Sustaining Stories:

The Versatile Life of Sustained,In-house, Ethnographic Practicein a Global Software Company

Natalie D. HansonJohann W. Sarmiento-Klapper

SAP Global Business Operations

A large, global software company

Market and Consumer Discourse

Discourse of Productivity and theEmergence of Operations Expertise

Evolving User Experience in aTraditional Technical ConsultingEnvironment

Vignette I

Making the Unseen Visible, but Losing it from Sight:The Woeful Pie Chart

Reconstructing unseen workpractices and making them graspableto decision makers

The woeful pie chart

Promoting conversations overartifacts

Vignette II

Projecting retrospective inquiry as relevant to the presentand to a set of envisioned futures

Retrospectively exploring therelevance of prior insights in newsituations

Can ethnography contribute tostrategic planning?

Prospectively, we were able toposition our expertise as strategicand useful

Vignette III

About Design: Prospective but Partially Blinded

Managing different stakeholderpriorities

Shared sense-making as powerfulvehicle for the uptake of findings

We can never put enough informationinto a written report

Conclusions

User Experience Portfolio Planningand KPI Measuring

Enhancing and Supporting OperationsExpertise

Interdisciplinary Team Composition

Managing Longitudinal Data

Open Visibility Challenges