The article "The Anatomy of a Design Theory" by David Jones and Shirley Gregor explores the structural components of design theories in Information Systems (IS). The authors aim to extend the work of Walls, Widemeyer, and El Sawy (1992) on specifying information systems design theories (ISDT) by identifying eight key components: purpose and scope, constructs, principles of form and function, artifact mutability, testable propositions, justificatory knowledge, principles of implementation, and an expository instantiation. These components address issues such as the role of instantiations, the specification of methodologies and interventions, and the distinction between design processes and products. The article emphasizes the importance of expressing design knowledge as theory to enhance the rigor and legitimacy of IS as an applied discipline. It also highlights the need for a more systematic and usable formulation of design theories, drawing on various streams of thought, including philosophy of science, constructive research, and design science. The authors provide a detailed analysis of each component and illustrate them with examples from IS literature, demonstrating how these components can be applied to different types of design theories.The article "The Anatomy of a Design Theory" by David Jones and Shirley Gregor explores the structural components of design theories in Information Systems (IS). The authors aim to extend the work of Walls, Widemeyer, and El Sawy (1992) on specifying information systems design theories (ISDT) by identifying eight key components: purpose and scope, constructs, principles of form and function, artifact mutability, testable propositions, justificatory knowledge, principles of implementation, and an expository instantiation. These components address issues such as the role of instantiations, the specification of methodologies and interventions, and the distinction between design processes and products. The article emphasizes the importance of expressing design knowledge as theory to enhance the rigor and legitimacy of IS as an applied discipline. It also highlights the need for a more systematic and usable formulation of design theories, drawing on various streams of thought, including philosophy of science, constructive research, and design science. The authors provide a detailed analysis of each component and illustrate them with examples from IS literature, demonstrating how these components can be applied to different types of design theories.