Stop trying to paint the hallway through the letterbox: UX techniques that help teams help themselves

Stop trying to paint
the hallway through
the letterbox!
UX techniques
that help teams help themselves
Chris Atherton
@finiteattention

what do these 3 things
have in common?

Person
:MassMarket
Guide
:Place
:Programme
OfStudy
:Curricular
Topic
:Study Guide
/Learn/Guides
is taught in
is appropriate for
is a non-
curricular
equivalent of
:Asset
mentions/
is about
/Learn/Places
is a type of
:National
Curriculum
is part of
/Learn/
Programmes
of Study
is a type of
:Event
is a type of
is a type of
is a participant in
occurs
in
is part of
is appropriate for
is aimed at
:Temporal
Entity
has
/Learn/Subjects
is a type of
:Subject
:Nation
UK
is part of
:Regionis part of
is a notable
place in
This goes down to the level of
Regional granularity to allow
for the (future?) possibility of
prioritising local content.
:MassMarket
Topic
is a notable
person in
is a notable person in
is appropriate for
is appropriate for
is appropriate for
is a type of
is appropriate for
has
is a notable
event in
is a
notable
place in
is part of
is part of
is part of
is a
notable
event
in
is a
topical
event in
is a
topical
event in
is a topical
person in
is a topical person in
mentions/is about mentions/is about
Mass-market topics can be
triggered by topical PPEs,
whereas Curricular Topics
cannot (assumption that any
topical stuff in curriculum will
be editorially curated?)
:Temporal
Entity
is concurrent
with
has
is a type of
is a type of
Country
is a type of
:Country
is a type of
:TemporalEntit
has the part
One crucial distinction
between Curricular and Mass-
Market learning journeys is
that Study Guides are
appropriate for Programmes of
Study, whereas mass-market
Guides are not. Generally,
curricular assets, guides, etc.
may be appropriate for mass-
market consunption, but
mass-market materials may
not be appropriate for
curricular study,
is in
:Exam Board
has
:Qualification awards
is
assessed
by
:Sub-Subject
is a subclass of
is part of
has the part
information
architecture

Gave up reading this article
on how ad tech destroys
the reading experience
@guardian #ux
Mikkel Bo Schmidt
@mibosc
mobile UI

http://www.durhamregion.com/news-story/4760314-scugog-
veterinarian-checks-dairy-cows-to-see-if-babies-are-coming/
… animal husbandry ?!

tackling big problems
via a tiny viewport

to deal with complexity,
you first need to see it
— @benholliday, about 20 minutes ago
Ben actually summarised my entire talk in one sentence. I
would only want to add “ditto re communicating it”.

a designer starts to
see the patterns
(— ibid)
As observers of people and wranglers of visual media,
UXers are well placed to identify these behaviours

project
viewport
In response to a question I got afterwards,
I see this more often than you might suppose.

1. stuck
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Education/Pix/pictures/
2011/7/28/1311858458328/The-researchers-chose-che-007.jpg

You’re starting a new
project. Do you …
a) open your computer
OR
b) open a new doc
(your computer is already open)
okay, it’s a trick question

CO header
Services Trusted Third Parties
O individual
title?
nage services and TTPs
SEARCH WITHIN YOUR SERVICES
might be nicer to
have in-page
search across all
management pages
for all users
ywheretown care home
ywheretown adult daycare facility
me Subscriber?
Subscriber
Not
subscribed
Latest
activity should CO be able to
change a service's
"subscriber" status from
here, or remove the
service entirely? (Maybe
not, or maybe for very
select CO users only) How
do those things currently
work?
Stories
submitted
4 days ago
1 week ago
49
3
Service
awards
Add new service or
TTP
Stories
published
Stories
rejected
Service
status
38
0
11
3
2
ervices and subscribers
an find a complete listing of Care Opinion services and trusted third parties below. Click on a service or
o view the page associated with that body.
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
If not here,
work out w
will add/re
TTPs and s
and where
(dis)associa
with serv
need action(s) to
become available
when boxes are
checked, e.g. Save,
Export, etc.
zoomed in

