Presentation from a workshop about he digital workplace Presented for Nordic Ergonomics and Human Factors Society, NES, in Copenhagen, august 2014

1. The digital workplace
Jonas Söderström • Copenhagen • August 2014

2. 1994 – I’m a consultant at a Swedish company called InUse Exeperience; We are User
Experience specialists, working in almost every field. Air traffic control,
publishing, intranets.
I’ve been working as a user experience architect or interaction designer -
whatever - since 1994.
Right know I’m working with merging 21 intranets into one, for the national
Swedish police.
This picture shows what I like to see as my core work: observing users, in the
wild, doing their work in their real environment. Mostly with internal systems,
business systems, intranets, and the extended intranet environment we call the
digital workplace.
This usually provides a reality check on the often rosy predictions about
supposed gains in efficiency etc.

3. Create new document
We’ll start on the light side, with a small quiz.
In an enterprise business system, used by big corporations and organisations,
and with a price-tag usually between 100 and 200 million Australian dollars,
this icon means ... what? What happens when you press this button?

4. Photo: Maria Ålbrant
This is from a visit to a Swedish government agency, where they might have
used systems like that.
My contact walked me through the big open office space, and
Along the wall, I noticed they had stapled cushions all the way ... more than you
see here.
So I asked my contact:
”So, you’ve stapled cushions to the wall ... how come? Is it to reduce noise, to
soften the sound in the office?”
”Well, yeah, for softening ... but not the noise.”
But when we bang our heads into the wall because out IT systems are so
crappy.”

5. Enterprise
software
is far behind
While as consumers we enjoy smart and elegant programs, apps and services
like Gmail, Facebook, Dropbox, Spotify, apps like Clear ... most stuff in the office
still looks like this.
”Enterprise software is the land that User Experience design forgot”, Brian
Prentice of Gartner wrote in an article recently.

6. ”One year of
incorrect salaries”

7. 2 757 hours
overtime
sep 2011 – sep 2012

8. ”Salaries will
be incorrect during
all of 2013
because finding the right new
routines will take time”
HR Manager

9. The digital workplace
as a cause
of stress
This are just a few random examples - but there is now clear and mounting
evidence that an ever-growing number of poorly designed and poorly
implemented digital systems has become a major cause of rising stress and
consequently health problems in the workplace.
While workplace accidents and things like back pain has been falling for many
years, stress in the workplace has been ”exponentially rising” in the last 10
years or so.
Looking at the broader picture, this seems kind of strange, because we’re
building machines to do the work for us - right?
What’s going on here?

10. M T W T F
Angry, stressed,
frustrated with IT
3400 2012
But the effects are now being measured, in terms of real stress.
This is a Swedish study from 2012.

11. M T W T F
Angry, stressed,
frustrated with IT
3400 2012
But the effects are now being measured, in terms of real stress.
This is a Swedish study from 2012.

12. Biggest source of
frustration in the office?
1. Slow web applications
2. Computer
3. Printer
4. Boss
5. Meetings
1000 2012
This is another one from 2012.

13. 15
10
5
0
26 % Causing stress
Insecure 24h work On alert Dangers
IT Systems
3700 2013
Of ”first responders” (police, fire fighters, soldiers, customs and coastal guard officers),
just 2% said they were insecure at work, and that the 24h work schedule was stressing.
9 % found it stressful to be on constant alert for unexpected events
13 % said work had become more dangerous.
But the fact that stood out ...
26 % said systems for business processes and doing reports were poorly adapted to
real tasks and needs.
And it’s really not a case of not being computer savvy. The most annoyed that I
interviewed were ex-developers that had turned policemen.

14. With new system
Write 1 report, shoplifting
mean 2 hr 52 m
Renew weapons licence
from 145 to 313 clicks

15. Typical
causes
So how does IT cause stress in the workplace?
It is something beyond what we usually call ”information overload”.
One aspect might be called ”interaction overload”.

16. Too many
systems
Since the mid-nineties, the sheer number of applications (systems, sites,
software) that we have to use in the workplace, has exploded.

17. Treserva (social security system)
WebbSotis (old social security system)
Giraff (internal invoicing)
Horisonten (accounting)
Prognosprogram (economy)
Winst (procurement portal)
Rappet (client reports)
Personec (HR reports)
Time Care (work schedule)
Winlas Webb (temps worked hours)
Time Care pool (assigning temps)
Lisa (accident reporting)
Adato (rehabilitation process management)
Offentliga jobb (recruiting)
Telephone self-service system
Lotus Notes (mail)
Here is a small part of the list of the approximately 35 administrative systems
that are used by social Webbmail workers in Sweden.
(mail at home)
Note that they are simultaneously using a new and an old system for social
benefits. That is often the case; a new system often does not replace an old one
completely. It’s often possible to find – or invent – some reason for keeping the
old system as well.

