Adaptive Path Blog

I have a new favorite thing: portable whiteboards.

I generally cruise the dry-erase supplies section of the office-sundries stores when I’m shopping, just to see if anything new and exciting has come out. And recently, I found this: cling-able dry erase sheets that stick to darn near everything!

I got a box of Easy Chart Dry Erase Sheets and put them up around Adaptive Path. And really, these are terrific.

Why do these rock?

1. They are movable. You can move ‘em… use ‘em… erase ‘em… move ‘em again…reuse ‘em and generally make any room a creative whiteboard space. This means that any flat, mostly clean surface can be a whiteboard. And that means that you can bring your creative juices to bear just about anywhere.
2. They stick great. Jesse tested them on: regular painted walls, glass, concrete columns, wood and bulletin boards and they clung just fine. Apparently the only thing they *don’t* stick to is another whiteboard. Go figure.
3. They are a nice size: 23″ x 30″. This is smaller than most whiteboards (especially compared to the Adaptive Path monoliths) but perfect for creativity in tight places. And you can put up them together if you need more space.
4. They are foldable. That’s right, I’ve carried one in my purse folded up in a Ziploc bag for the past month (taking it out every couple of days, using it and re-folding) and with a few shakes and a smooth to get the kinks out, it works just fine. Now if only whiteboard markers were as portable…
5. You can make a template out of them. Draw a standard screen size in permanent marker and prototype away. When you erase, the whiteboard marker comes off, but the permanent template stays on. Good for Elevator Pitch working sessions, device prototyping and screen sketching.

When combined with the yummy Tul dry erase markers, these are a match made in heaven. Go portable with your creativity!

Details: Easy Chart Dry Erase Sheets, made by Venture Products LLC. They come on a roll, and you tear off each sheet, kinda like a garbarge bag. About $20 for a box of 12. I got mine at OfficeMax.

Caveat: I’ve searched all the usual office supply suspects, and I can’t find an online source for these. I have a call into the manufacturer and when I hear back, I’ll update the post. If you track down a place to order online, please post a comment. Otherwise, sneaker-buying is recommended.

I recently had the opportunity to “design my city” through a participative design activity. I live in the very small city of Emeryville, which is just across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco. The weird and wonderful thing about this town is that it has all the scope of a major urban city, but not the scale…it’s about 1.2 square miles, and has about 7,000 residents. That said, some pretty big companies live there, too.

Emeryville is revising the General Plan to define growth and the urban fabric for the next 20 years, and as part of the process, they held participatory design workshops for community residents. The workshops were designed and managed by MIG (Moore Iacofano Goltsman, Inc.) a firm that works in urban planning and design.

At Adaptive Path, we use participatory design methods, so it was interesting to be on the other side of the table. Some of the things that made the experience work…

• The participants were engaged and passionate about the topic at hand. We were asked to “Design Your City”…what’s not to love? The printed materials all had this phrase and call to action printed on them, just in case we forgot.
• Introduction about the status of the project and the goals of the evening. A 30-minute presentation outlined the big picture of the project, provided definition, outlined the goals and set the expectations of the evening.
• Warm-up exercise. They started us off with a very easy task: look at slides and rate what you think of the image…don’t overthink it. It put folks in the mood of thinking and responding.
• Clear, concise directions for the main participative activity. It was complex, no doubt. But clearly described so that participants knew what was expected, how to contribute and what the goals were.
• Great materials. Big maps (super-big, actually), prepared printed materials, nicely designed handouts. The whole production was very professional, without being cold.
• Small group sessions. For the main activity, the group of 35 broke into 4 groups of about 10. Each group had 2 facilitators: one to guide and one to capture thoughts/ideas of the groups.
• Food. Seriously, don’t ever consider doing an evening activity without providing food.

Overall, it was thought-provoking and educational. Working with neighbors and meeting community members is fascinating, and group dynamics always play out when neighbors get involved with urban planning. That said, it was well designed, well-run and well-received. And it opened my eyes to the power of participation in complex design challenges.

For more on participatory design, check out maketools.com, a site created by Liz Sanders.

My Dad recently called me to tell me about this wonderful phrase:

vade mecum \vay-dee-MEE-kuhm; vah-dee-MAY-\, noun:

1. A book for ready reference; a manual; a handbook.
2. A useful thing that one regularly carries about.

That’s a pretty fancy definition for something that literally means “go with me.”

