Stress & Bureaucracy 2.0

Jonas Söderström • Intrateam 2015 • Copenhagen, Feb 25

The perils of the digital workplace

@jonas_blind_hen

#iec15#bureaucracy2#stupidsystem

Digital funktion och passion

Stockholm • Göteborg • Malmö

1994 –

Create new document

Photo: Maria Ålbrant

Enterprise software sucks

The digital workplaceas a cause of stress

Angry, stressed, frustrated with IT

3400 2012

M T W T F

Biggest source of frustration in the office?

1. Slow web applications2. Computer3. Printer4. Boss5. Meetings

1000 2012

0

5

10

15

Insecure 24h work On alert Dangers

26 %Causing stress

IT Systems

3700 2013

from 145 to 313 clicks

With new system

Renew weapons licence

mean 2 hr 52 mWrite 1 report, shoplifting

Typical causes

Too many systems

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 systemLotus Notes (mail)

Webbmail (mail at home)

Karolinska University HospitalLibrary, Feb. 18

110 employees

117 systems

Systems are different

John reports hours worked in two systems: one uses comma, the other point

1,5 hrs 1.5 hrs

What happens if he uses a comma in the system that wants a point?

1,5 hrs 1,5 hrs

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

15 hrs

•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.

Used seldom, but ...

x-ray delta one/flickr under a cc-license

YOUR PROJECT

The user’s experience

pchw

eat/"i

ckr u

nder

cc-li

cens

e

Burden of vigilance

stupidsystem.org:The doctor that rocks the mouse

Photo: Henrik Ahlén

Inferior design

1 2 3 4

Next >>

Basket Shipping Con#rm Pay

How to pay the invoice?

But people are also

ingenious

Photo: Richard Gatarski

Photo: Richard Gatarski

Not only a design issue

Chores, not work

Process managmentDocumentation”Command and

control”

Controls my work ”in an annoying

and unreasonable way”8000 2012

”... all the software designed to save us from

administrative responsibilities turned us

into part- or full-time administrators”

David Graeber

IT command&

control+

The effects

Cognitive load

on an entirely new scale

Sand Hill 2012 Enterprise systems study

17% end user productivity loss

300

”The economic value of losses outweighs

100% of total IT spend.

Ouch.”

How can this go on?

”...we are stifled by

administrative systems”

Professors and teachers at Uppsala University

–1%

+6%+5%+4%+3%

+2%–2%

+1%

C Northcote Parkinson

Parkinson’s law

Bureaucracy 2.0

Bureaucracy 1.0 Bureaucracy 2.0

Growth of bureaucracy

+6 %

”simplify”

We don’t use IT to simplify anymore.

Programming the ENIAC, late 1940ies

We did...

Joneal Williams-Daw at the UNIVAC 1, 1953

Norc, Columbia University’s Watson Lab, 1954

but now ...

145 ➡ 313 clicks

We use IT to do new things.We use IT to

do new things.

Electronic Health Records:

”created the need for another person”

Digital systems means new possibilities ...... for bureaucrats,

too.

VALUEI suggest, IT systems are often really not about this.

POWERIt’s about power for (middle) management.

does NOT set concrete goals for

new business system

85 %

ComputerSweden 2010

40 % abandoned

f.ex. Chaos studies, Standish Group

”No clear reason or idea behind the IT system”

8000 2012

Digitalizationaffords bureacracy.

What to do?

What you need to consider

See the whole picture

☜

Cognitive load is real. You’re responsible.

Demand ”consumer-grade usability”

© Jan Gulliksen, Bengt Göransson and Åsa Cajander

15 years

But it’s not just about the interface.

Are you really empowering users?

EmpowermentTrust

Self-organizingFreedom

ControlDistrust

vs

Fight bureaucracy

... even when it’s wrapped in IT.

is like trying to get the toothpaste back

into the tube

Fighting bureacracy

Find real business impacts

... not ”functions”!

Jere

my

Toem

an/

Flic

kr

If nobody is using it, it doesn’t matter how many smart functions it boasts.

Value – positive impact – from IT is created in use

Jere

my

Toem

an/

Flic

kr

How?

Technology, the organization and content of work shall be designed so that the employee is not subjected to physical or mental stress that can lead to illness or accidents.

Swedish Work Environment Act, Chapter 2, § 1.(Norwegian law is similar)

The work environment shall be satisfactory in view of the social and technological developments in society.

Swedish Work Environment Act, Chapter 2, § 1.(Norwegian law is similar)

The employee shall be given the opportunity to participate in shaping their own work situation and in change and development relating to his own work.

Swedish Work Environment Act, Chapter 2, § 1.(Norwegian law is similar)

The employee shall be given the opportunity to participate in shaping their own work situation and in change and development relating to his own work.

Swedish Work Environment Act, Chapter 2, § 1.(Norwegian law is similar)

USER-CENTERED

DESIGN:

IT’S THE LAW

Planer om indretning eller ændring af lokaler, tekniske anlæg og hjælpemidler m.v. skal forelægges Arbejdstilsynet til udtalelse eller godkendelse, før de bringes til udførelse.

Arbejdsmiljøloven, Kapitel 6, § 44

The whole team should observe users.

Photo: Richard Gatarski

Call to action

Fight stressFight bureacracy

Empower and delight users

Go out and:

in Swedish

Book

in Norwegian

https://intranatverk.se/kunskap/peak-it-nar-it-slutar-leverera-varde/

More about the business side

Presentation and video (in Swedish)

Thank you!Mail:jonas.soderstrom@inuse.se

Twitter:@Jonas_Blind_Hen

Site:stupidsystem.orginuse.se

Slideshare:Jonas_inUse

Further reading 1

David Boyle:The Human

Element

Gary Hamel:What matters

now

John Seddon:Freedom from

Command & Control

Further reading 2

Gojko Adzic:Impactmapping

impactmapping.org

Henrik Kniberg:How we got rid of time reports – a story of waste elimination

http://bit.ly/1m7424d

Sources & links”A Busy Doctor’s Right Hand, Ever Ready to Type”NY Times, Jan. 12, 2014http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/14/health/a-busy-doctors-right-hand-ever-ready-to-type.html26% of #rst responders stressed by IT systemsArnetz, 2012: ”Det här är inte vilket yrke som helst!”Reviewed in Swedish here: http://javlaskitsystem.se/2014/08/it-system-stressar-blaljuspersonalen-mer-an-faror-och-obekvama-arbetstider/

17% end user productivity loss:2012 IT Adoption Insight Survey Reveals Disturbing Level of Enterprise Productivity Loss (March 5, 2012)http://sandhill.com/article/2012-it-adoption-insight-survey-reveals-disturbing-level-of-enterprise-productivity-loss/

David Graeber on administration”Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Pro#t”The Baffler, March 2012 http://thebaffler.com/past/of_"ying_cars

Sources & links