Preserving knowledge in design projects: what designers need to know

In order to inform the design of technology support and new procedural methods for software design, we analyzed the content of real design meetings in three organizations, focusing in particular on the questions the designers ask of each other. We found that most questions concerned the project requirements, particularly what the software was supposed to do and, somewhat less frequently, scenarios of use. Questions about functions to be performed by software components and how these functions were to be realized were also fairly frequent. Rationales for design decisions were seldom asked about. The implications of this research for design tools and methods are discussed.

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