every. single. time. we. go. online…. fail.
Some people ask me why I call my blog yakshaving. Well, I fell in love with the word since I learned about it in 2005. Often times, I blame myself to the point of melancholy that I am unable to focus on something for any period of time without being distracted by something else. Without feeling the constant tug of multiple stimuli pulling me to wikipedia.. or Techcrunch.. or down the street for a quick change of scenery.
Sam Anderson, wrote a piece in the New Yorker, called “In Defense of Distraction” that I appreciated. Sam refers to a quote that we hold dear at the Bettr@ WHQ by the economist Herbert Simon: “What information consumes is rather obvious: It consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.”
What I thought was fascinating in the article was the conversation with David Meyer, who is one of the world’s experts on multitasking (He’s at UMichigan-go blue). Meyer proposes that the distraction we face on a day-to-day basis is a full-blown epidemic, “a cognitive plague that has the potential to wipe out an entire generation of focused and productive thought,” and even compares it to smoking.
Reading about Meyers insights on multitasking reminded me a little bit of Hick’s Law, from physical human factors class at ID. I now plan to read Winifred Gallagher’s Rapt, in which she explores how top down focus is the “Holy Grail” of self-help. apparently, a psychologist has calculated that we can attend to 173 billion bits in an average lifetime.
Of course, some of the stats surrounding distraction are alarming. If every interruption costs around 25 minutes of productivity, one third of the day goes to recovery.
The metaphors that Anderson uses in his article are fascinating (since taking Kim Erwin’s “Metaphor and Analogy in design” class, I constantly attempt to perceive and analyze the metaphors used in communication). he says the Internet is basically a [B.F] Skinner box engineered to tap right into our deepest mechanisms of addiction. In the discussion of neuro enhancers, Anderson talks about “an attentional arms race in which new technologies colonize ever bigger zones of our attention, and new drugs to expand the limits of that attention”.
It’s interesting to note that one of the solutions mentioned to the attention problem is that of “lifehacking”. Just the fact that it’s called “lifehacking” — and not “attention-inducing” or “attention hacking” shows how considerable the problem of attention deficit is perceived. Things that essentially save you lots of time give you more of your life back.
Sam Anderson, in the article, interviews Merlin Mann, who is a life hacking hero (and often discussed by Kevin and I). Mann has most recently embraced the ADD that the internet age induces, and just strives to be more cognizant and come to terms with it. Mann gets all existential in the interview:
There’s no shell script, there’s no fancy pen, there’s no notebook or nap or Firefox extension or hack that’s gonna help you figure out why the fuck you’re here.
A fundamental part of getting better at something is finding the time to focus. Sustained, deliberate practice helps a person gain a sense of achievement. This achievement, then in turn stimulates a drive towards further progress through a magical snowball effect. When we were growing up, we got some validation through our parents. As adults, we need (and essentially rely) on validation and support from peers in our communities of practice and from colleagues in a work setting.
There are times when involving others in learning (informal social learning) is extremely beneficial and just the creative distraction necessary to help you think in new directions and explore possibilities you might have previously missed. There are other times when you want to focus-pay attention-and be deeply reflective, which tends to be an individual activity. We recognize this and empathize with the users that want that. We want, and need that too.
A few weeks ago, I got the chance to see a private screening of Objectified at the Institute of Design by Director Gary Hustwit (director of Helvetica). The movie was spectacular. It had the same characteristic cinematography as Helvetica, and featured sweet tunes from El Ten. The movie featured Paola Antonelli (MOMA), Bangle (BMW), Moggridge/Brown/Kelley/Suri (IDEO), Fukusawa (prev. Muji), Dieter Rams (who cracks me up), and Karim Rashid (also cracks me up but is a joker).
Movie trailer:
The movie is awesome, it was totally worth skipping class (whoops) to get to see Gary and ask him questions in person about the documentary.