CO header
Subscribers Trusted Third Parties
CO individual
Role title?
Services and subscribers
Manage your services
You can find a complete listing of Care Opinion services and trusted third parties below. Click on a service or
TTP to view the page associated with that body.
Local adult social care watchdog
Name should CO be able
to add or remove a
TTO's services from
here? How does
that currently work?
Add new service or
TTP
links to TTPs and
services go to the
respective single-
service pages
Latest
activity
Published
stories read
1 month ago 49
Published stories
commented on
TTP
status
12
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
Rejected
stories read
49
Rejected stories
commented on
12
National adult social care body 1 month ago 49 12 49 12
Local authority, Town 1 month ago 49 12 49 12
Local authority, City 1 year ago 49 12 49 12
Local watchdog 1 month ago 49 12 49 12
need action(s) to
become available
when boxes are
checked, e.g. Save,
Export, etc.
CO header
CO individual
Role title?
Manage services and TTPs
might be nicer to
have in-page
search across all
management pages
for all users
Anywheretown care home
Anywheretown adult daycare facility
Name Subscriber?
Subscriber
Not
subscribed
Latest
change a service's
here, or remove the
work?
Stories
submitted
4 days ago
1 week ago
49
3
Service
awards
Add new service or
TTP
Stories
published
Stories
rejected
Service
status
38
0
11
3
2
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
If not here, need to
work out where CO
will add/remove
TTPs and services,
and where they will
(dis)associate TTPs
with services.
need action(s) to
become available
when boxes are
checked, e.g. Save,
Export, etc.
CO header
CO individual
Role title?
might be nicer to
have in-page
search across all
management pages
for all users
Name Subscriber?
Subscriber
Not
subscribed
Latest
change a service's
here, or remove the
work?
Stories
submitted
4 days ago
1 week ago
49
3
Service
awards
Add new service or
TTP
Stories
published
Stories
rejected
Service
status
38
0
11
3
2
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
work out where CO
will add/remove
TTPs and services,
and where they will
(dis)associate TTPs
with services.
need action(s) to
become available
when boxes are
checked, e.g. Save,
Export, etc.
CO header
CO individual
Role title?
might be nicer to
have in-page
search across all
management pages
for all users
Name Subscriber?
Subscriber
Not
subscribed
Latest
change a service's
here, or remove the
work?
Stories
submitted
4 days ago
1 week ago
49
3
Service
awards
Add new service or
TTP
Stories
published
Stories
rejected
Service
status
38
0
11
3
2
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
work out where CO
will add/remove
TTPs and services,
and where they will
(dis)associate TTPs
with services.
need action(s) to
become available
when boxes are
checked, e.g. Save,
Export, etc.
CO header
CO individual
Role title?
to add or remove a
TTO's services from
here? How does
Add new service or
TTP
links to TTPs and
services go to the
respective single-
service pages
Latest
activity
Published
stories read
1 month ago 49
Published stories
commented on
TTP
status
12
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
Rejected
stories read
49
Rejected stories
commented on
12
need action(s) to
become available
when boxes are
checked, e.g. Save,
Export, etc.
CO header
CO individual
Role title?
to add or remove a
TTO's services from
here? How does
Add new service or
TTP
links to TTPs and
services go to the
respective single-
service pages
Latest
activity
Published
stories read
1 month ago 49
Published stories
commented on
TTP
status
12
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
Rejected
stories read
49
Rejected stories
commented on
12
need action(s) to
become available
when boxes are
checked, e.g. Save,
Export, etc.
COheader
