Deep observation of problems in-use

DePuy International came to me with a hypothesis: if together we could spot ways in which surgeon’s “coping mechanisms” with their surgical instruments, could we use that information to improve the design of those devices.

The answer was emphatically “yes”!

It is rare that a client comes fresh to design research with such a well worked out question. But DePuy knew that the complexity of their surgical devices was so high that there simply had to be issues that they couldn’t spot for themselves. They had been continually revising the designs, with market success, but they believed there were more issues to be spotted and it would take a different process to see them.

They asked me to observe a number of total knee replacement operations and try to document the surgeons “coping mechanisms” – the ways in which they were accommodating for design shortcomings – and then facilitate an exploration of how these shortcomings could be solved through design.

I watched 16 operations in total, recorded nearly 50 hours of video, and spent many days working with the designers.

Together we identified 147 coping mechanisms (and a further 110 problems with which surgeons weren’t coping). In addition, we started to document some of the broader, contextual issues surrounding surgery, theatre teamwork and surgical innovation that may start to have strategic impact on how DePuy position themselves and their products in the marketplace.

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