It omits most of the real world so that the rider can focus on what is essential for navigating the subway system effectively.

And so, essential to creating the right "map" or "model"; it is critically important to understand the boundaries of the system you are modeling/mapping and what that system will be used for; what are the goals, objectives, business outcomes expected.

In their book, Semantic Web for the Working Ontologist, Dean Allemang and Jim Hendler point out:

“Without the model, there is an undifferentiated mass of data; there is no way to tell which data can or should be extracted with other data.  The model itself has no significance without data to describe it.  Put the two together, however, and you have a dynamic web of information, where data flow from one point to another in a principled, systematic fashion.”

In their book, Allemang and Hendler go on to point out that in the hands of someone with no knowledge, a model can produce clumsy, ugly, barely functional output.  But in the hands of a skilled and experienced craftsman, a model can be understandable and useful leading to works of practicality, utility, beauty, durability; even elegance.  When, through hard work, complexity is understood and then well managed; what results can look like magic.

When people hear the term "model" they sometimes think "toy".  In his book, Models. Behaving. Badly., Emanual Derman explains the differences between metaphors, models, and theories.

• A metaphor describes something less understandable by relating it to something more understandable.
• A model is a specimen that exemplifies the ideal qualities of something. Models tend to simplify. There tend to always be gaps between models and reality. Models are analogies; they tend to describe one thing relative to something else. Models need a defense or an explanation.
• A theory describes absolutes. A theory describes the object of its focus. A theory does not simplify. Theories are irreducible, the foundation on which new metaphors can be built. A successful theory can become a fact. A theory describes the world and tries to describe the principles by which the world operates. A theory can be right or wrong, but it is characteristic by its intent: the discovery of essence.

Personally, I prefer to use the term "theory" rather than "model". Fundamentally, the specific word used means less and what you are trying to do means more.  The point is to discover the essence of something and then to describe that essence in useful, practical ways.

As explained by the Triangle of Meaning; representing a conceptualization of an understanding of reality in the form of a model, a.k.a. theory, which must be done by skilled and experienced subject matter experts; to get software applications to perform work you still need to take one more step. A representation, a.k.a. implementation, is the next step in the process.

As pointed out in Modeling Against the Stream, communication between business professionals that need software to do something and technical professionals that build that software is hard.  The essence of modeling is to make that communication of meaning more effective. Why? That is what it takes to create elegant software.

Additional Information:

• Knowledge Based Systems
• Atomic Design Methodology
• Digital Information Organism
• Professionally Oriented Knowledge Framework
• Knowledge Organization System
• Modeling Against the Stream
• Inhabiting Babel, A Manifesto for Responsible Meaning Engineering
• Theory of the Financial Reporting Framework
• Coming Transformation of Accounting Information Systems (Alternative)
• The Importance of Agile Audit Standard Setting in a Fast-Moving World
• GraphGeeks Impact Report
• Essence of Accounting
• Digital Proficiency