I was happy to hear that Gary had a similar version of the future of designed products that I subscribe to: 2 classes of products, one that fosters a recyclable/disposable mentality, and another that is truly authentic — ages well, and has connected personal stories. This second class of products intrigues me. It is the old leather briefcase with the shiny patina that your dad gives you, or the wallet you’ve used for years and just won’t give up even though you get a new one for your birthday. Interesting to explore the intersection of these two classes. Imagine if you had an outer laptop case of some sort of metal and leather that wore really well, and changed the guts of it when you wanted to upgrade? In all honesty, this is probably unlikely to happen in the near future since people really like having “shiny new gadgets”, but fun to imagine the possibility.
The most inspiring comments from Objectified came from Rob Walker, who I hadn’t heard of until I watched the movie though I am a relatively frequent NYT reader. His comments about shopping in your own closet made me feel even more strongly about moving to shared ownership models and “stuff” co-operatives… (but more on this later).
I have a lot more to say about Objectified, but I’ll integrate it into the next few posts that I have had on the backburner for a while.
p.s. I’ve decided I really want to make a documentary sometime. +Added to future bucketlist.
Obama, speaking at Georgetown:
One of the changes that I would like to see — and I’m going to be talking about in this in weeks to come — is seeing our best and our brightest commit themselves to making things — engineers, scientists, innovators. For so long, we have placed at the top of our pinnacle folks who can manipulate numbers and engage in complex financial calculations. And — and that’s good. We need some of that. But you know what we can really use is some more scientists and some more engineers who are building and making things that we can export to other countries.
I’m hoping he didn’t literally mean tangible things; a great message nonetheless.
Wow. I just got back from Spring Break in Beijing and it wasn’t much of a break at all. I was working on Bettr@ stuff and trying to nail down a final set of requirements and interaction flows, and was jetlagged the entire time I was there.
I knew I shoulda taken DEMO (MDes equivalent of a thesis) or something. It’s 6 credits and its a whole helluva lot easier than taking 4 A/B session ID classes to compensate. Especially because classes at ID tend to be pretty intense. This semester, I decided to drop my TA position for design synthesis so I could focus on schoolwork and really revving up work on Bettr@. Though Bettr@ has morphed and adapted as a concept as a result of the turbulent economic times and finding a leaner, more relevant business model, we’re still very excited about building something that people want.
I have a strong feeling that this semester is going to be a lot like this:
But I’m going to take it in stride, and see what happens.
This semester, I’m taking:
- Managerial Finance (MBA)
- Capstone II: Strategic Management (MBA)
- Design Languages (ID), continuing with this workshop by John Grimes.
- Metaphor and Analogy in Design w/ Kim Erwin (ID) — I’m super excited about this one!
- Service Design (ID), taught by the chief innovation officer at McDonalds, Dennis Weil. Should be pretty awesome, if not pretty intense.
- Product Planning (ID), taught by Senior director of Prod Discovery @ Motorola, Matt Mayfield
- Economics & Design (ID), taught by Jeremy Alexis
I was thinking about maybe taking either Tom McTavish’s interaction design class or Kei Sato’s, but I’m going to wait to see if Economics and Design is fun & easy– I’m sure it will be… It is Jeremy after all.
I have no idea how I’m going to handle this entire course load (SEVEN classes?!?) with Bettr@ on my plate. I like how my roommate, who’s supposedly at the number 1 bschool in the country (Chicago GSB) is taking just THREE classes. I guess GSB MBAs need more time to attend Thursday Night Drinking Club. 
Anyway, I guess I’m going to have to delegate more… I’m excited to be working with an extended team of rockstar former Baidu engineers + an ID alumnus that used to be the chief designer at Baidu (Yu Guo).
If you email me this semester, please give me at least 24 hours to respond. There’s an off chance that I might have to invoke email bankruptcy, too, but I’ll give you a heads up if that’s the case. I’m going to sit down and try to email everyone back one by one who have emailed me.
