Workshop description

When Information Systems are not aligned with users' work in practice, users invent workarounds. As such, workaround behaviour can be viewed as an indication of information systems or work processes that need improving. This half-day workshop will be the first to focus specifically on the topic of workarounds and bring together a growing community of researchers interested in the topic.

The workshop provides a platform for workarounds research and for sharing knowledge about the topic. We will present the state of the art and provide concrete guidelines for detecting and analysing workarounds. We will cover qualitative approaches as well as quantitative approaches such as process mining, demonstrate these techniques, and provide concrete guidelines for participants to employ them in their own research. Also, we will provide several examples of how organisations may improve processes based on knowledge of workarounds. We conclude the workshop with a brainstorming activity in which we encourage everyone to reflect on challenges and potential new research directions, which we will collect in the form of a research agenda.

The target audience is researchers that are either (1) already active in the study of workarounds, or (2) interested in learning about the work that has been done in the area and how they can use it in their own research. This includes researchers with a general interest in involving users in the improvement of information systems, as well as those looking for new ways to give insight into actual work practices of employees within organizations. The workshop will be limited to physical participation.

Preliminary schedule:

• Keynote
• Part 1: Qualitative and quantitative detection and analysis methods
• Part 2: Harnessing workaround knowledge for process improvement
• Part 3: Developing a research agenda