Blog Archive

July 23, 2008: Recordings Online

In case you've missed it, there is a collection of slidecasts, videos, podcasts, and virtual seminars that you can access in the Resources section. Most of them are about an hour long, but a few are shorter if you only...

July 08, 2008: Don't Focus on Demographics (0 comments)

When I give workshops and help clients recruit people to interview for mental models, I tell them over and over again, "Recruit for behaviors, not for demographics." If there is a demographic that you think will affect behavior, then layer...

June 27, 2008: Speaking at Design Research 2008

I have been invited to speak about mental models at the 2008 Design Research Conference put on by IIT Institute of Design in Chicago. It's being held in the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, which will be a nice venue....

June 20, 2008: Agile Synchronicity (1 comments)

Sometimes a theme seems to come together out of your experiences over a few days. Recently I've begun referring to Austin Govella's Six Strategies for More Agile User Experience in my presentations, emphasizing his points about separating modeling from design...

June 09, 2008: Agile 2008 Toronto (2 comments)

This summer, on Wed 06-Aug-08 I will give a presentation at the Agile Conference in Toronto. Happily, many of my colleagues of Adaptive Path and Rosenfeld Media persuasion will also be presenting there, like Kate Rutter, Dan Harrelson, Leah Buley,...

May 19, 2008: Marketing Research <--> Mental Models (2 comments)

Adaptive Path has hired a marketing manager. I'm glad to see this happen, as hopefully it heralds a trend where the new kids (UX designers) learn to understand and collaborate with the old kids (marketing folks). At least, personally I...

May 09, 2008: ACM Ubiquity Book Review

On 22-Apr-08, the ACM Ubiquity site posted a brief review of my book by Ross Gagliano, retired professor and co-founder of the Computer Science Department at Georgia State University....

May 09, 2008: Web Forge Book Review

The Italian site FucinaWeb posted a review of my book by Antonio Volpon on 29-Apr-08. I don't read Italian very well, so Babelfish helped me through. There are good comments about how personas and scenarios, when done right, are the...

May 09, 2008: Usability News Book Review

Usability News, published by the British HCI Group, posted a book review by editor Joanna Bawa on 8-May-08. She did a great job explaining what the book meant to her!...

May 06, 2008: Below the Line - Aligning Other Things (0 comments)

In my book, I talk about the bottom half of mental models as containing the ways in which your organization supports people doing the things in each of the towers. I have also mentioned aligning your competitor's services below the...

May 02, 2008: IT Project Mental Model (0 comments)

Here's a mental model from Martin Hornstein that he did for his computer science thesis, "Formulation of an implementation methodology for e-collaboration-systems: analysis, evaluation and conception." In this diagram, Martin aligns software tools available to an IT manager to the...

April 28, 2008: “Innovation with Mental Models” Slidecast (0 comments)

I just got the audio synchronized with the slides from my Web Directions North keynote. These slides include the Engage dating site example now, since they launched a few weeks ago. If you don't have time to take a look...

April 24, 2008: How Is Behavioral Audience Segmentation Different? (2 comments)

Just so you know, you're not alone. It's not easy to bring a perspective shift to a team or an organization. How are others coping with it? I received this encouraging email from Laura Hansen at California State University East...

April 24, 2008: What Do I Ask About During the Interviews? (0 comments)

I got a question from Jane Jung Edrosa today that I think other people also have, so I want to share it with you here. Jane asks about what topics to cover during the interviews with her research participants. Jane:...

April 23, 2008: I'm Going to London!

At the end of May 2008, I'm thrilled to say I've been invited to speak at the @Media conference in London. I will present "Sparking Creativity Through Empathy." The conference is at the Southbank Centre, which is supposed to be...

April 23, 2008: Brighton, Here I Come!

Due to the generosity of Patrick Griffith, who is one of the organizers of the @Media conference in London this year, I am able to combine several engagements into one trip to the UK. It is important to me to...

