A document-based method to study the evolution of design practices in public organisations

Knowledge on how design practices evolve and become part of the daily practices of public organisations is still lacking. Prior to embarking on this research, we asked ourselves how this phenomenon should be studied in the context of public organisations. In the complex system of an organisation, practices are in constant flux, making it difficult to understand how a practice evolves based on certain factors such as leadership, legitimacy, or organisational culture. Adopting an alternative approach, including ‘time’ as an analytic element, we attempted to understand the evolution of design practices through a sequence of relevant past events. In a series of case studies of local government, we collected data through publicly available organisational documents related to design practices and visualised these data in a timeline. With the results, we constructed a narrative on how design practices have evolved over time in these organisations. This paper describes one case study at Kent County Council in the UK showing how this document-based, process-oriented research approach allowed us to capture the evolution of design practices in a public organisation over a 12-year period within a short research time and with greater objectivity. In conclusion, we argue that this longitudinal research method can be a new approach for researchers conducting studies on design practices within public organisations.