18. Karolinska University Hospital
Library, Feb. 18
110 employees
117 systems
So many systems used by 110 employees under just one single day.

20. Systems are
different
This should, in theory, not be a problem. BUT
These systems are typically built by ever-changing teams of consultants or
companies.
And as a result, they are different – in small but crucial details.

21. Every screen is different: full four-colour LED, black and white, monochrome
green, a single line of LCD characters. Each device has a its own control
mechanisms – physical buttons, or virtual buttons on a touch screen, or both.
So the driver has to interact with each device/system in a different way. There’s
obviously a lot to learn and remember for the driver here.

22. Liza reports hours worked in two systems:
one uses point, the other comma
1.5 hrs 1,5 hrs
Having to use parallell systems is a reality for many people.
Liza is a consultant; she reports time both to her employer and to her client.

23. What happens if she uses a comma
in the system that wants a point?
1,5 1.5 hrs
1,5 hrs
Normally, she would get an angry error message ...

24. System ignores comma and records
15 hours, without any error message.
15 hrs

25. Used seldom, but ...
• Put in vacation plans - how often?
• Hard to learn
• ”...how did you handle this system, then?”
• Even if each system is used quite seldom …
• … some system is used each month or week.
Many systems may be used infrequently - which makes learning harder. “How
on earth are you supposed to handle this system, then?”
But since there are so many systems, you encounter this situation every month
or every week.

26. OUR
PROJECT
x-ray delta one/flickr under a cc-license
To summarise a bit:
This is the IT-departments view of their most recent IT-project. And it might be
right ... but ...
(Photo: x-ray delta one/flickr under a cc-license)

27. The user’s
experience
pchweat/"ickr under cc-license
... the user’s environment will still be this.
(Photo: pchweat/flickr under a cc-license)
This is also typical of the digital world: many systems can be implemented at
once, un-coordinated.

28. Tweet during the first union-wide conference on the digital workplace in
Sweden, autum 2013.

29. Burden
of vigilance
This is another factor behind stress and cognitive load in the workplace.
IT departments and management usually don’t take into account the effort and
time the user has to spend on things like virus protection, upgrades, passwords,
patches etc.

30. At this hospital in Stockholm, Sweden, patients with arthritis fill in a self-evaluation
before their appointment with their physician. The patients answer a
number of questions about pain and stiffness.
Earlier, the self-evaluation was a bundle of paper. Now it’s digital – on computer
screens in the waiting room.
My colleauge Henrik was working with this. He entered the waiting room. But
something wasn’t right. Why the humming sound?
The computers with the survey was on a table, and as he went closer this is what
he saw...

31. stupidsystem.org:
The doctor that rocks the mouse
Photo: Henrik Ahlén
It turned out, that all the computers in the hospital network were controlled by a central security
system. After only a few minutes of inactivity, the system automatically shuts down all software
running on the computer and logs out. This configuration was impossible to change, and the IT
policy did not allow for any exceptions.
But patients doesn’t show up in the waiting room every four minutes. So time and again, the
computers in the waiting room were locked. Each and every time, a nurse or a doctor had to dash
out in the waiting room and log in – a process that took considerable time.
And all the time that was supposed to be saved disappeared!
Finally one nurse got the idea to place the computer mouse on the tray of the test tube rocker.
This moves the cursor continually on the screen, and the computer won’t be logged out.

32. Inferior
design
Also typical for most enterprise software, still, is that design is weak.
That’s typically apparent when you compare business software to what we
encounter as consumers, in our private life.
We’ve seen a couple of examples already, but it’s not only the graphic design.

33. 1 2 3 4
Basket Shipping Con#rm Pay
Next >>
Consider the experience when you shop online. You’ll eventually get to a screen like
this.

34. How to pay the invoice?
This is an accounting system, and a process.
But we really don’t have a clue about what to do next.

35. But people
are also
ingenious
But in some cases, people might have a chance to do workarounds.

36. Photo: Richard Gatarski
One of my colleagues, Richard Gatarski, booked a table at a downtown Italian restaurant.
When he arrived with his company, they were greeted by the headwaiter, who asked if
they had a reservation. Richard confirmed, and the headwaiter looked at his computer
screen.
”Gatarski? Hm, let’s see .. yes, there’s your reservation. Welcome!”
The headwaiter then picked up what Richard first thought must be some kind of new,
electronic touch-pen, and moved it toward the screen. Richard is a tech savvy Internet
entrepreneur, and therefore quite curious about what kind of new gadget they used at
this restaurant. So he leaned forward and looked a little closer …
Photo: Richard Gatarski

