Literature Review
A literature review allowed us to explore planning in analogous domains and gain sufficient background knowledge in preparation for our CIs. We reviewed existing ethnographic accounts in the Airline, Surgical Ward, and Space domains in addition to relevant research in Cognitive Science.
Our research revealed distinct planning challenges and unique approaches to structuring work and managing resources. In addition, we discovered common planning problems and methods for addressing these problems, across all domains that contributed to our research findings.
Summary of Findings
Airlines
Airline planning exhibits much overlap with human space mission planning. Both domains have issues with authority tension, urgent real-time re-planning, safety multiple roles viewing and modifying the plan, and remote communication. In reviewing relevant literature, emerging opportunities for NASA arose including the use of historical booking to forecast data, managing different types of resource constraints (fuel, maintenance, crew restrictions, etc,.), and handling the issues of decentralized software.
Surgical Ward
The Surgical Ward exhibits complex planning workflows. The staff often executes under evolving situations and under strong resource constraints. In conjunction with a variety of coordinative artifacts, one role, the Charge Nurse, is primarily responsible for generating the daily plan, assigning responsibilities, and updating the plan during unforeseen incidents.
This domain offers many design opportunities for human space missions, including the consolidation of planning roles, public and collaborative planning artifacts, and the consideration of the plan as a contract between stakeholders.
This domain offers many design opportunities for human space missions, including the consolidation of planning roles, public and collaborative planning artifacts, and the consideration of the plan as a contract between stakeholders.
Space
Planning for human space missions requires a substantial amount of time for preparation before the actual date of execution. With expensive consequences when a plan is not adhered to by executors, everyone must be ready to respond quickly and critically. Effective communication amongst personnel and efficient use the tools used in this process are critical to a successful mission. A literature of human space missions provided us with a solid grounding for our user research in this domain.
Cognitive Science
Individual planning is an activity that synthesizes several different cognitive processes and levels of functioning and is heavily related to problem solving, strategizing, and metacognition. Generally, individuals plan in service of achieving satisfactory future states through specifying and executing intermediate goals.
The most appropriate and actionable literature we reviewed that will inform our design decisions for a planning tool is the Model Human Processor, which considers the fundamentals of human cognition including memory, perception, and attention, to derive a set of “Principles of Operation” that guide HCI.
The most appropriate and actionable literature we reviewed that will inform our design decisions for a planning tool is the Model Human Processor, which considers the fundamentals of human cognition including memory, perception, and attention, to derive a set of “Principles of Operation” that guide HCI.
