Cognitive technology development and end-user involvement in the Norwegian petroleum industry – Human factors missing or not?

Abstract

The petroleum industry is a high-hazard industry depending on reliable technical solutions. The industry tends to use increasingly advanced technologies including machine learning technology with increased difficulties for end users to keep abreast of how these technologies work. Thus, our research question was: How are end users involved in the development and implementation of cognitive technologies in the Norwegian petroleum industry to contribute to safe and reliable technical solutions? We used a qualitative explorative approach, with semistructured interviews with 31 informants from 10 companies. Thematic analysis revealed the categories ‘technology focus’, ‘understanding of end-user involvement versus end users’ actual involvement’, ‘lack of access to end users’, ‘lack of human factors methods in early phases’, and ‘lack of official rules and regulations’. Findings show that during the earlier phases of designing algorithms and training data, end users are hardly involved. Regarding later phases with offshore testing, implementation, use, and improvement, end users are much more integrated in the process.