Six And Half Philosophies for Design & Innovation
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Alex (Jun) Zhu,
User Experience Manager, SAP
The physicist who is only a physicist can still be a first-class physicist and a most valuable member of society. But nobody can be a great economist who is only an economist - and I am even tempted to add that the economist who is only an economist is likely to become a nuisance if not a positive danger.
“
”Friedrich Hayek
The Dilemma of Specialization
Multidisciplinary Landscape of Design:
Design
Business
Technology
Architecture
Urban PlanningEconomics
LinguisticsArt
System Dynamics
Literature
Philosophy
Psychology
SociologyAnthropology
Biography
Ethics
Politics
What Is Design?
My Personal Definition of Design:
Design refers to the human activity to invent a new structure for utility“
”Note:
This is a very general definition, and should apply to all kinds of design activities, including UX design, industrial design, architectural design, urban design, process design, organization design, you name it.
“Human Activity”:
Structure created by design(Mercedes-Benz Bionic Concept Car)
Structure created by nature(Boxfish)
Please note that I didn’t use “artificial” here. Human activity does not necessarily create artificial design, but can also create so-called natural design or organic design. To be introduced later…
Design Non-design
“New”:
New structure created by design Existing structure materialized and copied
Design Non-design
“Structure”:
Structured elements Unstructured (or loosely structured) elements
Design Non-design
In year 2007, our revenue is 8.2M in manufacturing industry, 3.2M in professional service industry, 1.4M in wholesale/retail, and 1.2M in High-Tech.
Please note that “structured/unstructured” is a fairly relative judgment. Finally you can find a structure in almost everything in the world.
“Utility”:
Structure created for utility(Schroder House, Gerrit Rietveld)
Structure created for expression(Composition in Red, Yellow and Blue, Piet
Mondrian)
Design Non-design (Art)
How Structure Is Structured: Boundary: border with its environment Entities Substructures Ties between entities or
substructures
Structure of Solar System
Environment/Context
External Force
External Force
Tie between substructures
Entity with attributes
Substructure
Boundary
Tie between substructures
Types of Structures (by Entity):• Structure of Physical Entities• Structure of Informational Entities (visual elements, data,
etc.)• Structure of People• Structure of Time• Structure of Logic• Structure of Behaviors/Events/Activities• Structure of Mind• Structure of Economy• Etc.
Structure of Physical Entities:
Keyboard Layout of BlackBerry The Giant Swiss Army Life
Structure of Informational Entities:
Typology Map of Metro Line A Typical Portal Layout
Structure of People:
Organization HierarchySocial Network Visualization
(Jon Kleinberg & Lars Backstrom, Cornell University)
Structure of Time:
Gantt Chart Outlook Calendar
Structure of Logic:
A Process Flow If-Else Logic Structure
Function show_hide_dynamicpane () {if (!show_flag) {dynamicpane.visibility = “visible”;} else {dynamicpane.visibility = “invisible”;}
}
Structure of Mind:
Taxonomy of “Cognitive Domain”(Professor Bloom, 1956) What’s On A Man’s Mind?
(Image source: crazy-jokes.com)
Structure of Economy:
GDP Structure of Year 2005(Data Source: National Statistics Bureau)
SAP Financial Performance from Google Finance
A Few Types of Structure (By Form):
Linear Structure
Unipolar Network Structure
Multipolar Network Structure
Matrix Structure Network Structure
Nonpolar Network Structure
Linear Structure:Guided Activity (Wizard)
Linear Structure
Matrix Structure:
Matrix Structure
Horizontal/Vertical Information Architecture
Product Mgt. Design Development
Product A
Product B
Product C
Function/Product Matrix Org Structure
Unipolar Network Structure:Web Portals See Themselves as Hub of Internet
Urban Structure of Beijing (image source from Google Map)Unipolar Network
Structure
Multipolar Network Structure:Typical Information Architecture of A Website
Urban Structure of Shanghai (image source from Google Map)Multipolar Network
Structure
Multipolar Network Structure:Social Network
Semantic Network(e.g. Wikipedia)
Nonpolar Network Structure
Design
User Experience
Architecture
Human Scale
Prototype
The word ‘universe’ is derived from the Old Greek univers, from Latin universa, which combines uni- (the combining form of unus, or ‘one’) with versus (perfect passive participle of vertere, or ‘turn’). The word, therefore, means ‘all turned into one’ or ‘revolving as one’ or ‘orbiting as one’.
“
” Etymology of The Term "Universe” Wikipedia
Mathematic Formulas of Tao:
Absolute Formula:
Pragmatic Formula:
M = 6.5
Proposed 6.5 Philosophies for UX Design:
1. The city creates the theater and is the theater
2. This is a semi-structured world
3. Goodness of fit: Environmental Fitness
4. Goodness of fit: Internal Fitness
5. The ecosystem, gene, invisible hand, and supply chain
6. Talk, write, and imagine using language
6.5. To design or not design, this is a question
Mistério e melancolia de uma rua(Giorgio de Chirico, 1914)
Kashgar, 2005
Delhi, 2007Trastevere, Rome, 2004
”Lewis Mumford
The Culture of Cities, 1937
The essential physical means of a city's existence are the fixed site, the durable shelter, the permanent facilities for assembly, interchange, and storage; the essential social means are the social division of labor, which serves not merely the economic life but the cultural process. The city in its complete sense, then, is a geographic plexus, an economic organization, an institutional process, a theater of social action, and an esthetic symbol of collective unity.
