Essays of a Researcher-Practitioner

• Sep 1, 2011 · 15 min read 1

  Design-Based Research The basis for most of my research is design. I build experimental systems to explore new domains. This essay discusses why design can be a basis for doing research, focusing on what we can learn when we engage in design of computer systems.

• Jun 1, 2014 · 15 min read 2

  Doing Research in Practice The previous post presents the general description of design-based research. This essay presents more practical advice about how to do design-based research in practice.

• Oct 1, 2014 · 15 min read 3

  The Hawthorne Studies The Hawthorne Studies are probably one of the most important and often forgotten studies of human factors. This study is still relevant as it illustrates the difficulty of studying realistic complex human issues in realistic situations. It also illustrates that lasting and robust research contributions related to real-world human issues may be based on inquiry from within industry rather than initiated by academia and commissioned by funding bodies.

• May 1, 2013 · 15 min read 4

  The Four Points of the Research Compass Doing research is difficult. Doing research in practice even more. In this essay I explore what motivates and drives researchers to do research.

• Sep 1, 2013 · 15 min read 5

  The Curious Case Of Small Researchers-Practitioners The following article I wrote in 2013, a year after I decided to leave my academic position and take an industrial position. It represents my initial observation on value and challenges of doing research in practice.

• Oct 1, 2015 · 15 min read 6

  Design As a Political Activity The following essay does not directly discuss the research in practice. However, it addresses one factor that will inevitably affect any research and design activates in practice - politics. Everything that you do in practice will have an immediate impact on people and their behavior, and lead to a number of complex political situations. I wrote this essay as a reaction to the fact that, while there are many articles about politics in design, none of them define the meaning of the term 'politics'.

• May 1, 2012 · 15 min read 7

  Experiential Learning of Computing Concepts Doing research in practice is based on learning from experience. Consequently, the experiential-learning domain can provide us with useful insights about how to effectively learn from experience. In this essay, I explore the experiential learning theory, and present some of lessons learned in applying experiential-learning paradigm in education.

• Nov 1, 2016 · 15 min read 8

  Is Academia Guilty of Intellectual Colonization of Practice? Creating partnerships between academia and industry is valuable but challenging. Doing research in practice is rare and difficult. But doing it naively creates more harm than good. The following essay is my reaction to negative side-effects of naive academia-industry partherships.

• May 1, 2013 · 15 min read 9

  Sketchifying: Bringing Innovation into Software Development Doing research in practice also requires intensive experimentation. Software Sketchifying is an idea about how to bring a research mindset and more experimentation in software development.

• Jul 1, 2017 · 15 min read 10

  Insights from the Past Research community mostly aims at creating ground-breaking and innovative solutions. Looking back at older and historical developments is rarely considered interesting or relevant. However, in the domain of software engineering, lessons from the past are still actual. That was one of the reasons for me to start to work on creating the website that makes it easier to explore the rich history of software engineering. In this essay I reflect on lessons learned, and the value of studying the past so that it might not be reinvented but become a source of inspiration for the present and future.

• Sep 1, 2020 · 15 min read 11

  The Researchers-Practitioners Manifesto My goal is to stimulate practitioners to start doing research in practice and to organizes themselves OUTSIDE current academic structures. I believe that the only way to bridge the practice-research gap is for practitioners to start doing research and to bottom-up build necessary organizations and structures.