[Sigia-l] We could just use whiteboards instead.

[Adrian Howard]

On Monday, August 18, 2003, at 12:20  am, Listera wrote:

> "Adrian Howard" wrote:
>
>> How about:
>> -    three people using it at once?
>
> If all three people are *simultaneously* messing with post-its and 
> chewing
> gum, then there's more than mayhem going on in that room. :-)

An example.

I like to demonstrate different possible site groupings with index 
cards. In a recent meeting myself and client1 were busy moving cards 
around discussing the advantages and disadvantages of different 
options, while client2 was busy writing a bunch of new cards (to 
illustrate another part of the organisation that had been omitted from 
earlier discussions) and throwing them in our direction.

Three people being productive at the same time. I find it hard to 
imagine the same level of interactivity and involvement with two people 
kibitzing as I fiddle with OmniGraffle - especially since client1 and 
client2 were working in parallel.

A couple of years back I would have been presenting different design 
options with hardcopy or a projected presentation. I changed to index 
cards because I can get clients far more involved and get feedback far 
more efficiently.

> To equivalent of creating a post-it and moving it about the screen in 
> any
> drawing app can be taught to anyone with 17 functioning brain cells in 
> about
> 2.73 seconds, and that's pretty much all you can do with a post-it, so 
> let's
> not exaggerate.

I don't think I am - you must get more computer literate clients than I 
do :-)

I can get a client up and running with index cards or a white board in 
the time it takes me to put a pen in their hands.

With Visio or similar it will take a good hour for them to become 
reasonably comfortable and several days for them to become fluent. 
Maybe I'm a bad teacher. Maybe I have exceptionally idiotic clients.

In any case I would find it hard to justify forcing my clients to learn 
a new tool in order for them to be involved in the design process.

> But this is really not about the technicality of generating charts, 
> maps,
> etc. It's the approach to working...

Indeed - more on this in a minute ;-)

[snip]
> ...and as I previously stated here, I don't spend much time with 
> wireframes
> and other pre-industrial age contraptions, mostly because the 
> *ultimate*
> goal here is not origami but a fully functional *digital* (synthetic)
> product.

I'm sorry - I'm not sure I understand your point. You seem to be saying 
that digital tools are better because our end product is digital - 
correct?

If I'm not misunderstanding your point I find this odd. It wouldn't 
make my work practices any better if I moved all my analog face-to-face 
meetings to IRC channels just because they're digital - would it?

My goal is a good intranet, website or application. A Visio diagram (or 
whatever) is no more an intranet, website or application than a 
whiteboard or index card is.

They're just tools. Tools than can be used badly or well. Tools that 
have advantages and disadvantages.

I use whatever tools and practices I find make me most effective at 
reaching my goals. In many situations I have found my work practices 
better supported by tools like index cards and whiteboards than by 
diagramming applications and databases. Familiarity, ease of use, etc. 
is often more important to me and the people I work with than edit 
history, freedom from geographic constraints, etc.

I don't use these tools on a whim - I use them because I find my 
clients like them and projects get completed more effectively.

In many cases I have moved from digital models and work practices to 
analog ones because I have found the latter more effective. So much 
more effective that I invest time trying to prevent situations that 
force the use of digital tools before  they are required (e.g. by 
recommending against multi-site development teams).

Of course I also use digital tools and models - but only when they're 
needed. The more tools and practices I have in my bag the better - 
digital or analog. Then I can always find the most appropriate tool for 
the job at hand.

[snip]
> To repeat, again, the objective here *is* to create a *digital* (shiny
> technical) toy. We're not contemplating print, sculpture, cooking, 
> etc.,
> where the end product is analog/physical. A web app runs on computers 
> 100%,
> from server to client.

I keep finding these humans involved in my web applications (defining 
business plans, running the company, writing content, meeting customer 
orders, talking to customers, etc. :-)

> So it comes down to how you work. If I'm tasked with doing the 
> IA/UI/etc, I
> consider myself a funnel through which all related activity go 
> through. I
> engage everyone concerned often individually and, occasionally, in 
> small
> groups, but very rarely in large groups, collaboratively playing with
> post-it and chewing gum in a room. To me, that almost sounds like 
> abdication
> of my duties/homework.
[snip]

I think that this is probably the primary difference. We have 
completely different work practices. In my book any "funnel" individual 
in a project is a bad thing since it instantly reduces the bus-number 
of the project to one. In my experience funnels lead to conflict and 
tedious sessions of office politics as the IA, UX, usability, 
developer, DBA, MBA top-dogs fight it out to see who gets to be most 
important.

I'm assuming your experience has been different :-) Obviously if funnel 
behaviour works for you then go for it! However its not the way I like 
to work.

I consider myself a member of a team developing a product. I love 
collaboration (not committee work). I prefer generalists to 
specialists. I love big, public, accessible information sources like 
whiteboards and index cards so everybody involved in the development 
team can get at the information they need quickly and easily. I love 
tools and models that my stakeholders, clients and users can all 
understand. I love all of this because, in my experience, it makes 
clients happier and produces better products. As ever, your milage may 
vary.

Am I a sad old tree-hugging hippy? Possibly ;-)

Adrian