April 21, 2008: Video of Me Presenting at Yahoo! (0 comments)

On 2-Apr-08 I drove down to Mtn View and gave a brown bag talk at Yahoo. The audience consisted of developers, designers, and managers of the various design groups. I got there a tad late, so rushed into the room...

April 08, 2008: I Wish I Had Single Friends (0 comments)

If you have seen me speak recently, in early 2008, you will have heard me tell the story of the mental model I did about single people and their friends looking for the perfect partner. In the story, I show...

April 07, 2008: Workshop in San Francisco

This year UX Week will be in San Francisco instead of Washington DC. Another thing that is new is that there will be 3-hour workshops on the first day, and I'm teaching one of them! The workshop will concentrate on...

April 01, 2008: Accessing Innovation (0 comments)

Vern Burkhardt, an award-winning business leader and passionate long distance sailboat racer (try Hawaii to Victoria, BC, on the big empty sea), contributes to the online innovation digest Idea Connection. I met him in January in Vancouver at the Web...

March 31, 2008: Fanmail from Geneva (0 comments)

Look what arrived in my inbox today. A photo of the team at the UN ISDR in Geneva and their mental model for the disaster-prevention folks and how they support them. Such happy faces! Craig Duncan and his Design Team...

March 28, 2008: Does Tower Size Mean Something? (0 comments)

The other day, Douglass Turner asked me a good question. Here's what he asked: "One thing unexplained in your book is how to interpret relative length of the bars in the mental model diagram. In fact the vertical axis is...

March 27, 2008: Are Interviews the Only Way to Build a Mental Model? (0 comments)

I get many variations on this question, "Are interviews the only way to build a mental model?" The answer is no, interviews are not the only way. There are many sources you can analyze, some of which are even richer...

March 23, 2008: Global Development Teams? (0 comments)

Steve Mezak has posted a book review, at the end of which he states, "The bottom line is Mental Models is another tool you can consider using in your situation to discover and capture what your users are thinking. It...

March 19, 2008: Podcast Answering Questions About Mental Modeling (0 comments)

After my virtual seminar with UIE, there were quite a few questions we didn't get to. Jared Spool and I went through the questions together in a podcast that he posted as a part of the description for my all-day...

March 06, 2008: Mental Model Already At Your Organization? (0 comments)

Many large organizations don't have any great way to broadcast internally about project successes. What if your team found out something very helpful in your last research project--does everyone at your organization benefit from your knowledge? What if you want...

March 04, 2008: What Role Does Brand Play in Mental Models? (0 comments)

Mental models are not limited to supporting web and software design. Ed Cotton of Influx Consulting recognizes this. His branding company uses anthropology, trend forecasting and creativity to create strategic insight. Influx brings strategy to life through consumer stories aligned...

February 26, 2008: Do Cats Share a Mental Model? (2 comments)

For amusement, I talked to a number of cat owners, asking them to interpret the underlying motivations of their cats' behaviors. Here is the cat mental model that resulted, sketching out some of the feline philosophies and feelings that facilitate...

February 15, 2008: In My Hands! (7 comments)

Guess what just arrived at my doorstep? A box of my books! Time to pop open the bottle of champagne! I did a little dance, carried the very heavy box to the kitchen and put it on the counter. I...

February 15, 2008: Read an Excerpt from the Book (0 comments)

I first met Chris Baum while working on a project at Charles Schwab years ago. Since then we've made it a point to stay in touch, so I was delighted when he asked me, as editor of Boxes and Arrows,...

February 15, 2008: Read the Foreword to the Book Online (0 comments)

I just had a conversation this morning with my friend, Laurie Bell of Element Design Group. We were talking about how some designers think of their designs as a representation of their knowledge and experience, rather than concentrating on the...

February 08, 2008: Recognizing the Difference Between Customer Language and Internal Language (0 comments)

Yesterday's Adaptive Path Newsletter (07-Feb-08) contains an interview that Kate Rutter conducted with me recently. We explore the uses of a mental model and Kate comes up with such gems as, "It’s almost like the foundations of the city," and...

