complexity, nemetics, and wicked tech comm

Presentation © 2015 Ray Gallon@RayGallon @Transformsoc

Complexity, Nemetics, and Wicked Tech Comm

Ray Gallon


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ag.com/gallery_lrg/

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http://www.electronicproducts.com/uploadedImages/Analog_Mixed_Signal_ICs/Communications/Innovega%20Contact%20Lenses%201.jpg

Milk is getting sta

leYou’ve used a lot of

electricity th

is weekChange the filter in

your furnace

Embedded Wearable

IoT Connected

Assisted Reality A Not So Future Scenario


Problem: We Need to Deliver Kanban Information

Give the user:

All the information s/he needs

Only the information s/he needs.

When s/he needs it

Must be embedded so that:

Findable immediately

If not needed, stays out of the way.

http://www.theleanman.com/FileUpload/Supermarket.jpg


http://images.gizm

ag.com/gallery_lrg/

8689_22010841147_2.jpg

http://www.electronicproducts.com/uploadedImages/Analog_Mixed_Signal_ICs/Communications/Innovega%20Contact%20Lenses%201.jpg

Milk is getting sta

leYou’ve used a lot of

electricity th

is weekChange the filter in

your furnace

Embedded Wearable

IoT Connected

Assisted Reality A Not So Future Scenario

We don’t know the user’s context • Where? • When? • With whom? • Connected to what? • Using what display? • Using what controls? • …


Mobile Video AppPredict the context!


A Case of ‘Wicked’ Problems

Problems that are difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize.

In addition, complex interdependencies make it so that the effort to solve one aspect of a wicked problem may reveal or create other problems.


We Must Accept Uncertainty!


BUT if the user gets lost, does s/he have a map to find the way back?

Extrait de l’atlas catalan, école majorquine, ca. 1375 Bibliothèque Nationale de

?


It requires a significant vision that impels us to

organize reality…

... in order to propose a coherent project that improves peoples’ lives

Leadership: Solving Wicked Problems Needs More Than Resource Management

Another Way of Seeing!


Each Task a Hologram for the Kanban Process

Iteration

Timeliness

Relevance

Usability

Findability


Emerging from ChaosComplex problems are entanglements of many simple threads. They can seem chaotic.

Order emerges from chaos in its own way. This might not necessarily be positive.

Our job is to reiteratively help users find positive, constructive emergences from complexity.

Our primary tool for doing this is a combination of psychology, linguistics, and socio-‐anthropology…

We don’t “solve” wicked problems!


Meme: an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture.

Biologist Richard Dawkins:

“a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation… a piece of thought copied from person to person.”

like a gene in biology!

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme

Nemetics: From Meme to Neme

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme


Nemetics: From Meme to Neme

Sources: Graingered Hubpages, Sparkling Insights Blog

NEME: acronym for the fractal learning process of Complex Adaptive Systems:

Notice (seeing)

Engage (feeling)

Mull (thinking)

Exchange (dong)

Genes are replicators in physical space

Memes in cognitive space

Nemes in complex adaptive space

http://graingered.hubpages.com/hub/Nemetics-An-Evolving-Language-of-Complex-Adaptive-Systems

http://rmcpl.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/nemetics-some-questions-and-answers/


Nemetics: From Meme to NemeObjectives of Nemetics:

Provide a Leadership decision framework toresolve ‘wicked problems’ and improve performance.

Act as a discovery tool to make sense of reality view it in terms of interactions & emergence to help us strategize.

Be a design tool to improve any particular situation in life. It might be personal, organizational or technical.

Act as an enabler to observe one’s own thinking process enabling possible change in individual and collective consciousness.

Sources: Graingered Hubpages, Sparkling Insights Blog


http://rmcpl.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/nemetics-some-questions-and-answers/


Quick Nemetics Review (somewhat oversimplified)

There’s more, but…

The phases in the NEME

acronym are steps toward

finding emergences in the midst

of tangled complexity

Emergence = any order that emerges out of chaos. An emergence can be

negative.Notice Engage Mull Exchange

Source: Graingered Hubpages

An attitude, a way of seeing, and a way of collaborating

Design tool

Enabler of possibl

e change

Strategic discover

y tool to make sens

e of reality

Resolve "wicked pro

blems”



Nemetics Applied to Tech CommTech products are living,

evolving entities.

