Developers of interactive systems need to be able to understand the eventual users and work that the systems are to support. Traditional methods of addressing these needs often fall short, resulting in systems that degrade, rather than enhance, the quality, volume, and nature of the work produced. Participatory Design (PD) attempts to remedy problems with the utility and usability of software and hardware systems by introducing the concept of user participation in the design phase.

While PD has generally succeeded in the context of in-house systems design, it faces significantly greater challenges and obstacles in the development of mass-produced off-the-shelf software applications and systems. Most of these challenges arise from the need to generalize when designing and producing products for mass use, while another large part of the problem lies in existing organizational structures and development practices. In order to address these issues, we must first identify them.