February 06, 2008: Python Script to Automatically Generate the Mental Model Diagram (6 comments)

You will need to install the Python interpreter before you can run the script. Download the latest binary release for your platform. Next, download the script for the PC or the package for the Mac that David Verba converted from...

February 05, 2008: Presentation from Web Directions North (0 comments)

My presentation at Web Directions North 2008 in Vancouver last Thursday was the first one of the second morning. Right afterwards, Qixing Zheng, representing the Canadian User Experience Connection, interviewed me about mental models. Qixing was fun to talk to,...

January 30, 2008: Real-Life Adventures in Printing Mental Models (0 comments)

Here are two stories of how mental model researchers print the diagram. Personally, I try everything I can to get someone else on the team to take care of printing. Printers (the machines) and I have had a lifelong turbulent...

January 29, 2008: Come See Me in San Francisco

I'm giving a free talk at c|net in San Francisco on Thu 28-Feb-08 at 6:30pm. The folks running the local IxDA chapter (Interaction Designers Association) have kindly set up the venue and announced it as a book party! This is...

January 25, 2008: Wells Fargo's Customer Mental Model Appears in Interactions Magazine (0 comments)

Secil Watson wrote a good article for the Jan+Feb 2008 issue of Interactions magazine, The Business of Customer Experience: Lessons Learned at Wells Fargo. She illuminates how she took the lead within Wells Fargo and drove a large corporation towards...

January 22, 2008: Virtual Seminar with UIE

On 20-Feb-08 I'm giving a virtual seminar introducing mental models. This seminar is produced by my good friends at User Interface Engineering near Boston, MA. You can log in, listen to the seminar live, and ask questions, or if you've...

January 08, 2008: Anticipate, Hope For, Crave... (1 comments)

...these are the verbs that describe my emotional state these days. The book is at the printer, and we expect it to arrive at the end of the month, crossing fingers that all goes well. My friends who are new...

November 01, 2007: Mental Models Sustain “The Long Wow” (0 comments)

On 25-Oct-07, Brandon Schauer of Adaptive Path wrote an essay about customer loyalty, called "The Long Wow." In his essay, he makes the argument that customer satisfaction is not the same as customer loyalty, and that we ought to grow...

November 01, 2007: Web App Summit 2008

The incomparable folks at UIE have invited me to give an all-day workshop about mental models at the Web App Summit 2008 in beach-y Corondado, CA. I can't wait to get there, since it will seem very much like vacation...

October 23, 2007: Web Directions North (2 comments)

I've been invited to speak at Web Directions North, in lovely Vancouver BC. Join us for a week at the end of January, and come play in the snow, too Update: The good folks at Web Directions North have...

October 23, 2007: Combing & Grouping Templates (0 comments)

If you want to record your data in digital format, in order to email it to collaborators, here are two sets of templates you can choose from. Both work as data sources to the scripts that produce the mental model...

October 19, 2007: She's Geeky

Just a quick note for those of you in the San Francisco Bay Area, I'll be at the She's Geeky conference starting Monday 22-October. I'd love to meet you there....

September 28, 2007: Podcast of UX Week Gap Analysis Presentation (0 comments)

The audio of my presentation at UX Week, Capturing the Whole User Experience, is now available from Adaptive Path at iTunes. Together with the slides, you almost have the whole experience. (At UX Week, I played a few movie trailers...

September 18, 2007: People Who (don't care to) Manage Money (0 comments)

Today a client of mine, Mint, announced their application at Techcrunch 40. It's a finance tool that lets people track and monitor their accounts without routine effort. Which people? It turns out that the folks at Mint have studied their...

September 13, 2007: The Most Attractive Thing About Mental Models (0 comments)

Everyone has their reasons... I particularly like the way Liya Zheng, an interaction designer at Liquidnet and a member of IxDA in New York, describes the reason why her team is interested in mental models. She says, "The most attractive...

