Transforming work: collaboration, learning, and design
Communications of the ACM
Office procedure as practical action: models of work and system design
ACM Transactions on Information Systems (TOIS)
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Traditionally, many system designs focus on achieving efficiency through worker's standardized and uninterrupted operation. In this paper, I propose an alternative design approach: improving efficiency by transforming 'pipeline' systems into 'pebble' systems, i.e. reducing the constraints on workers' actions and augment their activities of managing local contingencies and utilizing local resources. I further illustrate this approach through a research project in the warehouse, in which a design vision was developed to transform the current pipeline system into a pebble system to improve efficiency.