…
The city creates the theater and is the theater. It is in the city, the city as theater, that man’s more purposive activities are formulated and worked out, through conflicting and cooperating personalities, events, groups, into more significant culminations
“
”Italo Calvino
Chapter 1, Invisible Cities
In vain, great-hearted Kublai, shall I attempt to describe Zaira, city of high bastions. I could tell you how many steps make up the streets rising like stairways, and the degree of the arcades' curves, and what kind of zinc scales cover the roofs; but I already know this would be the same as telling you nothing. The city does not consist of this, but of relationships between the measurements of its space and the events of its past: the height of a lamppost and the distance from the ground of a hanged usurper's swaying feet; the line strung from the lamppost to the railing opposite and the festoons that decorate the course of the queen's nuptial procession; the height of that railing and the leap of the adulterer who climbed over it at dawn; the tilt of a guttering and a cat's progress along it as he slips into the same window; the firing range of a gunboat which has suddenly appeared beyond the cape and the bomb that destroys the guttering; the rips in the fish net and the three old men seated on the dock mending nets and telling each other for the hundredth time the story of the gunboat of the usurper, who some say was the queen's illegitimate son, abandoned in his swaddling clothes there on the dock.
“
”Italo Calvino
Chapter 1, Invisible Cities
宽宏大量的忽必烈汗啊，无论我怎样描述采拉这个有许多巍峨碉堡的城，都是徒劳无功的。我可以告诉你，像楼梯一样升高的街道有多少级，拱廊的弯度多大，屋顶 上铺着怎样的锌片；可是我已经知道，那等于什么都没有告诉你。组成这城市的并不是这些东西而是它的空间面积与历史事件之间的关系：灯柱的高度、被吊死的篡朝者摆荡的脚与地面的距离；系在灯柱与对面铁栏之间的绳索、女皇大婚巡行时沿路张结的彩带；栅栏有多高、偷情的男子如何在黎明时分跃起爬过它；檐槽的斜度、他闪进窗子时一头猫怎样沿着檐槽走过；突然在海峡外出现的炮艇的火器射程有多远、炮弹怎样轰掉檐槽；鱼网的裂口、坐在码头上的三个老人怎样一面补网一 面交换已经讲过一百次的炮艇和篡朝者的故事 —— 有人说他是在襁褓时就给遗弃在这码头上的、女皇的私生子。
“
In order to define this quality in buildings and in towns, we must begin by understanding that every place is given its character by certain patterns of events that keep on happening there.
“
”Christopher Alexander
The Timeless Way of Building
Now, let’s go back to my definition of design:
Design refers to the human activity to invent a new structure for utility.“
”
“Ends” and “Means” of Design:
Structure of Physical Objects
Structure of Informational Objects
Structure of Logic
Structure of Time
Structure of Mind
Structure of Economy
+++
Structure of Behaviors/Events/Activities
Structure of People=
=+
Direct Manipulation
Influence
Ends
Example: Architecture
Direct Manipulation
Influence
Goal
Example: BlackBerry
Direct Manipulation
Influence
Goal
Conclusion: The mission of design is to improve the human emotion (structure of
mind), and economic outcome (structure of economy) To achieve this mission, we have to influence the “structure of events”
(e.g. the process flow) and the “structure of people” (e.g. social network), by manipulating the controls, screens, behaviors, information architecture, etc.
This also determines the design process: “define the mission” -> “design the stories” -> “design the UI”
The “Hard” Part and The “Soft” Part in Cosmos:
Three Nebulae in Narrow Band (Source: NASA Website)
The “Hard” Part and The “Soft” Part in Our Life:
Solid
Organization
Managership
Database
Law
Engineering
BBS
Process
Browse
Left Brain
Reality
Science
Explicit Knowledge
Analytic Thinking
Quantitative
Structuralism
…
Relatively “Soft” PartRelatively “Hard” Part
Liquid
Community
Leadership
Documents
Morality
Design
Wiki
Practice
Search
Right Brain
Dream
Art/Philosophy
Tacit Knowledge
Intuition
Qualitative
Deconstructionism
…
The Benefit and Cost of “Structure”:Benefit:
Regularity & Stability Controllability Predictability Internal force to balance with external force Out-of-the-box Utility Etc.
Cost: Cost to construct, deploy, and maintain Inflexibility Diversity Lose: opportunity cost to become other structures
Example: In-house Recruiting SystemThink about what are the benefits and costs for a company to develop an in-house system to manage their recruiting process.
Benefit:
Regularity & Stability: process standardization Controllability: accountability, policy reinforcement, etc. Predictability: process transparency Internal force: work flow, status management Out-of-the-box Utility: best practices
Cost:
Cost to construct, deploy, and maintain: development cost, implementation cost, maintenance cost, etc.
Inflexibility: what if the process changes dramatically? what a big re-organization happens? What if the approver is on vacation? …
Diversity lose: people are forced to use the same process and methods without exceptions
Metaphor: A Restaurant That Only Serves Combo
Benefit: No need to order one by one Seems to reflect the best
practice Etc.
But: I like everything but the meat
soup, since I am vegetarian!!!
The problem, like all those with which we are concerned, is one of balance. Too little liberty brings stagnation and too much brings chaos.
“”
Bertrand Russell
Conclusion:Be cautious not to over-structure or over-design. Reach a good balance between being structured and being flexible (unstructured) through:
• Componentization and Configuration
• “Soft Control” by offering guidance and best practices
• Leave a “hole” to accommodate unstructured activities, and provide a convenient link if possible and necessary.
Highly dynamic activities
Medium dynamic activities
Fixed activities
?
