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Topsight A Guide to Studying, Diagnosing, and Fixing

Information Flow in Organizations

Clay SpinuzziClay.Spinuzzi@utexas.edu

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Topsight is…

• An overall understanding of the big picture—especially how that organization circulates information

• Something that develops over time, like insight

• Hard to achieve in organizations• A “diagnosis”

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WE NEED TOPSIGHT BECAUSE WORK IS CHANGING

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Literacy is changing

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Classes of work are changing

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Mobility is changing

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Social media are changing

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… So work is changing

• Shedding noncore assets• Working across organizations• Projectification• Virtual organizations• Hyperconnectivity

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HOW HAS WORK CHANGED IN YOUR ORGANIZATION?

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Understanding changes in work

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Getting to topsight

• design a field study at your organization• conduct the field study, collecting solid data• navigate the data you collect• analyze the data to uncover systemic issues• write a solid recommendation report that

presents your findings and recommends ways to solve those systemic issues

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DESIGNING AND CONDUCTING A FIELD STUDY

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How can we understand an organization?

Level Focus Characteristics Timescale Aware? Disruptions (Symptoms)

Macro Activity Culture, history; social action, social memory

Year, decades

No Contradiction

Meso Goal Tool-in-use; tactics Minutes, hours

Yes Discoordination

Micro Operation Rules, habits Seconds No Breakdown

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What goes into a field study?

• Observations: How are people circulating information?

• Interviews: Why do they do what they do? How do they interpret it?

• Artifacts: What texts and innovations are they using?

• Other: System monitoring, prototyping, ???

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ANALYZING THE RESULTS

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At the Meso LevelLevel Focus Characteristics Timescale Aware? Disruptions

(Symptoms)Macro Activity Culture, history;

social action, social memory

Year, decades

No Contradiction

Meso Goal Tool-in-use; tactics

Analyzed via: • Resource

maps• Handoff

chains• Triangulation

tables

Minutes, hours

Yes Discoordination

Micro Operation Rules, habits Seconds No Breakdown

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Resource maps

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Handoff chains

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Triangulation table

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The Macro LevelLevel Focus Characteristics Timescale Aware? Disruptions

(Symptoms)Macro Activity Culture, history;

social action, social memory• Activity system• Activity network

Year, decades

No Contradiction

Meso Goal Tool-in-use; tactics Minutes, hours

Yes Discoordination

Micro Operation Rules, habits Seconds No Breakdown

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Activity systems

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Activity networks

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At the Micro LevelLevel Focus Characteristics Timescale Aware? Disruptions

(Symptoms)Macro Activity Culture, history;

social action, social memory

Year, decades

No Contradiction

Meso Goal Tool-in-use; tactics Minutes, hours

Yes Discoordination

Micro Operation Rules, habits Seconds No Breakdown

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Breakdown table

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PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

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Topsight table

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RECOMMENDING A SOLUTION

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