listen to make, make to think

The Design Services Team (DST) at SAP has a guiding motto that I love: listen to make, make to think

to me that's all about not designing by shooting from the waist, but actually researching what the needs are, sitting down and thinking what that means, and using prototyping as a tool to help you think and get to a better solution.

it reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:
"how do I know what I think
until I see what I say?"
attributed to both E. M. Forster or W.H. Auden

presentaion zen

Over the winter break i took with me to india an excellent book, Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds, an american (i think) now living in Osaca, and working as an associate professor of management at Kansai Gaidai University in Japan.

The book is about how to make more compelling and clear presentations, addressing tips for both creating a good deck and delivering the presentation in front of an audience. I found it very very useful and interesting, as he brings not just basic ideas, but also food for thought from other disciplines and a bit from zen philosophy.

The two that stuck with me the most for both design and life (more about them another time) are "Eat until 80% full" and "Be here now and somewhere else later, what's so difficult about that?".

I just found this shortened summary of the book, though I still recommend reading the book, but this might be a handy reference.

mayo clinic's SPARC approach

I liked this approach by mayo clinic's SPARC program. it's a great acronym that resonates well with how i think about the design process, just way more eloquently phrased.

SPARC = see, plan, act, refine, and communicate
it's meant to remind participants of the design-oriented methodology so they'll continue to employ it when they return to their departments.

A Prescription for Innovation, FastCompany article
SPARC program website

design synthesis by Jon Kolko

just heard a lightning round talk on Interaction Design Synthesis: Translating Research into Insight, by Jon Kolko at the IxDA conference, interaction 09.

jon had a definition i really liked of design synthesis, with every word in it to essential to the definition:

design synthesis is an abductive sensmaking process of manipulating, organizing, pruning and filtering data in an effort to produce information and knowledge

jon's website: http://www.jonkolko.com/

starting a communication project: creating a good communication plan

standing on the shoulders of giants, I've decided to add this wonderful piece of advice from Kim Erwin on how to create a communication plan.

Kim has made me a true believer that when starting a new communication project, it is well wroth your time to hold your horses, and before you start designing take 20 minutes and create a solid communication plan.

a communication plan should consist of these elements: target audience, communication objective, key message, communication model (and what design principles would that model infer).

creating a communication plan helps focus your efforts, and keep you on track. later you can and should evaluate your design against this plan.

here are a few tips from Kim, each a true pearl of wisdom to keep close to your chest and repeat as a mantra:

The point of a communication plan is to inject
some realism into the assignment. You are
constructing a scenario that has objectives and
constraints, just like real life.

The idea is that each element of the communication
plan informs the next one. Your audience has a
need, which informs your objective, which defines
your key message, which suggests a framework +
principles. Voila, that's a communication plan.

Therefore, if your audience is weakly defined, you
have little more than a prayer of creating the
logic you need to design.

Here's my tip: if your audience definition starts
out with "People who..." just stop and rewrite.
The probability of you, in the real world, being
asked to design for "people who" is remarkably
low. You will design for specific user groups,
specific clients, and in specific industries.
Those people will have specific needs and
objectives that you will have to design into.
That's what we're aiming for.

And when you have finally arrived at a key
message, think about which of the communication
models might help you think differently about the
problem. Pick one. Itemize the design principles
it suggests (look at SeeID for these). Add this to
your communication plan.

I hope this helps clarify and streamline your
efforts. It's common for students to pick a key
message before they have an audience. It doesn't
work. The rest of the plan feels force fit. And
the whole bit lacks logical coherence.

So start with the beginning and end with the end.
In order. That works. I promise!

taken from an email from Kim Erwin to the Theories of Information and Communication class, Fall 08, Institute of Design.

things to learn this school year (guy kawasaki)

just read an interesting post by Guy Kawasaki's - "a list of what I wished I learned in school before I graduated". I didn't agree with all the tips there, but here are a few i thought were worth keeping:

1. How to run a meeting. ... the primary purpose of a business meeting is to make a decision. It is not to share experiences or feel warm and fuzzy. With that in mind, here are five key points to learn about running a meeting: (1) Start on time even if everyone isn’t there because they will be next time; (2) Invite the fewest people possible to the meeting; (3) Set an agenda for exactly what’s going to happen at the meeting; (4) End on time so that everyone focuses on the pertinent issues; (5) Send an email to all participants that confirms decisions reviews action items.
   
   
2. How to have a conversation. ... Generally, if you listen more than you talk, you will (ironically) be considered not only a good conversationalist but also smart.
   
   
3. How to write a five-sentence email. ... the optimal length of an email message is five sentences. All you should do is explain who you are, what you want, why you should get it, and when you need it by.

4. How to get along with co-workers. ... Share the credit with others because a rising tide floats all boats.

   What about freeloaders? (Those scum of the earth that don’t do anything for the group.) In school you can let them know how you truly feel. You can’t in the real world because bozos have a way of rising to the top of many organizations, and bozos seek revenge. The best solution is to bite your tongue, tolerate them, and try to never have them on the team again, but there’s little upside in criticizing them.

here we go...

so i've finally gone ahead and opened this...

for a while i've been meaning to create a safe place for me to keep thoughts and insights i think are worth keeping. learnings, being big or small, that i would hate to forget, and i think might come in handy at some future moment.

i'm writing these down for myself, but heck, who knows, could be nice if others find these thoughts useful too.