Chat in the team working on the assurance case improves cooperation and enables easy exchange of information directly in the tool. Discussion is naturally connected to the places of argumentation that it concerns and where changes are introduced. Adding priorities to the chat allows to highlight the main threads of conversation for efficient development of the argumentation.
We often work on assurance cases in distributed teams, and at the same time we need to communicate with each other frequently to agree on argumentation methods, requirements on evidence or how to deal with defeaters. This is not about a formal evaluation process, we need efficient working communication for the team cooperating on the assurance case development and changes. The point is that this communication is related to the places we are discussing. By linking the chat to a specific argumentation place, we all automatically know what we are discussing about.
Online argument reviews in distributed teams
Chat allows us to communicate in real time, but we can also respond at any time as we always have access to the chat history and all messages. Chat summaries at the level of the whole argument allow us to quickly see what’s new in the team’s communication and where our responses are required. We also use chat priorities to distinguish the main threads of conversations that require decisions that affect the argument.
Chat also improves the efficiency of reviews in distributed teams. We can submit remarks, comment on individual elements of the argument, explain to each other. We can review and comment independently at different times, or we can do it simultaneously and the changes are immediately visible to all team members.
What’s next?
We are working on improving the efficiency of the argumentation development process and team communication tools. We thank you for your comments, which helped us develop the chat, which is also a useful tool for us. In future versions of PREMIS, we will improve the team communication mechanisms and management of work in the argument development. Feel free to reach out to our team and share your comments.