Design Time Run Time
Link
Componentization and Configuration:
Service Oriented Architecture:SAP NetWeaver
SAP NetWeaver™
Com
posi
te A
pplic
atio
n Fr
amew
ork
PEOPLE INTEGRATIONMultichannel access
Portal Collaboration
INFORMATION INTEGRATIONBus. Intelligence
Master Data Mgmt
Knowledge Mgmt
PROCESS INTEGRATIONIntegration Broker
BusinessProcess Mgmt
APPLICATION PLATFORMJ2EE
DB and OS Abstraction
ABAP
Life
cycl
e M
anag
emen
t
Soft Control (Semi-Structure):
Graphic Navigation in SAP Profitability Modeling Tool
Business Process Foundation in SAP Consolidation Solution
Linked “Hole”:
Date: xxxCity: xxx
Purpose: xxx… ?
Attach emails
Upload receipts
Structured DataUnstructured Data
Attach scanned receipts
Company Expense Policy
Ask For Clarifications
Print out
Paper Receipts
+
Save as PDF
Submit
Linked “Hole”:
• Copy as a link/Paste
• Automatically determined by Word using Smart Tags
Productive Applications (Unstructured)
Transaction Systems(Structured)
Linked “Hole”:
Outlook(Unstructured)
Adobe Interactive Form(Semi-structured)
Database(Structured)
Linked “Hole”:
Duet™ - Seamless integrates Microsoft® Office and SAP Backend
Linked “Hole”:
SAP Performance Mgt. System
Customer-Uploaded Image (unstructured)
System-generated Data (structured)
Fallingwater(Frank Lloyd Wright, 1936)
Fitness:A well-designed structure needs to have 2 different kinds of fitness
Environmental Fitness (balance with external forces): Fitness between the structure and its environment/context
Internal Fitness (balance with internal forces):Fitness between the elements, substructures, and their ties.
Environmental Fitness:
Environment/ContextExternal Force
External Force
Example: BlackBerry
New Structure
Existing Structure (Environment/Context)
Influence
Constraint
Example: Ross Lovegrove’s Organic Design
“Go” Chair(Ross Lovegrove)
Ty Nant Water Bottle(Ross Lovegrove)
Example: Natural Language Search
Usability Venders China
Search
Virtual Company AVirtual Company A is a Beijing-based usability service vender…
Virtual Company BVirtual Company B was established in 2004 and now has 12 FTEs…
Search Engine 1
List me the top 5 usability venders in China
Search
Virtual Company AVirtual Company A is a Beijing-based usability service vender…
Virtual Company BVirtual Company B was established in 2004 and now has 12 FTEs…
Search Engine 2
Normal Search Engine Natural Search Engine
Environment has to adapt to the new structure
Good Environmental Fitness
There is a quality even meaner than outright ugliness or disorder, and this meaner quality is the dishonest mask of pretended order, achieved by ignoring or suppressing the real order that is struggling to exist and to be served.
“”
Jane JacobsUrban Thinker
The rightness of the form depends, in each one of these cases, on the degree to which it fits the rest of the ensemble.“ ”
Christopher AlexanderNotes on the Synthesis of Form
Challenges: Indefinite possibilities are available to define the boundary
between the structure and its environment/context Usually the environment/context is ambiguous to the
designers (consider the regularities and irregularities in the world)
Usually the environment/context changes over instances Sometimes the environment/context evolves over time
Solutions:
1. Find an appropriate scope of the design (define an appropriate boundary)
2. An adapted “Reductionism” approach to solve ambiguity: Understand -> Generalize -> Imagine -> Scope -> Model -> Design -> Trial & Error -> Solve
3. Four mindsets: Skeptic -> Dreamer -> Architect -> Scientist
4. Adaptability of the structure, in terms of localization, customization, and personalization (e.g. the surface of sofa can always adapt to the people sitting there)
5. Provide an organic structure that emerges, adapts, and grows (to be addressed later)
1. Define The Border with The Environment
Indefinite Possibilities to Set Boundary:
Indefinite Possibilities to Set Borders
Environment/Context
?
He who defines the problem, declares the solution.“ ”Bob Baxley
Design Vision Conversation
The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution.“ ”
Bertrand Russell Design Vision Conversation
Example:A. Improve the efficiency of my production and distribution
B. Improve the efficiency of my supply chain
Result A Result B
Supply Chain Efficiency:• Vender Managed Inventory• Outsourcing• Information sharing• RFID
Internal Production Efficiency:• Production Process & Technology• Distribution Center• Agile manufacturing, JIT (kanban)• Etc.
Example:A. Find new technologies to reduce the CO2 emission
B. Reinvent the ecosystem to reduce the greenhouse gas emission
C. Solve or relieve the “global warming” problem
Result A Result B Result C
• Policies (regulations, taxes, accounting, etc.)
• Incentives• Market/Industrialization• Public awareness• Alternative Energy
• CO2-reducing Technologies
• CO2 Capturing and Reuse (e.g. plastic production, cryogen, petroleum mining, etc.)
• Or even wilder idea: use CO2 as cryogen to cool down our planet?
Example:A. Improve the usability of the registration form of our website
B. Improve the registration process of our web site
C. Improve the internet registration experience in general
New User Registration Form:
Full Name: * Alex Zhu
Email Address: * Keepsilence.com@gmail.com
Password: * XXXXXX
Repeat Password: * XXXXXX
Mailing Address:
Line 1: *
Other fields…
# 1293, Pudong South
Manual Registration Shopping Cart
Place Order (enter name, email, mailing address, etc.)
