I've published a new Semantics article about user experience strategy, with a new diagram to complement the original honeycomb:
I'm considering writing a new book that strangely connects user experience strategy and futures studies. Sound interesting? Any suggestions? Thanks!
Thanks Calvin! The empty cell is partly explained in the article, but perhaps someone will rise to the challenge and provide the perfect word.
It must:
1. Begin with S.
2. Fit nicely into a cell.
3. Make perfect sense.
Oh, and it can't be "social" since I already thought of that :-)
How about "scenarios", the raw material of futures studies?
I'm very interested in this subject, to the degree that I'm planning on going back to school in 2008 to research this subject.
Here are some of the current thoughts on this subject:
User-friendly Futures: http://www.futures.hawaii.edu/stage/2007_02_01_archive.php
Human-futures Interaction: http://future.iftf.org/2007/02/the_case_for_hu.html
Open-source scenarios:
http://www.openthefuture.com/2006/08/otf_core_open_source_scenario.html
And my beginning stabs at a project for dealing with open-source scenarios:
http://scen-connect.sourceforge.net/
John, thanks for those excellent pointers. I've been a big fan of scenario planning ever since reading The Art of the Long View by Peter Schwartz.
In fact, Jess McMullin and I led a scenario planning workshop at the original Asilomar retreat that led to founding the Information Architecture Institute.
Anyway, thanks again, and best of luck with your future education!
Thanks for the well wishes, and my apologies if I'm preaching to the choir. When I surfed in and found the reference to futures studies, I was so excited to post that I didn't do any research.
I have yet to read "The Art of the Long View", but it's high on the stack, and I've listened to his Long Now talks many times. I won't put you on the spot by asking you whether I should read his books before yours!
I'm going to take another try at an 's'-word: "scoring". Here's the pitch: All strategies, design or otherwise, need to have their decisions evaluated, both against imagined scenarios before the decision is taken, and afterwards against the true results. The hallmark of a great strategic system is effectively guiding the design of a relentless evaluation plan. The assessment design is not directly represented in any of the other squares.
Scoring may just be assumed as part of all combs, or it may not fit what you are trying to do with the honeycomb. The joys of brainstorming!
Hi Peter, thank you very much for another inspiring article.
In the empty comb, I feel like putting the word "serendipity"; It implies that user experience would be always beyond our preconditioning, predictability, prefixation, etc etc... though I don't think it's the correct answer hidden in your mind! :)
Scenarios, scoring, and serendipity are all good ideas, though I think "story" (which Greg Corrin suggested in the article comments) is still the leader, for now.
How about 'scale', 'standards' or 'streamlining'? Where as 'scope' defines what is in scope or out for one project; 'scale' is about thinking further ahead (in terms of future scalability and interoperability with other systems). Structure, semantics and surface, even skeleton are all likely to benefit from care and attention over time - a good strategy will manage site growth and maintain consistency post launch as an intended solution scales. It's often internal process changes that are instrumental in delivering a good user experience and in determining if a solution will scale or not - file naming conventions, work-flow, style guides, collaborative classification and so on...
Thanks Fran! Of those three, I like "scale" best.
But you see why I left the cell empty...sometimes, it's better to invite contributions with a disturbing hole than to silence conversation with a pacifying whole.
I'm really pleased by all the wonderful suggestions. Thanks everyone!!!
And, of course, mo' better ideas are always welcome...
Peter,
You have some solid suggestions. Here are two more to think about:
- Suit
- Shape
User experience strategy is all about tailoring, fitting, prototyping, and responding to audiences. These two words reflect this powerfully.
Good luck.
Peter, I don't know if this topic is still of interest to you, but it's not far removed from my current research in futures studies and experience design. It would be great to explore with you, time permitting.
Stuart and I talked. Here's the blog post:
I love the honeycomb diagrams. I reposted a few before, to show them around. What about the missing one?