Steven Alter is a Professor Emeritus at the University of San Francisco. His experience as vice president of a manufacturing software start-up and author of four editions of a major IS textbook led to development of the “work system method,” a systems analysis and design approach that business professionals can adapt and use for their own understanding and for collaborating with IT professionals, consultants, and vendors.  The underlying ideas were formalized as work system theory, which has been extended in many articles and conference papers over several decades. His continuing research aims to articulate a broader work system perspective that can serve as an integrated lens for high level discussions of sociotechnical and totally automated work systems while also providing paths for exploring specific aspects of work systems in substantial detail.