Boundary Objects in Design: An Ecological View of Design Artifacts
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Authors
Bergman, Mark
Lyytinen, Kalle
Mark, Gloria
Subjects
systems analysis and design
design theory
boundary objects
social worlds
knowledge integration
power alignment
design ecology
functional requirements
stakeholder analysis
design theory
boundary objects
social worlds
knowledge integration
power alignment
design ecology
functional requirements
stakeholder analysis
Advisors
Date of Issue
2007
Date
Publisher
Language
Abstract
Traditionally, Systems Analysis and Design (SAD) research has focused on ways of working and ways of modeling. Design
ecology – the task, organizational and political context surrounding design – is less well understood. In particular,
relationships between design routines and products within ecologies have not received sufficient attention. In this paper, we
theorize about design product and ecology relationships and deliberate on how design products – viewed as boundary
objects – bridge functional knowledge and stakeholder power gaps across different social worlds. We identify four essential
features of design boundary objects: capability to promote shared representation, capability to transform design
knowledge, capability to mobilize for action, and capability to legitimize design knowledge. We show how these features
help align, integrate, and transform heterogeneous technical and domain knowledge across social worlds as well as
mobilize, coordinate, and align stakeholder power. We illustrate through an ethnography of a large aerospace laboratory
how two design artifacts – early proto-architectures and project plans – shared these four features to coalesce design
processes and propel successful movement of designs across social worlds. These artifacts resolved uncertainty associated
with functional requirements and garnered political momentum to choose among design solutions. Altogether, the study
highlights the importance of design boundary objects in multi-stakeholder designs and stresses the need to formulate
sociology-based design theories on how knowledge is produced and consumed in complex SAD tasks.
Type
Article
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Department
Operations and Information Sciences
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Citation
Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS), Volume 8, Issue 11, Article 1, 2007.
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This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.