John Rooksby

Wisdom, decision support and paradigms of decision making

Many decision support tools have been developed over the last 20 years and, in general, they support what Simon termed substantive rationality. However, such tools are rarely suited to helping people tackle wicked problems, for which a form of procedural rationality is better suited. Procedurally rational approaches have appeared in both management science and computer science, examples being the soft OR approach of cognitive mapping and the design rationale based on IBIS. These approaches are reviewed and the development of Wisdom, a procedurally rational decision support process and accompanying tool, is discussed and evaluated. � 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Testing in the Wild: The Social and Organisational Dimensions of Real World Practice

Testing is a key part of any systems engineering project. There is an extensive literature on testing, but very little that focuses on how testing is carried out in real-world circumstances. This is partly because current practices are often seen as unsophisticated and ineffective. We believe that by investigating and characterising the real-world work of testing we can help question why such ‘bad practices’ occur and how improvements might be made. We also argue that the testing literature is too focused on technological issues when many of the problems, and indeed strengths, have as much do with work and organisation. In this paper we use empirical examples from four systems engineering projects to demonstrate how and in what ways testing is a cooperative activity. In particular we demonstrate the ways in which testing is situated within organisational work and satisfices organisational and marketplace demands.

The Management and Use of Social Network Sites in a Government Department

In this paper we report findings from a study of social network site use in a UK Government department. We have investigated this from a managerial, organisational perspective. We found at the study site that there are already several social network technologies in use, and that these: misalign with and problematize organisational boundaries; blur boundaries between working and social lives; present differing opportunities for control; have different visibilities; have overlapping functionality with each other and with other information technologies; that they evolve and change over time; and that their uptake is conditioned by existing infrastructure and availability. We find the organisational complexity that social technologies are often hoped to cut across is, in reality, something that shapes their uptake and use. We argue the idea of a single, central social network site for supporting cooperative work within an organisation will hit the same problems as any effort of centralisation in organisations. Fostering collective intelligence in organisations is therefore not a problem of designing the right technology but of supporting work across multiple technologies. We argue that while there is still plenty of scope for design and innovation in this area, an important challenge now is in supporting organisations in managing what can best be referred to as a social network site ‘ecosystem’.

The ironies of automation: still going strong at 30?

Motivation -- Bainbridge highlighted some of the ironies of automation 30 years ago and identified possible solutions. Society is now highly dependent on complex technological systems, so we assess our performance in addressing the ironies in these systems. Research approach -- A critical reflection on the original ironies of automation, followed by a review of three domains where technology plays a critical role using case studies to identify where ironies persist. Findings/Design -- The reliability and speed of technology have improved, but the ironies are still there. New ironies have developed too, in cloud computing where the cheaper cost of computing resources can lead to systems that are less dependable when developers bypass company procedures. Research limitations/Implications -- The work relies on published or reported cases. This makes it difficult to precisely determine how widespread the issues are. Originality/Value -- The research re-iterates the importance of the need to regularly consider the ironies of automation in systems development so that we can mitigate against any potential adverse consequences. Take away message -- The more we depend on technology and push it to its limits, the more we need highly-skilled, well-trained, well-practised people to make systems resilient, acting as the last line of defence against the failures that will inevitably occur.

Designing for Diagnosing: Introduction to the Special Issue on Diagnostic Work

When faced with anything out of the ordinary, faulty or suspicious, the work of determining and categorizing the trouble, and scoping for what to do about it (if anything) often go hand in hand—this is diagnostic work. In all its expert and non-expert forms diagnostic work is often both intellectual and embodied, collaborative and distributed, and ever more deeply entangled with technologies. Yet, it is often poorly supported by them. In this special issue we show that diagnostic work is an important and pervasive aspect of people’s activities at work, at home, and on the move. The papers published in this Special Issue come from a range of domains including, ambulance dispatch, a friendly fire incident and anomaly response for the NASA space shuttle; software, network and photocopier troubleshooting; and users attempting to use a new travel management system. These papers illustrate the variety of work that may be thought of as diagnostic. We hope that bringing a focus on diagnostic work to these diverse practices and situations opens up a rich vein of inquiry for CSCW scholars, designers, and users.

Healthcare information giving services: technologies and everyday practicalities

This paper presents findings from observational studies of work practice in two ‘information giving’ services – a poisons information service and a mental health helpline – as a precursor to informing the design of such services. Our work high- lights the interactions that constitute the requesting and giving of information and the role of intermediaries in the delivery of recipient-designed information. We propose a shift of focus from the logic of information in system design to one that encompasses the practicalities of information giving.

Collaboration in Formative Design: Working Together at a Whiteboard

To successfully collaborate in a creative design session, software developers must achieve and maintain a shared focus, encourage and challenge each other, and manage their working relations, even in stressful situations. This article describes six key ways professional software developers do this using examples from a video study of professional developers designing at a whiteboard.

Diagnostic work in cloud computing: discussion forums, community and troubleshooting

As systems scale, systems management often becomes partially reliant on web forums and other social media. This paper examines the use of web forums for diagnostic work in cloud computing. We argue that forums are not simply used to communicate information but that (with users attempting to negotiate and manage the attention of providers, forming coalitions, criticizing others, and framing problems in particular ways) forums are socially organised, value laden venues for information. We conclude that providers should focus not on improving communication, but more broadly on managing community.