Responding to a question about resolving design issues among developers, Greenfield urged the use of best practices and pitched Microsoft's Software Factories concept. "At the end of the day, Software Factories, which I developed, is really about capturing these best practices and communicating those best practices," he said.

Model-driven development "puts the end at the front as if the goal is to use models," Greenfield said. The goal is to understand how to build systems and spend less time reinventing them, he said.

The OMG Model Driven Architecture (MDA), in fact, lacks an architecture, Greenfield said. MDA relies on Unified Modeling Language (UML); Microsoft has not been a big supporter of UML but other panelists noted its use in modeling.

Management of metadata was cited as critical. "You have to have a coordinated approach to how you manage the metadata," said David Frankel, lead standards architect for Model Driven Systems at SAP.

Compuware's Jon Kern, subject matter expert in the company's Optimal J group, urged that consideration be given to hiring the best people for a project. "Just hire the smart ones and you don't have to worry about getting them there," he said.