A web of contradictions

We describe our use of contradictions, a concept central to a popular formulation of activity theory, to derive requirements on a new technical system to support an administrative system. Contradictions are the underlying causes of disturbances in the free operation of workplace activities. We argue and demonstrate that the resolution such contradictions can be used as the basis for the (user centred) design of a new system. We conclude that contradictions are both conceptually valuable in understanding the design of systems and are of considerable practical use.