Work as imagined and work as done: Mind the gap

When we think about human work, we often fail to realize that the same activity is actually two very different sorts of work. Steven Shorrock explores some of the differences between work as imagined and work as done in a variety of settings and outlines some implications for the inevitable gaps.

When we think about human work, we often fail to realize that the same activity is actually two very different sorts of work. The act of thinking about work gives us a clue about one sort of work—work as imagined: what we think people do. Based on our imagination of human work, we construct all sorts of artifacts to assist or constrain work, without necessarily finding out what it is that people actually do—work as done. Steven Shorrock explores some of the differences between work as imagined and work as done in a variety of settings and outlines some implications for the inevitable gaps.