Co-design Workshops as a Step Towards Pilot Implementation for Complex Workplaces: A Case Study of London-Based Airport Future Workplace

This study has investigated how a complex multi-level organisation like a London-based airport can benefit from participatory design workshops using ecological interface design tools (i.e., Abstraction Hierarchy) for selecting or designing better future systems. Many complex organisations are using trials (pilot in our context) for selecting future autonomous technologies. This case is driven by a member of the innovation department of the airport and UX researchers. Our main objective was to employ participatory design and work domain analysis (WDA) as part of a framework to co-design and plan trials for future automated systems for smart work in airport terminal operations. The term automation in this paper also covers some of the so-called AI or more sophisticated automation. Over two weeks in two workshops in a London-based airport, we ran co-design workshops to help the decision-makers understand workplace needs and employee welfare while selecting future automated systems. We also explored potential issues in the work domain that the traditional user-centred design (UCD) methods could not systematically assess (e.g., information exchange or contextual effects). We conclude that WDA as part of co-design workshops prior to selecting the trials could be considered part of the pilot implementation for selection and design systems in complex workplaces, but it has complications.