Method and Methodology

At the risk of being pedantic, I hear us using the words Method and Methodology interchangeably. AIM is a Method not a methodology. You ask what is the big deal.

The first page of the AIM book tells us it is a method and not a methodology.

The American Heritage Dictionary offers the following explanation.

"In recent years . . . “methodology” has been increasingly used as a pretentious substitute for “method” in scientific and technical contexts. The misuse of the word methodology obscures an important conceptual distinction between the tools of scientific investigation (properly “methods”) and the principles that determine how such tools are deployed and interpreted — a distinction that the scientific and scholarly communities, if not the wider public, should be expected to maintain".

AIM is a Method in the sense that it offers a specific set of steps for implementing Oracle Applications which we use on a regular basis. AIM Methodology would be something that would be the study of the method. Unless we are planning to study the method and the principles behind AIM and suggest modifications, we should stick to Method.

Also, the next time you hear somebody use it, you know they are trying to sound important without knowing the underlying context which you can use for leverage. I have a couple of times and it made the customer aware that I was being careful and not pedantic...