Mobilising criteria in arguing about product solutions : a motor for designer convergence during a project review?
Résumé
In the context of market globalization, companies are now collaborating; concurrent engineering has taken the place of sequential engineering and therefore is generating many changes in designers' work. Inspired by studies in argumentation, our objective in this article is to model the dynamics of human interactions by which designers construct a common ground, allowing them to converge during the decision process. Our ultimate goal is to propose methods and tools that support designers during the decision process. Through two original representations, we analyze a project review meeting at AB Volvo and show how in their quest to satisfy criteria, designers are led to propose new solution elements and thus to come to agreement.