SubscribersTrustedThirdParties
COindividual
Roletitle?
Servicesandsubscribers
Manageyourservices
YoucanfindacompletelistingofCareOpinionservicesandtrustedthirdpartiesbelow.Clickonaserviceor
TTPtoviewthepageassociatedwiththatbody.
SEARCHWITHINYOURSERVICES
Localadultsocialcarewatchdog
NameshouldCObeable
toaddorremovea
TTO'sservicesfrom
here?Howdoes
thatcurrentlywork?
Addnewserviceor
TTP
linkstoTTPsand
servicesgotothe
respectivesingle-
servicepages
Latest
activity
Published
storiesread
1monthago49
Publishedstories
commentedon
TTP
status
12
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
Rejected
storiesread
49
Rejectedstories
commentedon
12
Nationaladultsocialcarebody1monthago49124912
Localauthority,Town1monthago49124912
Localauthority,City1yearago49124912
Localwatchdog1monthago49124912
needaction(s)to
becomeavailable
whenboxesare
checked,e.g.Save,
Export,etc.
COheader
ServicesTrustedThirdParties
COindividual
Roletitle?
ManageservicesandTTPs
mightbenicerto
havein-page
searchacrossall
managementpages
forallusers
Anywheretowncarehome
Anywheretownadultdaycarefacility
NameSubscriber?
Subscriber
Not
subscribed
Latest
activityshouldCObeableto
changeaservice's
"subscriber"statusfrom
here,orremovethe
serviceentirely?(Maybe
not,ormaybeforvery
selectCOusersonly)How
dothosethingscurrently
work?
Stories
submitted
4daysago
1weekago
49
3
Service
awards
Addnewserviceor
TTP
Stories
published
Stories
rejected
Service
status
38
0
11
3
2
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
Ifnothere,needto
workoutwhereCO
willadd/remove
TTPsandservices,
andwheretheywill
(dis)associateTTPs
withservices.
needaction(s)to
becomeavailable
whenboxesare
checked,e.g.Save,
Export,etc.
COheader
COindividual
Roletitle?
mightbenicerto
havein-page
searchacrossall
managementpages
forallusers
NameSubscriber?
Subscriber
Not
subscribed
Latest
changeaservice's
here,orremovethe
not,ormaybeforvery
work?
Stories
submitted
4daysago
1weekago
49
3
Service
awards
Addnewserviceor
TTP
Stories
published
Stories
rejected
Service
status
38
0
11
3
2
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
Ifnothere,needto
workoutwhereCO
willadd/remove
TTPsandservices,
andwheretheywill
(dis)associateTTPs
withservices.
needaction(s)to
becomeavailable
whenboxesare
checked,e.g.Save,
Export,etc.
COheader
COindividual
Roletitle?
mightbenicerto
havein-page
searchacrossall
managementpages
forallusers
NameSubscriber?
Subscriber
Not
subscribed
Latest
changeaservice's
here,orremovethe
not,ormaybeforvery
work?
Stories
submitted
4daysago
1weekago
49
3
Service
awards
Addnewserviceor
TTP
Stories
published
Stories
rejected
Service
status
38
0
11
3
2
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
Ifnothere,needto
workoutwhereCO
willadd/remove
TTPsandservices,
andwheretheywill
(dis)associateTTPs
withservices.
needaction(s)to
becomeavailable
whenboxesare
checked,e.g.Save,
Export,etc.
COheader
COindividual
Roletitle?
Manageyourservices
NameshouldCObeable
toaddorremovea
TTO'sservicesfrom
here?Howdoes
thatcurrentlywork?
Addnewserviceor
TTP
linkstoTTPsand
servicesgotothe
respectivesingle-
servicepages
Latest
activity
Published
storiesread
1monthago49
Publishedstories
commentedon
TTP
status
12
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
Rejected
storiesread
49
Rejectedstories
commentedon
12
needaction(s)to
becomeavailable
whenboxesare
checked,e.g.Save,
Export,etc.
COheader
COindividual
Roletitle?
Manageyourservices
NameshouldCObeable
toaddorremovea
TTO'sservicesfrom
here?Howdoes
thatcurrentlywork?
Addnewserviceor
TTP
linkstoTTPsand
servicesgotothe
respectivesingle-
servicepages
Latest
activity
Published
storiesread
1monthago49
Publishedstories
commentedon
TTP
status
12
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
Rejected
storiesread
49
Rejectedstories
commentedon
12
needaction(s)to
becomeavailable
whenboxesare
checked,e.g.Save,
Export,etc.
zoomed out

