A grammar for information systems and technology competencies

Abstract

The description of Information Systems and Technology professional competencies requires the articulation of various concepts in an integrated structure. The definitions for these concepts are not consensual and the instantiations of the concepts are written in non-standard ways. This ambiguity can have a negative impact on the characterization and evaluation of professional attributes. This work carries out an analysis of several competency frameworks and proposes the application of grammatical classes for the concepts that make up the competency structure, aiming at greater transparency and clarity in the use of the concepts. To this end, a Backus-Naur Form grammar is proposed to standardize the writing of concepts. Seeking to validate the competency grammar, Information Systems and Technology professionals reported attributes of their occupations, observing the proposed grammatical rules. Afterwards, the exercise was replicated with practitioners from four other professional areas.