Reality Bats Last


The typical engineering process begins with a recitation of the constraints and limitations. The catechism of things "we cannot do" is stated often and forcefully enough to become doctrine, regardless of its truth. Interaction designers must keep a healthy suspicion of all assumptions about what cannot be done. Time and again, we find ways around such assumed limitations merely because we refuse to accept them at face value.

Of course, sometimes those limits are real, and we cannot get around them, but there is great value in trying anyway. Even if we cannot finesse a constraint, our journey down the dead-end path might shed light on some previously hidden opportunity. This process is based on the "lateral thinking" work of Edward de Bono.[1]

[1] Edward de Bono, Lateral Thinking, Creativity Step by Step, 1970, Harper & Row, New York, New York, ISBN: 0-06-090325-2.

Programmers are princes of the practical. Their pragmatism leaves them little patience for improbable thinking. However, this strength can also be a weakness because sometimes a practical process can't solve the problem. When engineers invent, they arrive at their solution through a succession of practical, possible steps. Because of this, their solution will always be a derivative of the old, beginning solution, which is often not good enough.

Instead, we merely assume that all things are possible and design from there. By sidestepping all those assumed restrictions, we can see goals and personas with more clarity, and we can imagine solutions that could not have been arrived at conventionally.

graphics/11inf05.gif

Engineers are uncomfortable stepping away from their firm foundation of rationality and prefer to cling to their assumed limitations. Because they know that we will eventually confront those constraints, they feel responsible to defend them. They call this "playing devil's advocate." Although I appreciate their concern, the constraints of reality are the one thing that needs no help. Reality never needs an advocate, because it can never be denied. It is always true that reality bats last. Knowing that reality will always get its turn at bat, we know that regardless of what we imagine or design, it will never become real if it is not possible. Only someone without skin in the game would design something unbuildable. What's more, we very often find that constraints are illusory and self-imposed. You cannot see that until you step around them.



Inmates Are Running the Asylum, The. Why High-Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity
The Inmates Are Running the Asylum Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy &How to Restore the Sanity - 2004 publication
ISBN: B0036HJY9M
EAN: N/A
Year: 2003
Pages: 170

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net