http://www.curiosityshoppe.com/wp-content/
uploads/2012/09/WholeFoods_Cheese_main1.jpg

we know this stuff
for UX projects

sometimes we
forget it elsewhere

http://gifmovie.tumblr.com/post/70777506727/a-
rabbit-running-in-circles-in-front-of-my-car
this is a gif; it animates.
the bunny goes around and around.

This observation is over 100 years old
but we still haven’t agreed on a solution

uxreactionsofficial.tumblr.com
another gif, supposedly indicating perfect flow in unison

uxreactionsofficial.tumblr.com
also a gif; much better summary of how
communication can look if you’re not careful

http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/graphics/newET_discoursegif.gif
some people out there still make docs like this

if not us,
our colleagues
very few people start out perfectly fluent
in communicating complexity — I know I didn’t

habit
we are rewarded at work for regularly returning
to our inboxes (and thus to our computer screens)

your workflow
every day
you use software tools to make other software-y stuff, right?

work culture of
being at computer
work
work not
work?
to at least some people, ‘work’ means ‘computer’

opening a doc =
starting as close to
the end as possible*
(right?)
* Kurt Vonnegut
only do this when you’re sure it’s the right medium
for the story you are telling — so know your story first.

they don’t seem like
complicated tasks

…but they are
http://brucesterling.tumblr.com/post/110823669363/
tragedy-is-when-i-cut-my-ﬁnger-comedy-is-when
if there’s one gif you look up,
make it this one. Ouch.
I hope he was okay.

things that trip us up:
you see what I did there

the single
dimension
screen
document

64-page doc
in portrait
that we read
in landscape
list
seriously, why do we do this? I dislike ‘slideuments’,
but at least a corporate slide-deck fits the viewing format.

not helping,
BTW
unless you just can’t get enough of
that widescreen ‘letterbox’ experience

another gif — this one glitches about once per second
obscuring the fact that a change is occuring in the pic.

change blindness
search YouTube for change blindness — our brains sorta
reset and forget detail when there are brief discontinuities.

lost detail
lost detail
lost detail
unknown
unknown
all that exists

this is a Finding Nemo reference, but cognitively speaking
it could also be seen as kind of a self-portrait

"Serial position" by Obli (talk) (Uploads) - Obli (talk) (Uploads). Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via
Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Serial_position.png#/media/File:Serial_position.png
‘serial position curve’ from recalling a list
of sequentially presented items.

Long Term
Memory
Rehearsal
or
Meaning
Short Term
Memory
STM is a leaky bucket. Do something with the info or lose it
forever (more or less). Meaning helps with encoding.

Rehearsed/
Lacks
interference
Still in the
leaky
bucket
My brief and incomplete explanation of
why we see primacy and recency effects.

7 ± 2
Miller, 1956
Miller, 1956: number of unrelated items you can hold in
working (short-term) memory. Often misapplied; still useful.

4 ± ?
Cowan, 2001
Cowan, 2001. Sorry; it’s worse than we thought. It also
varies between people, with context, type of task, etc.

fuzzy
OK
OK
great
If all the information in a big piece of work is new to you
and it seems discontinuous, good luck remembering it all.

what if
working memory
is a letterbox?
Or a throttle, if you prefer.
NB: This is an idea rather than a scientifically proven thing.

… it’s really hard to
think about 50 things
freaking impossible

http://alienpapacy.tumblr.com/post/
98545905612/initiating-maximum-overbird

http://brickellvision.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/eye-diagram.jpg
We’ve had ages to evolve this. It’s amazing.

