TL;DR. Avoid the gulfs of execution and evaluation in your everyday life. Make sure you can understand that current status of the system; make sure others can understand the current status of the system after you are gone.
One of the most influential books in my life is "The Design of Everyday Things" by Don Norman. I read it after I had finished my Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, and I changed my area of interests from VLSI analysis to Human Computer Interaction.
Coming from an Engineering with a heavy emphasis on Maths and Physics background, the book opened up a door to a completely new world, a world that I would usually dismiss. I studied my undergraduate degree at a great place but with a focus far from the human. I remember a running joke among my professors, it was that if the papers we were not reading did not have equations, then they were either on philosophy or a novel.
That book was my first glance into Human Computer Interaction. It helped me to first organise concepts that I was thinking about but could not organise in my head. Also, it showed me a lot of new ideas and concepts that I was happy to explore. And so, life passed by and I pursued a PhD and a research career in Human-Computer Interaction. Then I jumped ship and started working in the professional world as a Project Manager. And I have always found that my background in Human-Centred Design and designing for usable things has always helped me in dealing with new challenges and new situations.
There are two key concepts that have stuck with me since reading that book: Gulf of Evaluation and Gulf of Execution. How do we design to avoid those gulfs? Little by little this questions has permeated in my everyday life: from managing projects, people, teams, to even fatherhood.
A very simplified explanation of these two concepts is:
The Gulf of Evaluation: Unable to tell the current state of the system.
The Gulf Of Execution: Unable to tell how to act upon the system.
The Gulf Of Execution: Unable to tell how to act upon the system.
- Provide Feedback,
- Appropriate Mapping,
- Let people build proper mental models
- Take advantages of Affordances
Norman describes four basic principles that can be used to avoid both gulfs:
Every time I am faced with a problem or a situation, I always ask myself: What is the current state? Which actions can I take? And after I leave, can the next person evaluate the current state?
On my eyes, Agile Methodologies, Design Thinking, etc, are a consequence of avoiding these two gulfs. For example, Feedback and Mapping can be applied to make Work in Progress visible; and we build better mental models and take advantage of affordances by fostering face to face communication.
I just wanted to share two concepts that I have found very useful when dealing with a lot of situations when teams and people are involved. Because if I firmly believe we can make the world a better place if we design it to make it more usable if we truly follow a Human-Centered Design approach to fixing the world.
So next time you are faced with a new situation ask yourself, can I make sense of what is happening? which actions can I take? And if I can not do it, then what can I do to make sure me, and whoever comes next, can make sense of what is happening?