Visibility tensions in temporal work

This paper explores visibility tensions in temporal work. Existing research has highlighted how diverging temporal orientations can challenge collaboration between organizational actors. Previous studies have emphasised how objects, such as timelines, are used to make certain aspects of temporal dynamics visible and manageable and that temporal orientations stretch beyond the immediate situation to include various pasts, presents, and futures. Although these studies underscore the crucial role of actors and objects in coordinating diverse temporal orientations, they have primarily focused on how objects make time visible and manageable. This paper examines what we term visibility tensions in temporal work through a 27-month qualitative case study of project managers working on interorganisational projects. We found that project managers practiced two types of temporal work aimed at producing and maintaining structures for keeping the project on track: ordering and curating. These forms of temporal work involved the use of boundary objects and aided collaboration because they made specific versions of time visible and shared in socially recognisable ways. However, we also found puzzling visibility tensions around the curating work involved with maintaining such important shared temporal orientation. We contribute to the literature on temporality in interorganisational collaboration via our theorisation of visibility tensions in temporal work and discuss implications for future research and practice. • Project managers carry out temporal work to produce shared temporal structures and orientations • Charts and timelines help managing time and deadlines through the production of shared temporality • Visibility tensions arise because important maintenance work is rendered invisible by the very tools it supports