favorite Books
Talent is Overrated
This is a very interesting book where the author, Geoff Colvin, focuses on the premise of "Deliberate Practice" as the real differentiator for success, rather than natural talent. With "Deliberate Practice" there is a dependency on a feedback loop. This concept is key for successful outcomes for students and other work life scenarios. Malcolm Gladwell is another author who cross references similar themes for “Deliberate Practice” in his books “Outliers” and “Blink”.
Little Bets
The theory behind Little Bets is that breakthrough ideas are more often discovered through Little Bets as opposed to Big Bets. This book uses real world examples to illustrate successful usages of Little Bets and promotes non-linear experimental innovators. The risks associated with starting with big bets where you analyze too much too soon are compared against the acknowledgement that you don't know what you don't know and that you gain insight with Little Bets. The book also makes parallel comparisons between the Agile Development process and how breaking down a problem into smaller components can result in faster feedback loops which can reduce risks associated to large projects.
Emotional Design
In this book, Donald Norman picks up where he left off in his previous book, "The Design for Everyday Things". He talks about the multiple layers of product appeal which include [1] visceral, [2] behavioral, [3] reflective. It also provides interesting examples of the dangers of "design by committee" and how to avoid those dangers by ensuring leaders are empowered to follow a defined strategy or vision so that the “story” or “outcome” is not watered down.
An interesting bit of trivia about the parent book, “The Design of Everyday Things”, is that is where the term UX was first coined. Originally, the book was first published with the title of “The Psychology of Everyday Things”, which created a wayfinding problem in book stores because it was always categorized under books on Psychology. The book’s title was then changed to “The Design of Everyday Things”. Here are some more interesting timeline based observations of UX through the ages where Donald Norman is referenced. “The Fascinating History of UX Design: A Definitive Timeline”. And for even more detail about the principles of UX, this is one of my favorites. https://lawsofux.com/
Contagious
This book leverages research in psychology and behavior economics to identify 5 specific aspects which makes products or things contagious for spreading. The 5 steps are given the acronym of "STEPS" for easy recall. S= Social Currency / T= Triggers /E= Emotion / P= Practical Value and Public Awareness/ S= Story (https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/03/steps-making-ideas-contagious/)
Where Good Ideas come from – The Natural History of Innovation
The author, Steven Johnson, promotes the theory that innovation does not happen out of thin air. Innovation occurs by leveraging other discoveries and fitting together existing components. This is part of the theory of the Adjacent Possible that was first described by the scientist Stuart Kauffman. He described the Adjacent Possible in biological and evolutionary terms and this book applies these biological theories to other types of innovation examples.
Steven Johnson documents this type of historical evolution of invention in other articles and books. In this NYT article he exposes the darker side of this innovation cycle where by one inventor’s innovation becomes responsible for two of the biggest environmental tragedies in modern history. Another interesting new book on the topic by author Sheena Iyengar is called “Think Bigger” where the author also references artistic innovation and provides techniques for getting your best ideas.
JOHN MOFFITT
USER EXPERIENCE ARCHITECT
Product Manager
Thoughts and Ideas
Interview with Abigail Hart Gray
Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGjY-Crv6EA
An inspiring interview by Invison’s design magazine in which there are many examples of how to successfully collaborate to create great products. Other topics covered include how to incorporate data to measure success as well as the challenge of how to make big user experience improvements verses small incremental features.
Quote - “The great thing about design is that there’s no one solution”
Data Interpretation
EXAMPLE
https://www.trevorbragdon.com/blog/when-data-gives-the-wrong-solution
Historical example of how data can be interpreted differently and how important it is to consider more than just data points when making decisions. It is a good reminder that it is important to consider “how” you look at the numbers with other contextual relationships.
Interview with Richard Saul Wurman
PDF Presentation
PDF Summary / Soundcloud Interview
An interesting interview with the father of Information Architecture, who codified a system that sums up the 5 different ways information can be grouped (LATCH: Location, Alphabet, Time, Category, or Hierarchy ). Trained as a traditional architect, his famous winning proposal for developing Penn Place is discussed. His proposal did not include a solution and instead proposed “discovery”. He also shares his view on the educational system and at times the interview becomes uncomfortable when he becomes antagonistic to the interviewer. One of the main themes of the conversation is about how to ask the right question. Despite some uncomfortable debates with the interviewer, the discussion uncovers some important themes in how information is shared and also references the interesting career of Richard Saul Wurman who not only is the father of Information Architecture, but is the original founder of TED Talks.
PIXAR PLUSSING
VIDEO
“Plussing” was coined by Walt Disney as an important part of the creative process. This Pixar training video, shows how Pixar made it part of it’s culture and how it is important for successful creative teams. This process can be found in other Pixar references including Ed Catmull’s book “Creativity Inc.” http://www.creativityincbook.com/about/
Design Success and Failure - NYC Subway Map
Video
A great example of how design cannot exist in isolation. Despite the success of the design, a better feedback loop with design iteration could have resulted in a better map without loosing the elegant simplicity of the original design.
Design Updates
New interactive map introduced
Design Evolution - Pilot program to replace the old design with new one. The new design is reminiscent of the original 1972 design. The new pilot program is crowd sourcing feedback and is partly driven by ensuring the new mobile version matches the paper version.
Technology Innovation - General Magic
VIDEO
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6849786/
A fascinating documentary about a company that most people have not heard of because of it’s failure. Despite it’s failure it represents a key milestone for what we take for granted today with smartphones. It also is an example of a great idea being too early. It is an example of market timing being just as important and as understanding whether your ideas might be too early for the required components to be available or mature enough in their development. (see Book Reference for “Where Good Ideas Come From” for how the “adjacent possible” is critical to breakthrough innovation )
Favorite Quotes on Simplicity
One of the key principles of User Experience Design is to keep things simple and the user will be more successful. I find this relevant to Agile development in how it is designed to bring value to the customer quicker by starting with the core features and not overwhelm a release with too many extra features. An iterative environment forces you to prioritize features and reduces risk by supporting a healthy feedback loop. I think keeping it simple does not mean innovation is reduced or creativity is limited. I think simplicity provides better tools for refinement and less wasted effort.
“Simplicity is complexity resolved”
“Innovation is not about saying yes to everything, it’s about saying NO to all but the most crucial features.”
“Entities should not be multiplied without necessity”
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”