Augmenting the Participatory Design Concept in Systems Development

Abstract

Participatory Design (PD) is an effective tool for designing organizational systems where views, aspirations and the input of both the system users and developers are sought and reconciled in the development of a system. This paper attempts to highlight and identify the fit between the Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) as applied in systems development and the tools of the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) as applied in manufacturing and how that fit does enhance Participatory Design in systems development. By recognizing the complementarities of the tools of these two approaches (SSM and QFD), we can enhance Participatory Design in systems development. Findings from literature review show that a comprehensive application of this concept is yet to be done in information systems development. The approach builds on the seven phases of Soft Systems Methodology by applying the Quality Function Deployment techniques to elicit information from complex and amorphous real-world situations to augment the Participatory Design process.Keywords: Participatory Design; Soft Systems Methodology; Quality Function Deployment; House of Quality