Automatic Registration
Non-registered user Google Toolbar
Result A Result B Result C
A More Radical Solution to Reduce “Transaction Cost”?
• Credibility• Transaction
History• Favorites• Preferences• Profile• etc.
User Repository
Register once for all
Website A
Register NowCall
Return
Website B
Register Now
Visit
Visit
Call
Return
Transaction History recorded
Transaction History recorded
General Principles: The broader you defines the boundary, the more likely
your solution will have a strategic impact. This is where innovation often occurs.
However, this is an economic decision which means you need first consider the capacity (production possibility curve), feasibility, and then do an ROI evaluation
A
B
C
D
EF
5
4
3
2
1
0 1 2 3 4 5
2. An Adapted “Reductionism” Approach to Solve Ambiguity
Architectural design problems can also be referred to as being ‘wicked problems’ in that they have no definitive formulation, no explicit ‘stopping rule’, always more than one plausible explanation, a problem formulation that corresponds to a solution and vice versa, and that their solutions cannot be strictly correct or false.
“
”Peter Powel
René Descartes Discourse on the Method of Rightly
Conducting the Reason
The first was never to accept anything for true which I did not clearly know to be such; that is to say, carefully to avoid precipitancy and prejudice, and to comprise nothing more in my judgment than what was presented to my mind so clearly and distinctly as to exclude all ground of doubt.
The second, to divide each of the difficulties under examination into as many parts as possible, and as might be necessary for its adequate solution.
The third, to conduct my thoughts in such order that, by commencing with objects the simplest and easiest to know, I might ascend by little and little, and, as it were, step by step, to the knowledge of the more complex; assigning in thought a certain order even to those objects which in their own nature do not stand in a relation of antecedence and sequence.
And the last, in every case to make enumerations so complete, and reviews so general, that I might be assured that nothing was omitted.
“
”
Reductionism Methodology:1. Filter away all that may be in doubt.
2. Divide difficulties to as small pieces as necessary.
3. Start with the simplest problems.
4. Make Lists, Tables, Diagrams.
Source: Wikipedia (Term: “Discourse on the Method”)
Definition of Reductionism:In philosophy, reductionism asserts that the nature of complex things is reduced to the nature of sums of simpler or more fundamental things.
Practical Benefits: Break down complex problems into smaller parts which are more
understandable and operable. In this way, specialization and collaboration are possible, and the
problem can be solved in a progressive manner Select an order to solve these parts step by step, depending on the
complexity of each part and its dependency with other parts. Though reductionism has been criticized a lot in the past 2 centuries
(mainly by Holism, Structuralism, and Emergentism who believe “the whole is more than the sum of its parts”), this is still a very pragmatic approach to solve complex issues regardless of its limitations.
Non-human animals could be reductively explained as automata
(De Homines 1622)
Paul Cézanne believed that all objects can be abstracted as cylinders, spheres, and cones.
Constraints of Reductionism: Study a part in isolation, ignoring the interplay between the part and
its context Proven to be error-prone by biography science, linguists, chemistry,
and many other disciplines (e.g. Being isolated from their contexts, words will lose their meaning; Water has totally different quality with oxygen or hydrogen)
An Adapted “Reductionism” Approach:
UnderstandGeneralize/
Filter
Model
???Imagine
Design
Trial & Error
xx
Solve
Scope
General Principles: Macro -> Micro Backbone -> Flesh Enumeration: Abundance -> Choice “Damped” Iteration
Macro -> Micro, Backbone -> Fresh
Three perspectives to understand a new city: Bird View (Macro thinking, big picture) Night View (Noise filtering, structure, backbone, pattern
identification) Attendance (Micro thinking, experience, empathy, validate)
Bird View Night View Attendance
”Su Dongpo
Handwriting on The Wall of Xilin
Looks like a ridge from one perspective,
Looks like a peak from another,
Knowing not the true face of Lushan Mountain,
For I am in its midst.
“
Metaphor: The Development Process of Baby
Week 1 Week 4 Week 6 Week 14 Week 18
Week 22 Week 24 Week 30 Birth 1 year old
Product Vision Blueprint Low-Fidelity
High-Fidelity Product Delivery Adaptation
Image source: http://www.pregnancy.org
Seven Bridges of Königsberg:
Leonhard EulerChapter 1, Invisible Cities
A “Micro -> Macro” Process:
SM Deliverables UX Deliverables
Virtual Company <-> Model Company
Role Specifications Personas
System-level Requirements• Function tree• System-level use cases
<-> System-level design:• Information Architecture• Screen flow (very low-fi)• UI specs for Common Behaviors
Detailed use cases <-> Use Scenarios + UI Mockups + UI Specifications
Macro Level
Micro Level
Design Portal: Modal Company
FutureTech System
Personas
• Browse by name
• Browse by organization
• Search
Business Processes
• Browse
Modal Company
• Company intro
• Industries
• Customers & Competitors
• Organization Structure
• Information Landscape
Now, you are here: Design Portal > Modal Company > Organization Structure
Design Portal: Persona
FutureTech SystemNow, you are here: Modal Company Portal > Personas > Kate Zhang
Organizational data:
Name: Kate Zhang
Company: FutureTech
Position: Sales Manager
Department: Office New York
Direct Manager: Feng Tang
Subordinates: Nancy Wang, Tony Lee, Xiaoyan Liu,
Other information:
Computer Skills: Professional
Working Environment: shared office
Equipments: Laptop, Blackberry, Fax, Printer, Telephone
Software: SAP CRM, Outlook, Excel, Word, Powerpoint, WebEx, etc.