Here are a few highlights from the Beijing trip:
here’s the Wodejia.com team that’s going to be helping out with some Bettr@ stuff while I’m finishing up school. I’m excited to work with all of them:
Here’s the 7-11 I ate at every freakin’ single day. They played the same exact music in there in a loop over and over again. It was the bizarrest thing ever. To a person with jetlag, sleepy, walking in there at 4am, it feels like the twilight zone. They had good jiu cai baozi and corn flakes + skim milk, so I was all set.
Here’s the Indian restaurant that I ate at one day (It’s a Kamat! Wonder if its the same owners as the famous Kamat chain in India…):
Here’s the foosball table (they also had a Wii, like any good startup should):
Check this out- it was at the immigration in Beijing. How cool! I wonder if this was released before Frogmetrics. And I wonder if it was out for the Olympics, or even before that. Its weird that its only for a simple task like getting your passport stamped– Not many things that could go wrong in that experience, huh? I hemmed and hawed for a minute deciding between “greatly satisfied” and just “satisfied” before the Chinese MP blew his whistle and pushed me along (im joking, but wouldn’t that be awesome?)
Institute of Design, MBA, classes, time management
wodejia.com
I was just revving a diagram of bettr@ today and looking for an icon for the Amazon kindle. Search for one on Google. You won’t find one. Okay, then search for “ipod icon” in images.
Now, there are already problems with the naming of the Amazon Kindle (yes, it reminds me of Fahrenheit 451 too). But for their second instantiation of the electronic book reader, does anyone else out there (besides for Shivani) feel there is a missed opportunity to establish some iconic design of the product, especially if its going to cost $360? In order for you to create a (literal) icon, you need to have an iconic shape or interface.. which I guess the Kindle is still struggling to find.
Creating something fast and releasing it to market is important, but learning from the first time and planning your next steps carefully are even more necessary at a time when the margin for failure is so slim. Remember, the first Kindle has been called the Pontiac Aztek of design. I would have thought that Ammunition and Amazon’s R&D group would have come up with something slightly more evolved than Kindle2. Maybe they just aren’t feeling too much competition this round, and they’re waiting until Kindle3 comes out to knock people’s socks off.
So what’s the value of the icon anyway? Everyone goes on and on about how the iPod was a runaway success and the brilliant ecology that Apple has established because of iTunes and iPod in harmony. And all the ancillary products that have been created because of the iPod. The skins, the cases, the chargers, the headphones. Granted, there are not that many accessories that are even possible for the kindle, but you don’t really see people personalizing their Kindle. The device (as far as I understand) is still not all that open… No API for instance. Even the ways to “hack” a kindle seem kinda lightweight right now.
I wonder how this might have been treated differently if Amazon had spent a little more time and made the Kindle design more iconic, and thus…. allowed it to be turned into an icon by its fan base.
* As a sidenote, I think that the information design of the box showing the buying options on the Amazon.com site could be much better, and they could even integrate the cute new Kindle icon I just made up in 8 minutes.
Sometimes I sit through lonnnng classes at ID. I, like most design students, routinely get inspired by mentioned of authors and articles, ideas outside the four walls of the academic institution.
Sometimes, these extra connections are extremely useful and welcome. Other times, they are just noise and are unabashed yakshaving. I was recently just thinking through what might happen if I just tried to microblog those thoughts or put them into some kind of twitter (maybe a Bettr@ jot) and cluster them to find patterns among them.
Using human intelligence to group objects a certain way vs using computing “intelligence” to find patterns among them might be an interesting way to chunk and make more sense of what I’ve learned that’s ancillary to the subject itself. It would also provide for superior retention and recall. There’s a real dearth of software out there that helps (or even intends) to connect the dots for us. Even the first semantic web apps like Twine are really far off from what we need them to be.
I think I’ll prototype this and see what it looks like before saying much more about its effectiveness.
Last week, we sat down with senior professors at the Institute of Design the other day, we got some great feedback about Bettr@ and its current business model and interface.
