co-operative

design:
the new black

david.j.williams@canberra.eduau

Systems Thinking in Social Sciences Research

IGPA Graduate Research Forum
November 9 2016, 10:30 2:30
IGPA Building 22. The John Dryzek Seminar Room
Presented by:
David Williams
0412 237 695
david.j.williams@Canberra.edu.au
vertigo@netspeed.com.au
Skype: david_williams546
LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/david-williams/0/34
6/36b

Synopsis:
The process of using systems thinking to immerse
experts, users and stakeholders in the design process
in organisations is now becoming common place.
This is now occurring for organisational development
activities as well as the designing tools, processes
and ICT solutions.
Processes such as User-Centred Design, Co-creation
and Human Centred Design are touted as best
practice in Participatory design methodologies.
These processes could be applied to design of a
research activity or even as an immersive research
methodology.

Scope
Systems thinking
User-Centred Design
Human Centred Design
Co-creation, and
Implications for research

A System is a set of things working

together as parts of a mechanism or an
interconnecting network; a complex whole.
(NASA, 1995)

Systems thinking is a
discipline for seeing wholes.
It is a framework for seeing
relationships rather than
things,
for seeing patterns of
change rather than static
snapshots.
Source: Peter Senge, 1990

3 Characteristics of a Systems
Thinking Approach
1. A very deep and persistent
commitment to real learning
2. Challenge mental models
3. Encourage diversity
Source: Peter Senge
- What Is Systems Thinking?

Participatory Design:
An approach to the assessment, design, and
development of technological and
organizational systems that places a premium
on the active involvement of workplace
practitioners (usually potential or current

User-Centred Design (UCD)

The User-Centred Design process focuses
on gaining a deep understanding of who
will be using the product.
The international standard 13407is the
basis for many UCD methodologies.
Its important to note that the UCD
process does not specify exact methods
for each phase.
Source:
https://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/user-centere
d-design.html

Approach
Can be incorporated into waterfall, agile, and
other approaches.
UCD process is composed of several (usability)
methods and tasks.
Considers requirements, team, timeline, and the
environment
Determine the tasks you perform and the order in
which you perform them.
Commonly used for website design
Source: https://
www.usability.gov/what-and-why/user-centered-desig
n.html

Phases of the UCD process

1. Specify the context of use:
Identify the people who will use the
product, what they will use it for, and
under what conditions they will use
it.
2. Specify requirements: Identify any
business requirements or user goals
that must be met for the product to
be successful.
3. Create design solutions: This part
of the process may be done in
stages, building from a rough
concept to a complete design.
4. Evaluate designs: Evaluation ideally through usability testing with
actual users - is as integral as quality
testing is to good software
development.

Human Centred Design

A creative approach to problem
solving
Its a process that starts with the
people youre designing for and ends
with new solutions that are tailor
made to suit their needs.
Example KMBoK

Human Centred Design is all about:

1. building a deep empathy with the
people youre designing for
2. generating tons of ideas
3. building a bunch of prototypes
4. sharing what youve made with the
people youre designing for, and
5. putting your innovative new solution
out in the world.

Human Centred Design

Phases

1. Inspiration Phase - learn directly from the

people youre designing for as you immerse
yourself in their lives and come to deeply
understand their needs.
2. Ideation Phase - make sense of what you
learned, identify opportunities for design, and
prototype possible solutions.
3. Implementation Phase - bring your solution
to life, and eventually, to market. And youll
know that your solution will be a success
because youve kept the very people youre
looking to serve at the heart of the process.

Co-creation
is the joint creation of value by
the company and the customer;
allowing the customer to coconstruct the service experience
to suit their context
Source: Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004,
p. 8

Co-creation process
1. Determine the Social need: Problem
definition and identify stakeholders
problem owners
2. Undertake Research: User, context,
technology and partner research
3. Facilitate Ideation
4. Co-Creation workshop: collaborative
making
5. Pilot test
6. Implementation and scaling-up
Example: design of Moscow cafes

Participati
on
Designer

Co-C

HC
D
UCD

Immersion

Outcome
Design
Pattern
Model
Pilot
Concept demonstrator
Solution
Research question
Methodology
Hypothesis

Potential implications for research

Instead of a helicopter view of the
situation or immersing yourself in the
situation, it is immersing the subjects in
the design of the research
Supports a flexible design approach
Could support both a Foundationalism
and an Anti-foundationalism ontology
Aligns with an interpretivist epistemology

Advantages
Stakeholder engagement
Improved change management
Diversity
Immediate Feedback
Opportunity to fail and learn early

Disadvantages
Time
Requires confidence
Extensive planning
Need informed and capable subjects
Requires good facilitation skills
Create bias
Could derail your research

Creative people
dont need to
think outside
the box.
There is no box.

References and reading

Prahalad, C. K., & Ramaswamy, V. (2000). Co-opting customer
competence. Harvard business review, 78(1), 79-90.
Bdker, S., Ehn, P., Sjgren, D., & Sundblad, Y. (2000, October). Cooperative Designperspectives on 20 years with the Scandinavian
IT Design Model. In proceedings of NordiCHI (Vol. 2000, pp. 22-24).
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (2005) Participatory
Design [Online] accessed 7 October 2016 at: http://cpsr.org/issues/pd
/
Peter, S. (1990). The fifth discipline. The Art & Practice of Learning
Organization. Doupleday Currence, New York.
Sage, A. P., & Rouse, W. B. (2009). Handbook of systems engineering
and management. John Wiley & Sons.
DIS, I. (2009). 9241-210: 2010. Ergonomics of human system
interaction-Part 210: Human-centred design for interactive systems.
International Standardization Organization (ISO). Switzerland.
Shishko, R., & Aster, R. (1995). NASA systems engineering handbook.
NASA Special Publication, 6105.