QOC-E: A Mediating Representation To Support The Development Of Shared Rationale and Integration Of Human Factors Advice

Designing and manufacturing medical devices is a complex and specialist effort. Throughout the process, there is an opportunity to consult across those involved in various aspects of development (for example Human Factors (HF), Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Design and Manufacture). Developers report difficulties in this area, speaking of isolated team members and organizational / cultural barriers. We illustrate the use of a mediating representation (Questions, Options, Criteria and Evidence – QOC-E) that promotes shared reasoning and can be used to capture design rationale. Application is demonstrated using an illustrative example involving the specification of a number entry mechanism. The benefits of the QOC scheme include making tacit reasoning explicit, articulation of trade-offs, traceability, allowing compartmentalization of the design and avoidance of fixation in any one particular area. Downsides include the fact that the representation may require prohibitive amounts of effort to maintain or fail to scale to large or complex systems. These issues are discussed and directions for further investigation outlined.