Non-Intrusive, Situated, Fine-Grained Rationale Capture via Multi-Modal Input

This proposal describes a non-intrusive, fine-grained, and situated approach to software design rationale capture. Non-intrusive means that the software developer can articulate rationale without stopping the normal flow of work. Situated means that rationale is captured with active links to the software affected and to other related decisions. Fine-grained means that the referenced software may consist of arbitrary portions of the design or code. A voice interface will enable developers to speak the rationale for a design or implementation action, as they are performing the action. By expressing the rationale in an alternative modality (speech), the developer can continue without interrupting the keyboard- and mouse-based processes used for design and coding. This approach allows the developer to maintain the mental context of the current task, thereby eliminating a large piece of the cognitive overhead involved in more conventional rationale documentation methods.