Responsibilities:
As a sales manager in Akron’s office in NY, Kate not only takes care of the sales performance in the east coast, but also needs to…
Goals:• Wants to maintain a healthy
opportunity pipeline in her team
• Wants to achieve the sales quota
• Wants the team to be motivated
• Etc.
Business Processes involved:• Order to Cash
• Hire a new employee
• Expense Reimbursement Management
Personas
• Browse by name
• Browse by organization
• Search
Business Processes
• Browse
Modal Company
• Company intro
• Industries
• Customers & Competitors
• Organization Structure
• Information Landscape
Design Portal: System-Level Use Case
FutureTech System
Personas
• Browse by name
• Browse by organization
• Search
Business Processes
• Browse
Company Overview
• Company intro
• Industries
• Customers & Competitors
• Organization Structure
• Information Landscape
Now, you are here: Design Portal > Business Processes > ERM Process
“Abundance -> Choice”
Image source: www.blog.speculist.com
“Damped Iteration”:
Understand??? xx
Field Research
Ad-hoc Research
Lab Research
“Damped” Iteration
3. Four Mindsets For Designers
RealistSome things are independent of mind
IdealistEverything is mind dependent
Rationalist
Some knowledge of the world is independent of our own experience
Architect
The structure of the mind matches, in some respects, the structure of the world
PlatoDescartes
Dreamer
Our mind structures the world
Kant
Empiricist
All knowledge of the world comes from experience
Scientist
We can gain knowledge of the world, but only through experience
AristotleLockeRussell
Skeptic
We have no better insight into the workings of our minds than into the world itself
Hume Berkeley
Categorization of Classical Epistemology
What Mindsets Are Required in Design?
Architect Dreamer
Scientist Skeptic• Understand
• Generalize/Filter
• Imagine• Scope
• Model
• Design
• Validate
General Principles: Since very few people really have all of these 4 very
different mindsets, certain level of specialization in the design process seems to be necessary
However, the cost of specialization also needs to be evaluated (e.g. how to make sure the information fidelity across the researchers and designers, etc.). Refer to next section regarding internal fitness
“Focus with context” approach might be the best option
4. Adaptability to deal with individual differences across instances
Different Levels of Adaptability:
Localization
Industrialization
Customization
Personalization
Country Scale
Industry Scale
Company Scale
Human Scale
Example: CSCW Design
High Power Distance Culture
(mono-nuclear)
Medium Power Distance Culture
(poly-nuclear)
Low Power Distance Culture
(semi-homogenous)
Centralized Model(hierarchical communication)
Decentralized Model(hierarchical + collaboration)
Distributed Model(Non-centered, social networking, clique)
Organization Structure
(Environment)
Collaboration Structure (Design)
Environmental Fitness
Metaphor: Roadway Design in Urban Planning
Mono-nuclear(e.g. Beijing)
Poly-nuclear(e.g. Shanghai)
Low Power Distance Culture
(semi-homogenous)
Centralized Model Decentralized Model Distributed Model
Urban Structure (Environment)
Roadway Structure (Design)
Environmental Fitness
Internal Fitness:
Solomon Guggenheim Museum, New York(Frank Lloyd Wright, 1959)
This is a cutting board in your kitchen. It is built into the kitchen counter. When you are not using the cutting board it slides into the counter (Picture A). When you need to use it, you slide it out (Picture B). It is very convenient.
But wait…you got a new problem.
Reason:
When you design a structure, you need to consider how all parts work together.
Internal Fitness:
Source: http://www.baddesigns.com
Internal Fitness:
External Force
Internal Force
External Force
Internal Force
What’s Internal Fitness?Balance among internal forces:
Conceptual Integrity (different goals and strategies) Connection and communication (silos, misunderstandings, etc.) Consistency (functional, behavioral, visual, mental model, etc.)
Challenges: For complex systems, reductionism approach seems to be the only
pragmatic way to make specialization & collaboration possible Parts are studied and solved apart from the whole (context), and
therefore there is a potential fallacy of composition (whole does not equal to the sum of parts)
A part’s neighbors are changing over time Dilemma of specialization: different organizations, goals, knowledge,
experience, skills, locations, culture, languages, personality, you name it
Hard to balance the efficiency and the communication intenseness among the people who work on these parts
A “Fallacy of Composition” Example in Economics: If an individual farmer adopts a new cultivation technique , he will
earn more from the improved production efficiency. What happens if all famers adopt this new technology?
D1
P1
A
S1
S2BP2
Q1 Q2 Quantity
Price
Answer:
The famers will earn less if all of them adopt the technology!
Any organization that designs a system (defined broadly) will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure.
“”
Melvin ConwayDatamation, 1968
Solutions: Introduce systems thinking to understand the overall system
landscape and interdependencies. This might be done by a few architects but with the whole group involved and informed
Carefully break down the whole into the parts, to avoid over fragmentation.
Standards, guidelines, governance, etc. Patterns: share the same language (to be addressed later) “Focus with context” when studying the parts Try to align the organization structure with the system structure Improve communication model in the entire organization, across
disciplines (design, research, development, PM, marketing, support, etc.) and across functional parts (products, components, etc.)
If you wish to influence or control the behavior of a system, you must act on the system as a whole. Tweaking it in one place in the hope that nothing will happen in another is doomed to failure—that’s what connectedness is all about.
“”
Dennis SherwoodSystems Thinking
Systems Thinking:
Systems Thinking, also known as System Dynamics, focuses on how the thing being studied interacts with the other constituents of the system.
Therefore instead of isolating smaller and smaller parts of a system, systems thinking involves a broader view, looking at larger and larger numbers of interactions.