I’ll take on the risk of doing harm, in the hopes of doing good, because I think we’re close to a place where the two definitions can merge. Clearly, mobile devices are the first object that can blur the lines and be both a multi-flex reference source and something that’s always in your pocket. I don’t know a lot of people who always have the same book with them (moleskineists excepted) but I sure know a lot of folks who won’t leave home without their phone.

Mobile devices really can and should be the first “ready reference” and “manual” and “handbook” that’s vade mecumizable. What will it take?

Plazes’ location-awareness comes to mind. The Twitter factor for knowing what your peeps are up to. But the reference factor for useful info? That still leaves much to be desired.

I’m optimistic that we’ll untease the issues and, over time, we’ll get at the san greal of vade mecum. Now if we could just shake that ridiculous browser metaphor…

Adaptive Path works with a variety of media clients. So this interesting list caught my interest…it’s the Magazine Publishers of America consolidated list of digital initiatives.

Culled from news items and press releases, the list works in interesting ways:

• Want to see what initiatives a magazine or media group is investing in? Start at the top.
• Want to see what initiatives are (or should be) live and how they turned out? Start at the bottom.

If you work in interactive media, this is a list to keep an eye on.

This line came up in a recent conversation:

“I want the group to make a fully informed decision, so that we better our chances of being lucky.”

This phrase struck me because I think when doing work in uncertain, ambiguous times, working to increase luck contributes to more inventive designs and more successful results then attempting to reduce risk. Some would say “designing for opportunity” rather than for luck, but I think luck is the better term, and I’m curious as to why it hasn’t been adopted with as much business fervor as the term “risk.”

The world according to Google :

• Results: about 325,000,000 for risk, business
• Results: about 43,900,000 for luck, business

That’s just sad. I think there’s something about luck that seems random…whereas risk seems predictable. So I did some poking around…

In his conversation with Peter, Michael Beirut had this to say:

It’s a dirty secret that much of what we admire in the design world is a byproduct not of “strategy” but of common sense, taste and luck. Some clients are too unnerved by ambiguity to accept this, and create gargantuan superstructures of bullshit to provide a sense of security.

And from Brandon:

“If I put on my Larry Keeley hat, my personal hunch-machine would tell me that innovation has a lot to do with creating your own luck. By asking the right questions up front, you can increase your luck by understanding where to aim and why, not just by increasing the number of shots-on-goal.”

Oprah Winfrey voices in with:

“I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity.”

And in an interview with Fast Company, luckmeister Richard Wiseman (author of The Luck Factor) outlines four principles to create good fortune:

1. Maximize Chance Opportunities
Lucky people are skilled at creating, noticing, and acting upon chance opportunities. They do this in various ways, which include building and maintaining a strong network, adopting a relaxed attitude to life, and being open to new experiences.

2. Listen to Your Lucky Hunches
Lucky people make effective decisions by listening to their intuition and gut feelings. They also take steps to actively boost their intuitive abilities — for example, by meditating and clearing their mind of other thoughts.

3. Expect Good Fortune
Lucky people are certain that the future will be bright. Over time, that expectation becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because it helps lucky people persist in the face of failure and positively shapes their interactions with other people.

4. Turn Bad Luck Into Good
Lucky people employ various psychological techniques to cope with, and even thrive upon, the ill fortune that comes their way. For example, they spontaneously imagine how things could have been worse, they don’t dwell on the ill fortune, and they take control of the situation.

Can we increase our lucky chances? There’s a few themes…

Recognize Possibilities

• Ask the right questions
• Gain an understanding where to aim and why
• Listen to intuition and gut feelings
• Create, notice and act upon chance opportunities
• “You were lucky…you launched the right product at the right time.”

Create Positive Relationships

• Build and maintain a strong network
• Positively shape interactions with other people
• “You were lucky…you got stakeholder buy-in despite all the company politics.”

Be Open and Optimistic

• Be open to new experiences
• Adopt a relaxed attitude to life
• Be certain that the future will be bright
• “You were lucky…”

Don’t Dwell on Mistakes

• Persist in the face of failure
• Employ ways to cope with, and even thrive upon, ill fortune
• “You were lucky this time…not like last time.”

What else can we do to increase our luck?

I love O’Reilly’s MAKE Magazine, because I love to tinker around with bits of things and make things blow up.

