A Field Study of Collaborative Work in Network Management: Implications for Interface Design

Abstract

To inform the design of interfaces in real-time network management, a field study of telecommunication engineers was conducted at a corporate network operating centre. Eighty hours of direct observations, spanning ten different shifts, were carried out. This study focused on the nature of collaboration between network managers and stakeholders who were internal and external to their organization, how they communicated with one another, and how network managers distributed responsibilities and information. The characteristics of network management, and thus the collaboration, differ substantially in some ways from other complex work domains. This work helped to identify novel opportunities for enhancing and redesigning current interfaces to provide better support for communication and coordination in network operating environments.