37. Photo: Richard Gatarski
… and suddenly realised that it was a perfectly ordinary whiteboard felt-tip pen. The
head waiter just draw an “X” over their booking, directly on to the computer screen!
“That’s very interesting,” Richard said to the head waiter. “How come you do that?”
“Well, you know,” the head waiter answered with a great sigh. “The guys that create
these kinds of systems … they have …. Well, you can’t do things the way you wanna do
them. You can check off a reservation in the system, with the mouse, but hey, it’s at
least four clicks away from this screen. And you can’t tell if the guests have been shown
to their table or are still waiting in the bar. So it’s much easier just to draw on the
screen (and when the evening is over I just wipe the screen with a cloth). We’re very
busy here, and this works just fine.”
The point is that the waiter at this restaurant wanted to give the customers the best
possible impression, focusing on them from the very beginning. Remember: first
impressions last. He did not want to tell them “wait a minute” and then focus on the
machine.

38. Chores,
not work
It is highly typical that many of the things now demanded of us at work are
things that we really don’t feel are “our REAL work”. Not really helping the
elderly. Not really engaging with pupils in the classroom. Not the things that
made us want to be nurses, doctors, teachers, policemen, bus drivers etc.
In fact, social workers, doctors, police, teachers are now spending more time on
documenting and reporting than on actually meeting the clients, the patients, the
pupils.

39. Process managment
Documentation
”Command and
control”
More and more time is spent on process, documentation, time and task reporting.
And it’s important to see that digital systems are the driving power behind such
control. It is the digital devices that makes it possible, for example, to control an
enrolled nurse’s or Division 2 nurse’s day in chunks down to minutes.
Yes you heard right. An enrolled nurse’s daily schedule in Sweden is governed by the
minute.

40. Controls my work
”in an annoying
and unreasonable way”
8000 2012
In a survey of members of the biggest Swedish trade union, a bit ov 50 percent
said this.
... which makes you wonder: weren’t the machines supposed to work for us? Are
we working for them?

41. ”... all the software
designed to save us from
administrative
responsibilities turned us
into part- or full-time
administrators”
David Graeber
I’ve given you mainly examples from Sweden, but the signs and traces of bad
systems in the workplace seem common in many countries.
This slide is a quote from David Graeber, writer and historian.

42. IT +
command
&
control This is not inevitable. There is a choice.

43. Implementation:
Quick
Uncoordinated

44. Major hospital
M T O T F L S M T O T F L S M
➡ IP telephony
➡ Pascal, pharmacy system
➡ TakeCare (EMR)
➡ ICF
➡ Smart card login, new functionality
Early summer 2013

45. Cognitive load
on an entirely new scale
The sum of these factors is a cognitive load - on an entirely new scale.
Not a load on your muscles or wrists or elbows or eyes - but on the brain.
Having to remember, to interpret: how did we do this? OR that? How did this
work?
Given the number of systems, and the not always, but quite often, sub-optimal
quality, there is serious concern that this will cause stress and frustration.

46. Preliminary
definition of
”digital work
environment”

47. Every part of the working
environment where you
interact with
or are
controlled by digital
systems

48. Digital work enivironment
Impact on the
way we work
Technical
quality
Adapted
to humans
and task

49. Good
simple,
intuitive
easy to "nd,
hard to make
mistakes,
good training
no
crashes,
fast
network,
instant
feedback
!exibility, simpli"ed administration,
focus on core tasks, empowerment, freedom
Changing the
way we work
Stability,
speed
Adapted
to humans
and task

50. Bad
un!exibile, burdensome administration,
layoffs, dis-empowerment, surveillance
too many
clicks,
hard to "nd,
easy to make
mistakes,
poor or no
training
crashes,
printer
trouble,
slow
network
Changing the
way we work
Stability,
speed
Adapted
to humans
and task

51. Digital work
environment
the whole picture

52. digital aspects of
work environment
social &
organizational
aspects of
work
environment
physical
aspects of work
environment

53. digital aspects of
work environment
social &
organizational
aspects of
work
environment
Mouse arm
iPad neck
SMS-thumb
physical
sight
aspects of work
environment
command &
control,
surveillance,
distrust,
etc

54. What
to do?
These problems are not inescapable. Their not impossible to fix. A good
indicator of that is - YOU. All the people that have come to this conference,
sharing your best solutions, your good examples, and your passion for better.
The problem is there are too few people here.

55. See the whole
picture
☜ Rememeber the whole picture.

56. Competence in
interaction
design,
usability and IT
Needed at the authorities

57. Legislation
And some new legislation.

58. 15 years
© Jan Gulliksen, Bengt Göransson and Åsa Cajander
And things do change slowly in the workplace.

59. Research on-site

60. Thank you! Mail:
jonas.soderstrom@inuse.se
Twitter:
@Jonas_Blind_Hen
Site:
stupidsystem.org
inuse.se
Slideshare:
Jonas_inUse
If you have examples of stupid systems in the workplace - or of course good
systems - please contact me.