Systems Thinking Diagram:
TechnologyAdvancement
Quantity
Revenue
Unit Price
+
+
+
-
+
Example:
Visualize a more completed landscape of the farmer’s problem.
Example: Travel Management Cultural Model
From SAPEnjoy Project (joint project with InContext, Enterprise)
Plants in The Nature (Alex) Prosperity in A Market (Bab)
Challenges: Environment changes over time Mechanic structure does not scale For complex problems, chaos ubiquitously exists in both
environment and the internal organization, which makes up-front and centralized design/control impossible
We are witnessing a “Unipolar –> Multipolar –> Nonpolar” paradigm shift in the structure of our world in a lot of areas (which may be explained the Entropy theory), and design has to match in many cases
Environment Changes Over Time:
For example, after a company has deployed an enterprise application:
The legal requirements may change Business environment may change Business process may change Company policy may change Organization structure may change IT landscape may change Etc.
Chaos (deterministic, unpredictable):
”A butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that ultimately cause a tornado to appear.“
Edward LorenzImage source from Wikipedia
Langton’s Virtual Ant:A 4-state 2-dimensional Turing machine invented in the 1980s. The ant starts out on a grid containing black and white cells, and then follows the following set of rules.
1. If the ant is on a black square, it turns right and moves forward one unit.
2. If the ant is on a white square, it turns left and moves forward one unit.
3. When the ant leaves a square, it inverts the color.
Result from the Computational Simulation
Our World Is Getting More Homogeneous!
Monopoly Economy/Command Economy
Corporate Economy
Consumer Economy (Liberalism)
Multipolar World(after 1990)
Bipolar World(before 1990)
Globalization(till ?)
ModernismRealism Post-modernism
Web 1.5 (Integration)
Web 1.0 (Centralized Production)
Web 2.0 (Mash-up, Collective
Intelligence, etc.)
Economy
World Politics
Art
Internet
Solutions: Embrace the complexity, irregularity, and unpredictability
of the environment. Shift from the “machine” metaphor to “organism” metaphor and “market” metaphor.
“Organism” metaphor:• Ecosystem• Seed• Gene• Evolves, adapts, and grows
“Market” metaphor:• “The Invisible Hand”• Self-interest and Incentive• Supply Chain• Specialization and Transaction cost
1. The “Organism” Metaphor
”Frank Lloyd Wright
An Organic Architecture
Let the design:• be inspired by nature and be sustainable, healthy, conserving, and
diverse.• unfold, like an organism, from the seed within.• exist in the "continuous present" and "begin again and again".• follow the flows and be flexible and adaptable.• satisfy social, physical, and spiritual needs.• "grow out of the site" and be unique.• celebrate the spirit of youth, play and surprise.• express the rhythm of music and the power of dance.
“
“Organism” Metaphor:
Seed
Cell
Gene
Sophistication Achieved by Genetic Algorithm:
Complex or sophisticated outcomes derived from groups of individuals following simple rules.
Craig Reynolds’s Computational Model “Boids”
Simple Rules:
1.Separation2.Alignment3.Cohesion
Organic Model:
Environment
Environment
Environmental Fitness at Time Point 1
T1Environment
Environmental Fitness at Time Point 2
Environment
T2
T1 T2
Environmental Fitness at Time Point 1
Environmental unfitness at Time Point 1
Inorganic Structure
Organic Structure
Man-made Creature by Theo Jansen by using Genetic Algorithm
Wikipedia: A self-organized encyclopedia that grows everyday
Tags, Semi-structured, Collective
Intelligence, Evolve, Flexibility, Democracy,
Organic, Discoverability, Information
Visualization, Decentralized
Tagging: an emerging structure with no up-front planning or central control
Amazon’s Recommendation Engine: Intelligence based on simple algorithms
Social Network: Another example of growing structure
2. The “Market” Metaphor
He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it.
…
He intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.
…
By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it.
“
”Adam Smith
The Wealth of Nations
Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.“
”
Dwight D. EisenhowerThe Wealth of Nations
Order Achieved by Self-Interest:Complex or sophisticated outcomes derived from groups of individuals
following simple rules (self-interest in this case).
Free Market (Order Under The Chaos)
Simple Rules:
1.Buy more when price goes down2.Sell more when price goes up
DS1
Market-driven Modal:
Environment
Environment
Environmental Fitness at Time Point 1
Environment
Environmental Fitness at Time Point 2
Environment
T2
T1 T2
Environmental Fitness at Time Point 1
Environmental unfitness at Time Point 1
Ego-centered Structure
Open Structure and Open Market
EnvironmentT1
Supply Chain in Different Paradigms:
Value Supply (Design Time)Value Consumption (Run Time)
Unipolar paradigm(e.g. web 1.0)
Multipolar paradigm(e.g. web 1.5)
Nonpolar paradigm(e.g. web 2.0)
Specialization and Marketplace: Each supplier only needs to take care of a much smaller scope of
problem and with much more regularity Each supplier is more responsive and adaptable to its local
environment change (self-interest driven), and therefore the whole market is more adaptable
The mission of design is to reduce the transaction cost and reach the best economic efficiency
Transaction Cost Reduced by SOA:
SOA
High Transaction Cost (n=10) Lower Transaction Cost (n=5)
Open Source Example: Firefox’s Extensions
Yahoo Widget
Commonalities Between Wal-Mart & Yahoo Widget?
