Navigating complexity beyond collaborative design: the PSI network model and case studies

Abstract In our earlier papers, we developed the PSI (Problem/Product, Social, and Institutional Spaces) framework to address complex design contexts incorporating diverse social, managerial, cultural, and other concerns. Experience using the framework in cases involving multiple social entities, from people to organizations, evolving to deal with various design challenges, revealed that we need a network model to account for this complexity. With the addition of the network model, the PSI framework allows for studying complex design scenarios requiring different levels of granularity for various contexts, including hierarchical, recursive, and temporal models. Further, our case studies demonstrate that the framework reveals that inherent to design is the simultaneous design of the product, the social and institutional aspects involved inside an organization, and its relations to others participating in a design endeavor. In what follows, we demonstrate the network version of this framework, its use, and insights that one can glean. The diversity and complexity of situations covered and not covered in this paper, including collaborations between industry and university and substantially complex multi-organizational projects, demonstrates the potential and value of the PSI framework.