processes, and concerns significant to them.
SSM’s focus on the stakeholders’ viewpoint
shares much with various participatory design
methods [e.g., 7]. There is, however, an important
difference between participatory design
and SSM: the role of the user in the design
process. In participatory design the user takes
an active role in the analysis and design
process; in SSM this is often not the case.
Rich pictures can be used to record, reason
about, communicate, and negotiate significant
issues as they arise during or after participatory
design. Essentially the role of the rich
picture is to make explicit the stakeholders,
their interrelationships, and their concerns.
Interestingly, this can be done at two levels. A
rich picture of the work context can be drawn
that identifies the stakeholders and the work
setting. Figures 1–3 are examples of this type
of rich picture. Additionally, a rich picture of
the participatory design team itself can be
used to identify the necessary managers,
hands-on users, beneficial users, analysts,
designers, and other participants. This type of
rich picture can be useful in “designing
design,” in composing the stakeholder meetings,
and in reasoning about design processes.
Comparing the work-context rich picture
with the design-context rich picture provides a
way of checking whether there is appropriate
stakeholder representation on the design
team. Consider the use of rich pictures with
the following techniques seen frequently in
approaches to participatory design.