Supply Chain of Wal-Mart Supply Chain of Yahoo Widget
Wal-Mart
P&G
Yahoo
RFID
VMI
Information Sharing
EDI
Protocol
XML
Widget Repository
Customer (One-stop Shopping Experience)
User (Integrated User Experience)
SDK
“SOA” As A “Dissection Table”:
Beautiful as the chance encounter of a sewing machine and an umbrella on a dissection table.
“”
Comte de Lautreamont Maldoror
EBay: Order Achieved by Reputation Mechanism (self-interest)
Market-driven Approach to Relieve Global Warming: Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading
Second Life: self-created and self-organized society
Google: A Market Place for Websites to Attract Customers
Mash-up: Google Map as a service + Smugmug as photo sharing service
Language As The Greatest Invention of Human Beings:
Key functions of language: Communicate Document Learn Think and develop new knowledge: people subconsciously use language to
construct ideas in mind
Why I think language as the greatest human invention: The indefinite and complex world can be represented and understood by our finite
and less complex language, maybe not 100% completely and accurately.
How could? The structure of the language somehow represents the structure of the world The language finds the regularities in the irregularities, or in other words, the
patterns of the complex. Language evolves, adapts, and grows over time, contributed by collective
intelligence of people across generations
Commonality Between Language and Design?
Key functions of design: Communicate Innovate
Why language is needed in design: External Fitness: design should reflect the structure of the
environment (or the world); design should communicate with users in an understandable manner
Internal Fitness: the parts need to communicate with each other; designers who work on these parts need to communicate with each other in an understandable manner
Organicism: to create an organic structure that evolves, adapts, and grows, a common language should be provided, to enable the collective intelligence
Etymology of “Design” in Chinese Language:
The Word “Design” in Chinese
This component means “language”
Etymology of “Design” in Chinese Language:
Etymology of These 2 Chinese Characters by Xu Shen (100 AC)
Control people by using language
Count numbers by using language
Language Control, drive, employ
Language Ten
How Chinese Characters Are Structured:
Word finally composited (meaning: design, create)
High-level Composited Building Blocks (meaning: speak, language)
Atomic Building Blocks (no meaning)
Low-level Composited Building Blocks (meaning: mouth)
Metaphor, Symbolize
Metaphor, logical aggregates,
pictophoneticsLayout
Algorithm
Layout Algorithm
Metaphor, logical aggregates,
pictophonetics
How Words, Sentences, and Paragraphs Are Structured:
Character (meaning: design, create)
Character (meaning: ideas)
Action + Object Algorithm
Word with more complete but fixed meaning (meaning: design)
Metaphor, Reference
Metaphor, Reference
Grammar
Sentence with situational meaning (meaning: help me to design)
Metaphor, Reference, Express
Context, Style
Paragraph with more situational and dynamic meaning (context more
important than words)
How Chinese Character Evolves: “Horse”
Oracle Bone Script
Bronze Script
Seal Script Clerical Script
Regular Script (Traditional)
Regular Script (Simplified)
1950~200 AC
~221 BC
Concrete, irregular, inconsistent, complex
Abstract, regular, consistent, simple
~1200 BC
Some Facts About Chinese Language:
Synchronic study as of 2001: 8 basic strokes (atomic building blocks) ~214 composited building blocks ~80,000 Chinese characters in total, with ~3,500 of them commonly used, and
~2000 frequently used in daily life Infinite sentence and paragraph compositions
Diachronic study: The basic strokes almost never changed The building blocks and characters evolve gradually from concrete to abstract,
from irregular to regular The number of characters commonly used today does not increase much
compared with the “Oracle Bone Script” period (3000 years ago) The composited building blocks were simplified and reduced a few times
(latest change is the Simplified Chinese revolution in mainland China)
Structure Elements in Language: Different Levels of Building Blocks Configurable Building Blocks Composition Layout Algorithms Polysemy Grammar to define relationships
and rules Metaphors and References link
to the real world Cross-referencing Constrained Freedom
Complex, Irregular
Simple, Regular
Fixed, Restricted, Consistent
Dynamic, Free, Stylish,
Expressive
Design As Language – Perfect Match! Different Levels of Building Blocks Configurable Building Blocks Composition Layout Algorithms Polysemy Grammar to define relationships
and rules Metaphors and References link
to the real world Cross-referencing Constrained Innovation
Complex, Irregular, Infinite
Simple, Regular, Less
Fixed, Restricted, Consistent
Dynamic, Free, Stylish,
Expressive
UI Controls
Pattern Elements
Patterns
Screens
Flows
Applications
How to Design As Language:
+- Є
F(x)
Unspecific Problem
UI Dictionary (Language Best Practices)
?Narrate and Express:
(Composite the structure in an innovate way)
Metaphor, Reference
Metaphor, Reference
Specific Problem
Reference, Invoke, Configure
Solution emerges
Environmental Fitness
Model Companies/Personas
Internal Fitness
Benefits of This Approach: Liberate designers from trivial activities, but shift the focus to more
design activities (e.g. process, application) Enable designers, and potentially partners, customers, and users in the
“Multipolar” or “Nonpolar” model, by sharing the language, and therefore the structure can grow
Internal fitness reached by using the same language (building blocks and grammar)
Solution emerges when the problem is narrated in a natural manner, and therefore both environmental fitness and internal fitness can be achieved
Innovation reached by narrating the problem in a creative way
Uniqueness reached by “writing styles” Best practices Economic efficiency and scalability (lower marginal cost)
How Narrative Design Works:Problem:
Design an application for a regional sales manager to manage the sales activities and performance in his region.
