Boundless Collaboration

Abstract

This thesis describes the design journey that resulted in a post-pandemic vision for distributed teams and the development of a concept to fulfil the lack of spontaneous encounters in hybrid working environments. The research follows two different approaches, the double-diamond and the Dive method and includes extensive literature review, remote user research, future context definition, generative and creative sessions and a final round of ideation, prototyping and testing. The whole process keeps the user experience and interaction at the core of the research. The project involved a Consortium of three experts in the realms of businesses, people perspectives and technology from three different companies: Muzus, Ford and Miro. Their participation was vital to generate knowledge at the verge of their fields of expertise and evaluate the ideas generated during the different phases of the study. The initial section of the project was devoted to understanding the past and the present by focusing on the effects of forced remote working caused by the pandemic through literature research, interviews with experts, workers and students. This helped to identify relevant gaps in knowledge for further research, as well as potential opportunities for design purposes. The first phase highlighted a new way for workers to perceive remote working, an increased sense of responsibility rising from the work from home practice and an evolved connection with the team. To approach the future exploration, a generative session with the experts investigated the insights collected and explored some future scenarios. A series of context factors were used to develop a Future Vision, useful to contextualize the next research steps. Two creative sessions were held to explore the future vision and analyse the differences between hybrid and remote. The last design phase was meant to communicate the future vision by creating a fictional future Magazine published in 2030 and by designing a vision concept, a physical token that connects workers through a virtual office. A proof of concept of the vision was prototyped, showing that it is possible to create serendipitous encounters and connect dispersed workers by means of a physical token and a video call platform. In conclusion, the next future will see a rising trend of hybrid workspaces and, in order to keep the work efficient, it is imperative to facilitate collaboration with the help of people and tools designated for this scope, as well as fulfil the gaps of time zones, cultures and expertises.