Theory adapters as discipline coordinators

A successful discipline of software engineering will, over time, incorporate within its own borders those theories and techniques from other disciplines which are relevant in and helpful to software development. Since both software engineering and its cognate disciplines will change over time, it must not only incorporate external theories and techniques, but establish active coordination with other disciplines. Having explicit models and plans for achieving this coordination is preferable to leaving it to chance. This paper outlines a model for coordinating software engineering and cognitive support research through theory transfer by applied theoreticians. Ongoing work on incorporating cognitive support theories into software engineering processes and education are cast as an example effort falling under this discipline coordination model. The model is conservative in that it does not suggest a radical transformation of software engineering, but our application to cognitive support does highlight a need for more directed theory application, and generates proposals for non-trivial additions to the accepted body of knowledge.