Abstract

The paper presents an analysis of diagnostic work focused on the social and organizational practices in which diagnosis is embedded. The analysis of a troubleshooting episode in an Italian internet company shows how diagnostic work is realized: 1) through collaboration sustained by specific knowledge distribution among designers (different but overlapping competences); 2) intersubjectively and discursively as an activity characterized by diverse narratives and interwined with material intervention in the system; 3) following a situated rationality which proceeds by gradual approximations to achieve partial or provisional solutions while also taking account of organizational goals and needs.