In particular, Tom MacTavish (adjunct Professor and former Motorola executive) had some good ideas about goal setting and referred me to Csikszentmihalyi’s flow model. I read the book Flow before I came to school, but I guess it hadn’t really occurred to me how much Bettr@ could be used to really manage flow, especially through use of someone’s interest net. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense.
I was puzzling more through user motivations in learning today and going through notes that I’ve taken over the course of the past year in understanding people’s personal learning journeys.
Behavioral scientists say that people are fully ‘immersed’ when they have clearly defined goals and feel like they are control of the actions, activities, and the environment. Another element that yield the optimal “flow” state is having challenges that can be overcome (Interestingly, Bettr@ literally has the rought concept of exercises and challenges — which are small hurdles that we think people will feel good about passing) Furnishing people with a visual dashboard for them to track their progress in a certain endeavor essentially helps keep them immersed, and that’s pretty powerful stuff. One of the real challenges we have is to make people feel “immersed” as Csikszentmihalyi defines it, without making the act of reflection and spending time on the site mundane and rote.
Tomorrow (or I guess today, at this late hour) starts the first day of Design Analysis at the Institute of Design, taught for the first time by Pip (of Doblin fame).
For this class, I’m a teaching assistant, which is great for multiple reasons. The first of which, I think that design analysis and synthesis are really the bread and butter of the ID curriculum. They are make or break classes as far as I’m concerned, and I feel good that I have some input into communicating and teaching a great deal in just two short 7 week increments.
I also enjoy teaching because it certainly helps me get Bettr (Sorry, I couldn’t resist) when I can help others along through the process.
I was going back through an old presentation we gave in design analysis, and besides for being dismayed by its elementary nature (how much we learn and improve our practice in just a year is astounding sometimes), I was taken immediately by how useful the act of reflecting on an old artifact is.
Yes, reflecting on an old artifact. I probably wouldn’t have dug this thing out from an old folder and looked at it unless and until I was using it for this class.
Its funny how things sometimes come around in circles. The more and more I think about self improvement, the more I’m convinced that it has everything to do with the cycle of 1) learning from some external stimulus, 2) doing or creating and 3) reflecting on the artifact created or the thing that was just done. That’s it. Keep doing just that, and you get better faster, plain as vanilla. Reflecting is all about learning from mistakes and failing forward.
So here goes. Here are some of the lessons that I gained from Design Analysis that I’m planning on sharing with the class tomorrow.
1 don’t use too many methods and compromise the story
2 in the absence of primary research, secondary guerilla research like using forums works well
3 if the method doesn’t fit, change it to match your needs (but don’t shoehorn if something else fits better!)
4 don’t rely on strong presentation skills to tell the story, assume it’ll be read afterwards.
5 practice. make time for it.
Much has been written about the freemium business model since Fred Wilson wrote about it over a few years ago and Chris Anderson wrote his book about Free!
Free for the bulk of your users is all fine and dandy when advertising is a legitimate business model; What happens when advertising revenue on the web diminishes in importance as it has this year? The business has to essentially rely on revenue from users of premium services only. Yikes.
I’ve often wondered why business models in the mobile application market aren’t more like the shareware client apps that were so common in years previous (and still have a niche following for some mac and windows users).
Especially for something as utility oriented as an iPhone application, a person should be able to download an application, try it out, and *if* it works for them, pay for it. The iTunes app store doesn’t work like that– It just gives you a tiny preview of the functionality of the application with some screenshots.
I’m nearly positive I’d be willing to buy more iPhone applications if I could just interact with them myself.
This spurred me to start thinking of other business models that could run on a “trial” period, when I saw this. What a great idea for both the hotel and Amazon. It would be great if they could combine the trial experience with a quick feedback forum, like FrogMetrics offers.
Trial usage + Noncustomer (or not-yet anyway) feedback. Sounds like an exciting business model awaiting to be hatched for.