August 20, 2007: Slides from UX Week (0 comments)

The slides from my presentation at UX Week 2007 are up on the Adaptive Path site. I include notes with the slides so they make sense to someone who wasn't present. Follow the link in the right margin. Also, a...

August 14, 2007: Shapes, Color, Layout, Meaning (0 comments)

I'm always very happy to see different ways that people lay out and color mental models. This morning at UX Week, Adaptive Path unveiled an idea for a better insulin pump. As a part of their initial research, they created...

July 24, 2007: Get Everyone to Listen In (0 comments)

You already know that working with actual customers and users is one of the most powerful things you can do for the experience design of your product. But what if you're only one of few in your organization benefiting from...

June 29, 2007: Recruiting Spreadsheet Example (0 comments)

Here's the moviegoer recruiting spreadsheet that I reference in the book. Feel free to download it and tweak for your purposes. Since it is difficult to distinguish which moviegoer audience segment a person falls into, this particular recruiting spreadsheet contains...

June 27, 2007: Printing Template for 3M Printable Post-It Notes (0 comments)

Use this Microsoft Word template to print anything on 3x4 Post-It Notes. For example, copy quotes to the template and print them out for sorting on the wall. Or, during analysis of one transcript, assign one team member the job...

June 27, 2007: Introduction Letter to the Interpreter (0 comments)

Use text like the following to introduce a translator to the role you expect her to play during a foreign-language interview. First, thank you very much for helping us with our research. The [project name] project is very important to...

June 27, 2007: Introduction Letter to the Participant (0 comments)

Use text like this to introduce the participant to the kind of research you are doing, as well as the format of the interview. Thank you for your interest in the research project at [company name]. We are going to...

June 20, 2007: Six Sigma and UCD (2 comments)

Six Sigma is a Total Quality Management (TQM) method for reducing defects and, additionally, increasing the quality of a product. I am definitely not a Black Belt Six Sigma Practitioner, nor actually any Belt. (They have evocative titles for their...

June 20, 2007: Join Me at UX Week?

UX Week 2007 is coming up in August! I will be presenting a 45-minute sketch of how a movie distribution company came up with some powerful new ideas based on gap analysis using a mental model. My book will be...

May 14, 2007: Google & Jeff Veen Launch the New Analytics (0 comments)

Last Tuesday, 08-May-07, at the Emetrics Summit, Jeff Veen finally got to talk about his work for the past year. Ever since Google purchased Measure Map from Adaptive Path, Jeff and his team have been designing the new release of...

May 09, 2007: Helpful Interviewing Techniques (0 comments)

Isabelle Peyrichoux, of CESART (recently acquired by Bell Canada, and now called Bell Web Solutions) in Montreal, wrote a fabulous article last month (April 2007) in UXmatters about 10 things to be aware of when interviewing users. She begins her...

May 04, 2007: Technical Review? (0 comments)

Well, I finished the first draft of the manuscript yesterday. I'm deep into edits now. We are asking around for someone who has created some mental models to give the book a technical review. I am assured that the rest...

May 04, 2007: The "Mental Model" Wins (4 comments)

Remember my query back in September, "Should I call it a Mental Model or an Alignment Diagram?" Well, I am remiss in announcing the results... early this year we made the call to stick with the phrase "Mental Model." There...

April 13, 2007: Podcast About Mental Models (0 comments)

At the IA Summit 2007, where I taught a pre-conference course, I was interviewed by Wolf Nöding, an Informationsarchitekt at Spirit Link in Germany who has a series of podcasts called "Women in IA." This 40 minute interview covers the...

March 25, 2007: Chapter Review (0 comments)

I made a pact with the folks in my class at the IA Summit Friday 23-Mar-07. They wanted a sneak peek at my chapter on task analysis. In return they enthusiastically promised to give me feedback on what's missing or...

March 22, 2007: Project Manager Mental Model (0 comments)

Once again, I am happy to release another real mental model diagram. This time it is from work done internally at Adaptive Path in late 2005. Project Manager Mental Model (169Kb PDF)....

