Kicking off in Dec 2024 and lasting 11 months, Scopism has recently completed an ambitious project to refresh the SIAM Body of Knowledge. In this blog, we share our reflections.
Want to access the refreshed BoK right now? You can find it here.
Looking for the previous version? You can still access the archived documents here.
Staying true to our principles
From the early days of Scopism and SIAM, we’ve been determined to share as much as we can, with as many people as possible. The BoK has been free to download from day one, and nothing has changed for the latest version. As our founder Claire Agutter always says, “The BoK is from the community, for the community”. We’re very grateful to all of the volunteers who have contributed their time and expertise.
A new structure
The previous version of the SIAM BoK had two main publications – SIAM Foundation BoK, and SIAM Professional BoK, plus the SIAM Process Guide. We’ve now updated the structure to create one conceptual BoK that includes numerous publications:
- Core – SIAM Foundation and SIAM Professional. The core will remain stable and focus on SIAM principles
- Compendiums – short publications that focus on emerging areas of SIAM adoption, or how SIAM fits with other areas of industry practice and emerging technologies. Compendiums will be updated more frequently, and new ones will be published each year. All Compendiums include a feedback link at the start of the document, and we’d love to hear your thoughts.
- Additional content – anything else! Whitepapers, case studies, industry specific guidance and community output will fit here.
You can access all the new publications, free of charge, in the SIAM community here.
A mammoth undertaking
The SIAM BoK refresh took almost a year, and included:
- 3 lead architects – Simon Dorst, Michelle Major-Goldsmith and Claire Agutter
- Lead authors
- Authors
- Reviewers
- Debaters – a new role that allowed people with little time to spare to join the conversation
- 16 publications
- 1420 pages
The contributor group spanned multiple countries and time zones, and the diverse contributions have strengthened the quality of the output and ideas.
A living Body of Knowledge
Activity did not stop on the Nov 3rd publication date. Many of our contributors have asked to be able to stay involved. In 2026, the SIAM Content Council will take charge, looking after updates to existing documents and reviewing proposals for new content.
