Supporting Collaborative Analysis and Design with Hypertext Functionality

Abstract

Many research efforts and several commercial products have attempted to harness the potential of argumentation-based hypertext tools to enhance the design process. Yet few researchers have reported successful applications of this technology in industry settings. This paper reports on Conversational Modeling, a technique that has been used successfully in a number of collaborative systems analysis, requirements gathering and work process redesign projects in a telecommunications company. The success of the technique appears to be due to the combination of hypertext functionality, a structured modeling framework, and group facilitation strategies. The combination of these elements addresses some of the difficulties reported in the design rationale literature with regard to argumentation-based hypertext tools.