Human Performance in the Spotlight: ‘Human Error’ and ‘Honest Mistakes’

This article is a reproduction of an article published in HindSight magazine issue 35 in September 2023 (all issues available…

Diversity of Thought: Surviving and Thriving in a Changing World

In a rapidly evolving world, organisations must adapt to survive and thrive. However, the key lies not only in technological innovation, but in the diversity of thought within an organisation. This article sheds light on the crucial role diversity of thought plays in navigating the complexities of our changing world.

Learning About Healthcare Work in a Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has had one of the biggest effects on work-as-done in healthcare in living memory. So what might we learn about work from the perspectives of frontline workers? I asked a variety of practitioners to give a short answer.

How To Do Safety-II

Safety-II, its cousin Resilience Engineering (and offshoots such as resilient healthcare), as well as predecessor…

What Human Factors Isn’t: 3. Off-The-Shelf Behaviour Modification Training

‘Human Factors’ (or Ergonomics) is often presented as something that it’s not, or as something…

‘Human Factors’ and ‘Human Performance’: What’s the Difference?

The term ‘Human Performance’ (and ‘Human and Organisational Performance’ (or HOP) has become increasingly common…

Work-as-Imagined Solutioneering: A 10-Step Guide

In this post, I outline a typical process of 10 Steps by which problematic solutions come into being. Some of the steps may be skipped, but with the same outcome: a problematic solution.

The Loneliest Profession in Healthcare

You’d expect that Human Factors/Ergonomics would be very relevant to the NHS. But is it actually integrated?

Human Factors at The Oscars

It has variously been described as “an incredible and almost unbelievable gaffe” (Radio Times), “the greatest mistake in Academy Awards history” (Telegraph), “an extraordinary blunder…an unprecedented error” (ITV News), “the most spectacular blunder in the history of the starry ceremony” and “the most awkward, embarrassing Oscar moment of all time: an extraordinary failure” (Guardian). It was, of course, the Grand Finale of the Oscars 2017.

Empathy: A Core Condition for Humanistic Design

Many involved in human-centred design (ergonomics, human factors, UX, interaction design, etc) have an internal…