Participatory design with train drivers - a process analysis

A participatory design process involving train drivers is analyzed and described in this paper. A group of six drivers were involved in the design process, and within a short period, four design iterations were completed. The present case study was the final part of a larger research project (TRAIN) investigating the train driving task including the drivers' information environment, number and nature of hours worked, work situation and work environment, and their effect on the drivers' behaviour and the train driver system safety. Although usability activities are widely used in IT development today, the users are not involved to the desired extent. This paper argues that to produce usable systems, quality time has to be spent initially to acquire knowledge of a work domain and establishing a common ground in terms of shared knowledge and a better understanding of the work context between the parties involved in system development. Our suggestions on participatory analysis and design that conclude the paper are based on the present case study including train drivers, as well as our experiences from previous case studies.

[1]  Morten Kyng,et al.  Design at Work , 1992 .

[2]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  User Centered System Design , 1986 .

[3]  Jonas Löwgren,et al.  Applying design methodology to software development , 1995, Symposium on Designing Interactive Systems.

[4]  Jan Gulliksen,et al.  Key principles for user-centred systems design , 2003, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[5]  Clayton Lewis,et al.  Designing for usability—key principles and what designers think , 1983, CHI '83.

[6]  Eva Olsson,et al.  What active users and designers contribute in the design process , 2004, Interact. Comput..

[7]  Tony Moynihan,et al.  A theory of requirements documentation situated in practice , 2003, SIGDOC '03.

[8]  Sari Kujala,et al.  User involvement: A review of the benefits and challenges , 2003, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[9]  Morten Kyng.  Scandanavian design: users in product development , 1994, CHI Conference Companion.

[10]  Joyce J. Elam,et al.  Inside a software design team: knowledge acquisition, sharing, and integration , 1993, CACM.

[11]  Lena Kecklund,et al.  Acting or reacting? : A cognitive work analysis approach to the train driver task , 2004 .

[12]  Karen Holtzblatt,et al.  Contextual design , 1997, INTR.

[13]  Anders Jansson,et al.  The Train-Project: Effects of Organizational Factors, Automatic Train Control, Work Hours and Environment: Suggestions for Safety Enhancing Measures , 2003 .

[14]  Chris W. Clegg,et al.  Information technology: a study of performance and the role of human and organizational factors , 1997 .

[15]  Patricia Sachs,et al.  Transforming work: collaboration, learning, and design , 1995, CACM.

[16]  Harold W. Thimbleby,et al.  Calculators are needlessly bad , 2000, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[17]  Robert Stjernström,et al.  User-Centred Design of a Train Driver Display , 2001 .

[18]  Larry L. Constantine,et al.  Usage-Centered Engineering for Web Applications , 2002, IEEE Softw..

[19]  K. J. Vicente,et al.  Cognitive Work Analysis: Toward Safe, Productive, and Healthy Computer-Based Work , 1999 .

[20]  Albert L. Lederer,et al.  Nine management guidelines for better cost estimating , 1992, CACM.

[21]  Peter R. Magnusson,et al.  Managing User Involvement in Service Innovation , 2003 .

[22]  Kalle Lyytinen,et al.  Large-Scale Requirements Analysis Revisited: The need for Understanding the Political Ecology of Requirements Engineering , 2002, Requirements Engineering.

[23]  A. Strauss,et al.  The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research aldine de gruyter , 1968 .

[24]  Mijo Balic,et al.  FROM BUSINESS TO BUTTONS , 2002 .

[25]  T. T. Carey,et al.  Prototyping interactive information systems , 1983, CACM.

[26]  Robert Karasek,et al.  Job decision latitude and mental strain: Implications for job redesign , 1979 .

[27]  Bill Curtis,et al.  A field study of the software design process for large systems , 1988, CACM.