But I really love MAKE because the contents are about, by and for people who think about making, talk about making, make space to make and make it easier to make things. So when I read Pervasive Publishing (in News from the Future) by Tim O’Reilly in the latest issue, it struck a chord. Tim writes about reality, publishing, and Second Life:

“What is important about Second Life is not just its immersive quality. It’s the face that its members are active participants in creating it. They are makers, not consumers. That’s what is also important about the World Wide Web, Wikipedia, YouTube and Flickr.”

Long live making and makers!

Each January, members of the team share their resolutions for the upcoming year, and we’re proud to announce that not one person bothered with routine promises to “eat better” or “exercise more.” Take a look at what Adaptive Path has planned for upcoming year.

This morning I took BART the office. It was just like any other day…crowds of folks, some rushing, some not. The guy playing music near the escalator. A buzz of conversation as people chatted to start the day or apologized for bumping and brushing into each other. And then, at 8:46am an announcement came over the intercom: “In remembrance of the events of September 11th and the heroes and victims, we ask that you observe a moment of silence. Thank you.”

Like a whoosh, the silence descended. The saxophone player put his instrument down. People stopped talking. Some paused in reflection, but others kept moving in absolute quiet. I’ve never experienced anything like it.

Not only was the moment observed in the stations: All BART trains stopped for 15 seconds. System-wide.

I arrived at work to AIM status messages such as “i was there. never forget”…and one in memory of a specific name.

Modern tools give us new ways to share remembrance and to honor shared experience. An intercom system is to communicate important information, especially in the case of emergency. Synchronized scheduling and switching systems allow for the stoppage of all trains in the system. Instant Messenger status messages help us know if it’s okay to interrupt a friend or co-worker with a quick question, but they also tell others what and who we’re thinking of in that moment. And all are immediately co-opted in a time when communication and connection brings us together.

I’m really glad to have experienced that moment. Nicely done, BART.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the ways that web products’ interface / interaction  evidence the business strategy and approach. While wafting in metaphorville, this one emerged: you can look at web products like you do gemstones. To take it further, which bling is your bling?

the diamond: transformation
Distill the business (and the interactions) down to something totally clear, where each facet creates more luster and sparkle, where it’s harder than steel and incredibly valuable. Start with a bunch of coal, and apply pressure intensely until it’s completely different, where it’s not coal any longer…it’s been transformed into something brand new.

Coal comes from situations that erode good user-centered design: too many moving parts, complex data structures, lots of business rules or expectations, too many options, unclear filters, results, form-fields, whatever. Pressure comes from intense competition, need for organizational change, markets that are poised to combine or consolidate, and other internal / external factors.

What Google did for search is a visible diamond. Search was a major (and growing) market with too many options, lots of complexity, lots of market pressure, lots of stuff out there. Google collapsed it all down to one entry field and a whole lotta under-the-covers algorithmic smartness. Now that’s sparkly.

the pearl: evolution
Pearls start with a grain of sand. In real life, the oyster is really just trying to find a way to survive with a stupid piece of sand in its body; but in business life, the sand can be seen as a problem or an opportunity that rallies a team to make something else. Whether it’s an opportunity (here’s a nugget of an idea that could be BIG) or a business snafu (we get 8,000 complaints about this a year) the goal is to apply strategy and design to change the grain of sand into a positive thing.

Pearls are great when the strategy needs to evolve over a measured period of time. The good part is that the bigger they get, the more valuable they are. The more oysters you got working to make the pearl, the more you win.

Wikipedia is a pearl: start with something small (an empty page, a one-sentence entry, an erroneous claim) and let the community nacreate it over time into something that iterates and evolves into something unique and valuable. Tah-dah, pearls of wisdom.

the crystal: organic growth
It grows organically, wildly, sporadically and spontaneously. But through it all, it keeps a crazy kind of symmetry and holism, since the prongs extending in all spatial directions are built from the same pattern as the core. Crystals are great for unknown challenges, communities that give their members more than lip-service power, and cultures that promote organic, opportunistic change. Crystals are products that start small and grow exponentially and unexpectedly.

Flickr is a great crystal. The stuff that makes it all up is pretty much the same: it’s a bunch of photos. But the crazy fractal-like outgrowths jut out in all directions, are constantly in development and build organically on the whole. And baked into the entire approach is the concept of giving power to the users so that the community itself takes charge of creating new spurs and directions. The strategy is crystal clear.

These are just three examples in the jewel box of the web. So now when I think about cornerstones of design, I’m going to consider gemstones, too.