Technological design and

evolution is an iterative process

They are

constant

ly changi

ng

and, in ge

neral, be

come eve

r

more complex

They are

never fin

ished –

they go o

n until th

ey, or

the com

pany, di

es


NOTICE – emergences

What succeeded the last time you did something like this? Why?

What failed? Why?

What never got used? Why?

What don’t you know?

Nemetics Applied to Tech Comm


NOTICE – discovery and primary analysis

What real work does the user need to do (know what)?

What does s/he need to do NOW (know when)?

How does s/he find what s/he needs (know where)?

Which design will deliver it best (know how)?

What must you provide so that s/he can solve problems, extrapolate to other tasks, get out of difficulty (Know how, know how to be)?



How can we structure all this?

1

2

3

Projection

(actions)

Coordination

(management)

Inspiration

(vision)

Notice: What are we already doing?

Big UglyComplex

Task


ENGAGE – understand the users’ world and act on it (Know how to be, know how to be with others)

Meet the users face to face & create user stories

Understand user’s global process – not just what s/he does when interacting with your product:

How often is s/he interrupted?

What does s/he do when interrupted?

How long are these interruptions?

What are the other regular tasks the user does that relate to use of this product?

Test with real users and execute following your conclusions



StakeholdersChanges

Engage with Stakeholder Accomplishment and Potential


Engage: in Inspiration strategies

CAPABILITY (SKILLS)

WIL

LIN

GN

ESS

(IN

TEN

TIO

N)

+

_ +

Doesn’t know, doesn’t want

Terrorist

TOXICKnows but

doesn’t want

Sleeping Beauty

PASSIVE

Wants and Knows

Missionary

COLLABORATORWants but

doesn’t know how

Prisoner

MOTIVATED

Contingency Theory model: Field, Hersey & Blanchard


Wants butdoesn’t know how

Prisoner

MOTIVATED

Engage: in Inspiration strategies

CAPABILITY (SKILLS)

WIL

LIN

GN

ESS

(IN

TEN

TIO

N)

+

_ +

Doesn’t know, doesn’t want

Terrorist

TOXICKnows but

doesn’t want

Sleeping Beauty

PASSIVE

Wants and Knows

Missionary

COLLABORATOR

Contingency Theory model: Field, Hersey & Blanchard

Delegation

Leadership Persuasion

Participation


Mull – deep analysis, modeling and evaluation phase

What have you learned from your research?

Tie what you’ve learned to your discovery process (Notice phase)

Apply what you’ve learned to other domains in this product, or in other applications

What are your criteria for evaluation/success?

How can you improve on what you’ve done?



Metacognition and ReflectionCONTEXT

BEHAVIOUR

ABILITIES

SKILLS

VALUES

BELIEFS

IDENTITY

TRANSCENDENCE

CONSCIOUS AND EXPLICIT

UNCONSCIOUS AND TRANSPERSONAL

STRATEGICAL AND IMPLICIT


Exchange – add value – get user feedback, encourage them to exchange among themselves (know how to be with others).

Retest with users:

What do they actually use?

What do they not use at all?

What gives them most problems?

Give users a place to exchange with you and with each other:

What do they say to each other?

What do power users share with beginners or intermediate users?

How do they work around problems – can you generalise, or is it too specific to one person or situation?

Document what you learn, use it in the Notice phase of the next iteration.



Neus Lorenzo, 2013

Individually Collectively

Eliminate

Increase

Maintain

Reduce

Big UglyComplex

Task

Exchange: Reflection and Consensus

Email: [email protected]

Google Plus: +Ray GallonTwitter: @RayGallon

LinkedIn: Ray Gallon

Thank You!


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Let’s talk!

Blog: http://humanistnerd.culturecom.net

http://humanistnerd.culturecom.net

complexity, nemetics, and wicked tech comm

Leadership & Management