March 05, 2007: Customer Experience Data (0 comments)

Adaptive Pather Brandon Schauer has a new blog, and one of his entries from last weekend reviewed an article in February's Harvard Business Review called "Understanding Customer Experience." He lists reasons why companies have trouble with customer experience, one of...

February 15, 2007: See You at IA Summit? (2 comments)

I'm teaching an all-day course on the mental model process at the IA Summit in Las Vegas on Friday March 23rd. There are lots of other interesting courses to choose from, too, plus the main conference sessions Saturday, Sunday, and...

November 20, 2006: A Mention in Business Week (0 comments)

With all the fervor behind stronger, more responsive internet-based applications, the media has gotten more interested in user centered design. Next to stories about mashups in Business Week this week, there's a little blurb about using mental models to guide...

November 14, 2006: Intranet Mental Model (0 comments)

For those of you grappling with intranet design, I've posted a new essay on the Adaptive Path site. The essay is the net result of research I did for several different projects. I wrote about the tasks from the perspective...

October 19, 2006: User Research Friday

I'm coming out of hiding for a presentation in San Francisco Friday 27-Oct. Anyone local can come for a free mini-conference called User Research Friday, hosted at the Bolt|Peters offices, organized by Rashmi Sinha and KDA Research. There will be...

October 11, 2006: Undercover Mental Model (2 comments)

Yesterday someone asked me why I thought YouTube was so successful. I said it's because of the content. That, and of course they were "in the right place at the right time." But really, if all those videos were films...

September 19, 2006: Should I Call It a Mental Model? (20 comments)

I've gotten a lot of feedback about the title "Alignment Diagrams." I am keeping a tally. Six people have said they like it, nine people have good reasons for me to continue calling it "mental model," and nine people would...

September 13, 2006: Benefits & Roadblocks to the Mental Model Process (0 comments)

This summer, I asked a group of 22 people who have created mental models what they thought the benefits of the process were. I was also interested in the difficulties they ran into during creation and use of the models....

August 16, 2006: Heart Not Installed

Tuesday morning 15-Aug I was doing a workout in the hotel "sculpting" room. Todd Elliot from Adaptive Path was on the elliptical trainer next to me. When he tried to get the machine to display his heart rate, across the...

August 15, 2006: The Future of Books?

Monday's (14-Aug) keynote address at UX Week, Steven Berlin Johnson mentioned a possible "future" incarnation of a book. Books will be objects with lots of connected elements hanging off of them: comments, snippets, links to like material, addendums, etc. I...

August 03, 2006: Mental Model Pictures

Be sure to check out a few snapshots of the mental model workshop I conducted this week (31-Jul) with my cohorts Mary Piontkowski, Terie Clement, and Carey Wilkins. We had a 26 foot long mental model diagram posted on the...

July 11, 2006: Telecom Consumer Mental Model (4 comments)

I feel lucky to present a real-life mental model on this site! This diagram is the work of a company named Aliant, a telecom provider in Canada. The team and I created this diagram in 2005. Telecom Consumer Mental Model...

July 06, 2006: The Writing Life (0 comments)

Brief timeline: Announced in February 2006 I will finally write my mental model book. Spent March and April putting together the coolest outline ever --a matrix in Excel! (Kate Rutter would love it!) Lou and I signed a contract in...

June 28, 2006: Movie-Goer Mental Model (6 comments)

You may wonder, "What does a mental model look like?" Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here is an example... the Movie-Goer Mental Model (100Kb PDF)....

June 27, 2006: Going to Washington DC in August

I'll be at UX Week in Washington DC from 14-17 August. If you're going, too, or if you live in the neighborhood, I'd love to meet up with you for a snack or a meal. Write me email with a...

June 21, 2006: Welcome! (9 comments)

It is with great relief that I finally get the mental-model-plus-features technique down in ink. (Well, electrons.) Year after year, people at seminars and conferences ask me if there is a book about this subject. I tell them there are...