Since August, I’ve been working on a project in an office on the 4th floor. I sit in front of a 30″ LCD screen working on wireframes and product roadmaps for the majority of the day. People walk by and comment on the screen “holy @#$%, that’s the biggest screen ever!” — “You are kinda like OZ controlling the world in front of that huge thing”.
Right.
The project I’m working on is the commercial spinoff of the MacArthur funded “Electronic Learning Record,” an extension of the Schools in the Digital Age project started in 2007.
Through lots of research and time poured into thinking about the user experience, design of a brand, and cycling through learning metaphors, we’ve arrived at the design of a consumer internet site called Bettr@, or http://bettr.at (yes, we used the top level domain name hack for Austria like delicious did when they first started).
The site is focused on helping anyone who is motivated to improve themselves get better at the things they are passionate about. This ranged from hobbies that people do in their spare time, to their career, and to classes that people take.
More on the project later (or in the Bettr@ blog, to be launched soon). For now, I want to tell you about a simple technique I’ve been using to help develop the site that may help some of you get Bettr@InternetStartups like it helped me (although I might argue that it works for getting Bettr@DesignPlanning.
When you’re developing a consumer internet site (especially one that you hope will become a destination site), you have to really be thoughtful about every single pixel that you have control over. Originally when we were doing these wireframes, we thought long and hard about all aspects of the experience– from all perspectives. We tried to translate research into criteria and combined with design principles to guide us into what we were building.
Recently, being in implementation mode, I’ve learned that this level of fuzziness isn’t good enough. Our current process in defining a certain wireframe goes something like this:
1- Take two tabloid sheets of paper. At the top of one, put “What does the user want on the _____ page of the site?” At the top of the other, we write “What does Bettr@ (as a commercial entity) want on the _____ page of the site?”
2. We enumerate through a list of criteria that we think matters on each list.
3. Then we start designing the site with these criteria in mind. Each new feature, no matter how small, has to either be something which contributes to either creating user value or helping the business capture value.
The list and the two sheets aren’t earth shattering– but the idea of assigning a designer to be the user advocate and assigning a product manager to be the business advocate is really effective. It formalizes the process of making tradeoffs. I suspect (and hope) that this process makes the site extremely easy and useful for users, while at the same time be able to harvest revenue (in our case from multiple streams).
This idea of role playing has been effective in software development for a long time under the name “Extreme programming.” But why not try out “Extreme designing” when you’re trying to solve a problem for a company that you’re consulting with? It’s easier to role play and stay within the role of user advocate (designer) or business advocate (product manager) than keep switching off as you go along.
Alan Cooper drops some awesome knowledge on us that tells us why we need to have empathy in designing stuff, (like Bettr@)
Most digital products today emerge from the development process like a monster emerging from a bubbling tank.
Developers, instead of planning and executing with their users in mind, end up creating technological solutions over which they ultimately have little control.
Like mad scientists, they fail because they have not imbued their creations with humanity.
What I feel strong about is that we’re going to start hitting the ground soon (literally), doing guerilla observation on prototypes and wireframes. If people get frightened by them now, we change them before they become those monsters emerging from bubbling tanks.
Although I must say this cookie monster doll is kind of adorable.
In creating Bettr@, sometimes I talk to people who aren’t exactly motivated to improve themselves. They just don’t get it. Maybe their kids need to learn new things, but they don’t have the time to with everything else going on in their busy lives.
Here’s the rub. People are living longer than ever, and are recycling careers faster than ever.
’studies in the United States at the end of the seventies already showed that between 10 and 30 percent of the economically active population had experienced at least one career change in a 5-year period’ (Teixeria & Gomes, 2000, p. 78)
And it’s only getting faster. Much of the career switching has been voluntary, but I don’t think it’ll stay that way for long. With rapid change in automation, commodification of skills, and ennui bred from familiarity and same-ness
, don’t you think it’s time you asked yourself, “What do I want to get better at?”
And when you do, let us know *where you go first* to find information about how to get better at that skill, or subject. Extra points for “pain” stories.
Leave a comment or better yet, find me in a hallway at school and let’s chat.
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