Narrative Design:
Tony, sales manager of FutureTech, comes to the office in the morning. He logs into the system. The first thing he wants to do is to check whether there are some exceptions in his area of responsibility. The system messages him that there is an opportunity moving very slowly in the pipeline in the past month, and therefore Tony wants to drill down to see the reasons behind, and check who is the responsible person to respond to this problem.
He realizes that the price set in the quotation is too high. The sales rep of this opportunity is Bob. Since the customer BigMoney is very strategic to the company’s growth, and therefore Tony creates a task for Bob to adjust the price in the quotation.
…
How Narrative Design Works:
Problem Narration:
The sales rep of this opportunity is Bob. Since the customer BigMoney is very strategic to the company’s growth, and therefore Tony creates a task for Bob to adjust the price in the quotation.
+- Є
F(x)
Design Dictionary (Language Best Practices)
Model Companies, Personas
Noun.
Noun.
Question: Does this approach lead to “design determinism”? Does this approach kill design freedom and room for
creativity? Can design be automated by the computer this way, if the
artificial intelligence is sophisticated enough? Does this mean designer becomes less necessary?
No!!! To narrate the problem accurately, you have to understand
the problem accurately, which is the most important and difficult job in most cases.
The same problem can be narrated in very different way (next slide shows a different version of story adapted for “high power distance” culture)
Great creativity is not to reinvent the wheel, but reinvent the car
Designers become more strategic because they are moving to the upper end of the food chain.
Adapted Version of The Story:
Problem Narration:
The sales rep of this opportunity is Bob. Since the customer BigMoney is very strategic to the company’s growth, and therefore Tony opens the corresponding quotation by himself, overwrites the price, and then informs Bob about this decision.
+- Є
F(x)
Design Dictionary (Language Best Practices)
Noun.
Noun.
Model Companies, Personas
How Should Design Language Evolve:
As suggested by the diachronic study of the Chinese language, the following principles/recommendations may apply to the design dictionary:
Number of UI controls should be relatively quite stable As atomic building blocks, UI controls should not change much over
time New UI patterns can be invented only when necessary Very infrequently used UI patterns should fade out over time You can keep a relatively large screen repository, but hold the
assumption that less than 20% of these screens are frequently used. Spend 80% of your effort on this 20% screens according to Pareto’s
rule
On One Hand:
African photos by Kevin Carter
An Undesigned Life: poverty, suffer, unsatisfied demand,
fight with environment
A Designed Life: abundance, enjoy, sufficient supply, utilize
the environment
Chicago photos (Alex)
On The Other Hand:
Shangri-la, Kashgar (Alex)
An Undesigned Life: natural, alive, diversity, free, relax,
emotional, sustainable
Anonymous images searched from internet
A Designed Life: artificial, isolated, commodity, restricted, incursion, cold, environmental damaging
The Ultimate Questions: How do designers (as a whole) impact the world and the
human life? Does our work really create value? Are we spending
money, time, and effort doing right things? Does design sometimes become a “surplus of intellect” or
“show-off of creativity”? Are we solving the complexity or rather contributing to the
complexity?
To design, or not design?
My Speculation How Complexity Evolves in Human Society:
P1S3
S1
Intents to solve
S2
Problem 2
Intents to solve
Intents to solve
Starting Point
Problem 1
Generates new problem
Generates new problem
Solution 1
Generates new problem
Intents to solve
Conflict and then generate new
problem
Problem
Solution
Intents to solve
Generates new problem
Conflict and then generate new problem
A Critical View of Our Civilization:
Phenomenon: In the very beginning, we only have a few basic problems (food,
shelter, disease, sex, etc.) In the end, we get thousands of millions of solutions, as well as
thousands of millions of new problems! Some of the basic problems are relatively better solved, but the others
are even getting worse (e.g. freedom in life, happiness, environment, etc.)
Example: The ultimate intention for human to invent computer is NOT to
increase productivity, but to serve people and liberate people from the work
But now, how many people (including you and me) are serving the computer, and working even harder than before?
Some Explanations: Too many solutions intent to solve the same problem, driven by self-
interest (think about the furious competition in the market) Well-designed solutions may solve the problem completely (without
generating new problems), but only in an ideal world Badly-designed solutions create more problems (negative value) There might be more badly-designed solutions than well-designed
solutions in the world There are conflicts, inconsistencies, incompatibilities between
solutions, and therefore new problems are generated Endless cycle, and exponential increase Unfortunately the complexity itself is an organic structure like the
virus that scales, grows, and spreads Can be explained by the chaos theory (chaos can emerge by a group of
individuals interacting with simple rules)
Why I Count This As “Half” Philosophy:
What we are able to improve (the pragmatic part): Try to leverage systems thinking to avoid creating “negative value” Improve interoperability both internally and externally, to reduce the “conflict
and generate new problems” phenomenon. The SOA concept can apply to not only the software arena, but also many other areas (e.g. physical products)
Ask the “to design, or not design” question first before you design Find somewhere else to consume our “surplus of intellect”… Leave some creativity to the Buddha/God/Brahma/nature/etc., depends on
what ever religion you believe…
What we are not able to change (the non-pragmatic part): Self-interest (companies survive by “solving” solutions) Never-ending demands of human being Now we really have a lot of problems to solve (e.g. global warming problem,
etc.)
Plurality should not be posited without necessity.“ ”Occam's razor
William of Ockham
The man who grasps principles can successfully choose his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.
“”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
We must first learn a discipline which teaches us the true relationship between ourselves and our surroundings. Then, once this discipline has done its work, we will be ready to give up the discipline, and act as nature does.
This is the timeless way of building: learning the discipline - and shedding it.
“
”Christopher Alexander
The Timeless Way of Building
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