‘zoom lens’ of
attention
Eriksen & St James (1986)
Look it up if you’re interested
— more than just a metaphor.

http://silversora.tumblr.com/post/73499059909/
dave-fuck-off-shaun-i-am-taking-a-picture
Zoomed all the way in.

cells with a nucleus
mammals
apes
humans
software+ UIs
our evolution
Apes may be in their stone age … UIs are still amoebas.

Random mind-mapping software. You can see that there’s a
real zoom issue: seeing the whole vs. seeing the details.

http://www.telepresenceoptions.com/
assets_c/2013/01/vz-8plus4_front2.jpg
mechanical
eyes
The engineering of visualizers is amazing. But our eyes
still win over mechanical versions, nearly every time.

To keep up with the eyes, zoom in UIs must be fast,
frictionless, and unconscious of any effort at all. Ha ha.

The emergence of pinch-to-zoom has improved things a lot

zoomed in
But it’s still a bit haphazard using
pinch-to-zoom to go from this

cognitive load
This is a concept closely related to the stuff about working
memory, begging the question of why I didn’t put it earlier.

intrinsic vs.
extrinsic
Intrinsic = difficulty inherent in understanding a given thing.
Extrinsic = difficulty added by how thing is communicated

holding an idea
holding an idea
holding an idea
understanding
this new idea
For complex information, high extrinsic load means there’s
less working memory left for understanding the idea

t
http://hilarioushumorfromouterspace.tumblr.com/post/112655656484
I feel like this before coffee sometimes

Infinite scrolling came and went … there’s high cognitive
load in retracing one’s steps. Pagination is information too.

use big surfaces
Infinite canvas for your working memory, and for zoom.

CO individual
le title?
anage services and TTPs
might be nicer to
have in-page
search across all
management pages
for all users
Name Subscriber?
Subscriber
Not
subscribed
Latest
change a service's
here, or remove the
select CO users only) Ho
work?
Stories
submitted
4 days ago
1 week ago
49
3
Service
awards
Add new service or
TTP
Stories
published
Stories
rejected
Service
status
38
0
11
3
2
ervices and subscribers
u can find a complete listing of Care Opinion services and trusted third parties below. Click on a service or
P to view the page associated with that body.
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
need action(s) to
become available
when boxes are
checked, e.g. Save,
Export, etc.
zoomed in
Instead of having to compromising between this …

CO header
CO individual
Role title?
to add or remove a
TTO's services from
here? How does
Add new service or
TTP
links to TTPs and
services go to the
respective single-
service pages
Latest
activity
Published
stories read
1 month ago 49
Published stories
commented on
TTP
status
12
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
Rejected
stories read
49
Rejected stories
commented on
12
need action(s) to
become available
when boxes are
checked, e.g. Save,
Export, etc.
CO header
CO individual
Role title?
might be nicer to
have in-page
search across all
management pages
for all users
Name Subscriber?
Subscriber
Not
subscribed
Latest
change a service's
here, or remove the
work?
Stories
submitted
4 days ago
1 week ago
49
3
Service
awards
Add new service or
TTP
Stories
published
Stories
rejected
Service
status
38
0
11
3
2
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
work out where CO
will add/remove
TTPs and services,
and where they will
(dis)associate TTPs
with services.
need action(s) to
become available
when boxes are
checked, e.g. Save,
Export, etc.
CO header
CO individual
Role title?
might be nicer to
have in-page
search across all
management pages
for all users
Name Subscriber?
Subscriber
Not
subscribed
Latest
change a service's
here, or remove the
work?
Stories
submitted
4 days ago
1 week ago
49
3
Service
awards
Add new service or
TTP
Stories
published
Stories
rejected
Service
status
38
0
11
3
2
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
work out where CO
will add/remove
TTPs and services,
and where they will
(dis)associate TTPs
with services.
need action(s) to
become available
when boxes are
checked, e.g. Save,
Export, etc.
CO header
CO individual
Role title?
might be nicer to
have in-page
search across all
management pages
for all users
Name Subscriber?
Subscriber
Not
subscribed
Latest
change a service's
here, or remove the
work?
Stories
submitted
4 days ago
1 week ago
49
3
Service
awards
Add new service or
TTP
Stories
published
Stories
rejected
Service
status
38
0
11
3
2
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
work out where CO
will add/remove
TTPs and services,
and where they will
(dis)associate TTPs
with services.
CO header
CO individual
Role title?
Name should CO
to add or
TTO's serv
here? H
that curren
Add new service or
TTP
lin
se
re
Latest
activity
Published
stories read
1 month ago 49
Published stories
commented on
TTP
status
12
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
Rejected
stories read
49
Rejected stories
commented on
12
need action(s) to
become available
when boxes are
checked, e.g. Save,
Export, etc.
CO header
CO individual
Role title?
to add or remove a
TTO's services from
here? How does
Add new service or
TTP
links to TTPs and
services go to the
respective single-
service pages
Latest
activity
Published
stories read
1 month ago 49
Published stories
commented on
TTP
status
12
Mark/
Unmark
Blogs?
Rejected
stories read
49
Rejected stories
commented on
12
need action(s) to
become available
when boxes are
checked, e.g. Save,
Export, etc.
zoomed out
… and this …

