Improvising Design - The Book

 Boundary-Spanning Design: How Information Systems Evolve Through Improvisation

Contents (liable to change as book evolves)

Chapter 1. THE DESIGN PROBLEM

Chapter 2. DESIGN AS IMPROVISATION

  • Need for adaptation in dynamic situations
  • Design as workplace rationales: frames and framing
  • Adapting distributed schema & scripts
  • Agreeing distributed knowledge: generic subjectivity & routines

Chapter 3. DESIGN AS PROBLEM-SOLVING

  • Organizational design problems are wicked problems
  • Problem-solving as collaborative learning
  • Integrating in-group and out-group knowledge
  • Design as emergent understanding

Chapter 4. DESIGN AS SENSITIZATION TO PATTERNS

  • Design approaches of novices vs experts
  • Mental models: schema vs.scripts
  • Method as map: important for acquiring "how-to" (design process) knowledge
  • Exemplars as paradigms: important for acquiring "what and why" (design product and rationale) knowledge
  • What a design is.

Chapter 5. SITUATED DESIGN

  • Importance of domain knowledge
  • Knowledge internalization/externalization cycles
  • Legitimizing reflective learning in design
  • Avoiding premature closure: complicating design
  • Iterating opening-up & closing-down cycles of design.

Chapter 6. BREAKDOWNS & BOUNDARY OBJECTS IN DESIGN

  • Distributed knowledge vs shared knowledge
  • Breakdowns & progress in design
  • Role of boundary objects
  • Trust & distribution of cognitive labor.

Chapter 7. HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN

  • User-centered vs. human-centered design
  • Defining requirements to differentiate what humans are good at, vs. what machines are good at
  • Method as filter: what is inside or outside the boundary; what is emphasized
  • Selecting design methods to emphasize human-centeredness
  • Human-centered vs. user-centered design.

Chapter 8. IMPROVISING BOUNDARY-SPANNING DESIGN

  • Why boundary-spanning design is different (and why most design is boundary-spanning)
  • So What? Implications for the design of organizational information systems.
  • Distributed cognition and improvisational design creating boundary-spanning designs.

All content is copyright © 2009-2010, Susan Gasson, Improvising Design. No content may be reused, duplicated in any form, or disseminated except with the express permission of the author.

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