In participatory design (PD) projects, the course of the project itself and the functionality of the evolving application may heavily depend on the establishing phase of the project. In some of the emerging new forms of organizations these formative steps cannot be taken in the same way as in "traditional" organizations. Taking a service network as an illustrating example and referring to the project establishment activities of informing about the project, selecting project participants, allocating project resources and selecting project settings, it is argued that "classical" participatory approaches must be modified in order to meet the needs of these organizations. The descriptive category of the "self-employed laborer" is introduced to stress the roots of the mentioned problems in changing work settings in terms of organizational structure and culture, legal conditions, market structures and individual strategies.