use a frictionless,
zoomable medium
…put it on a large surface where you can zoom between
both without thinking about it (using your eyes and/or legs)

yes, zoomable
You get zero points for using 10-point font.

Writing the entire project taxonomy on a whiteboard helped
us work on just one part and see how it fit with the whole

this vs. 64-page doc
the client read the strategy document but for them and us
it didn’t fully click until we showed the whole thing on 1 page

DEPLOY THE
STATIONERY
FIREHOSE!
it looks messy but wow is it effective
for thinking and communication

card sort complex things
We had a long document. The easiest way to understand the
big picture was to cut it up and rearrange the bits.

clear CTA
Card sorting is easy because actions and goals are clear.
“Take this thing, put it somewhere. Repeat with next thing.”

organise many
small things
create one big thing
Building this talk, I wrote short statements until I had run out,
then moved them around until they made a coherent story.

think with objects
Objects have the attractive quality of being specific and,
unless you make more of them, non-duplicate.

all the 4±2
you can eat
You don’t need working memory to retain piles of things; the
pile is still there when you come back to it later. Amazing.

you can only put
one thing
at the top of
a prioritised list
People are amazingly good at the kind of
compartmentalisation that leads to having five #1 priorities

more players
does not buy you
more items
at the top of the list
Often everyone has their own ideas about the items and the
order they’re in. Making it physical surfaces assumptions.

we can do better
than one dimension

the hypothetical
third dimension
second
Even just taking a list (like a Word doc or whatever) …

… and making it into a spreadsheet, buys you an extra
dimension with which to think about and organise your info.

use tools that
create opportunities
for richer encoding
This is Sublime Text, which has a handy ‘you are here’ pane,
so you can see where you are and it’s easier to navigate.

speaking of richer
encoding …

totally a
letterbox
People lose their minds a little bit when they write emails.
Sending one is no guarantee of having been understood.

we could …
talk to people?
Since, y’know, we do that for a living.

we are well-placed
to help our teams
… so maybe we should use all that visual thinking nous
to help them, and thereby help us, all do better.

talk to me?
I’m here all day
@finiteattention
catherton@equalexperts.com

Stop trying to paint the hallway through the letterbox: UX techniques that help teams help themselves

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (13)

Similar to Stop trying to paint the hallway through the letterbox: UX techniques that help teams help themselves

Similar to Stop trying to paint the hallway through the letterbox: UX techniques that help teams help themselves (20)

More from Chris Atherton @finiteattention

More from Chris Atherton @finiteattention (10)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Stop trying to paint the hallway through the letterbox: UX techniques that help teams help themselves