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Dialogue: 0,0:00:01.28,0:00:06.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In this video I’d like to talk about the power of creating and comparing alternatives.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:06.31,0:00:08.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And to do that I’m going to share some research
Dialogue: 0,0:00:08.72,0:00:13.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that Steven Dow did as a postdoctoral scholar with me at Stanford University.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.74,0:00:18.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When you’re designing, does it make more sense to go for quality
Dialogue: 0,0:00:18.34,0:00:21.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and try to come up with the best possible design?\N
Dialogue: 0,0:00:21.94,0:00:29.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Or does it make more sense to go for quantity first as a path to try and learn and understand?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.13,0:00:34.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There’s a story that Bayles and Orland tell about an art teacher who divides the class in half,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:34.97,0:00:37.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he tells one half of the class,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.05,0:00:42.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“You’re going to be graded exclusively on the quality of the very best thing that you make.”
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.78,0:00:44.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He tells the other half of the class,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:44.56,0:00:48.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“You’re going to be graded on the quantity of things that you make.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:48.28,0:00:52.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Doesn’t matter how good it is; all that matters is how much that you make.”
Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.45,0:00:57.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what this teacher found was that while the quantity group was busily churning our piles of work —
Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.80,0:00:59.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and learning from their mistakes —
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.84,0:01:02.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the quality group sat around theorizing, and at the end of the day
Dialogue: 0,0:01:02.61,0:01:07.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and piles of dead clay.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.70,0:01:14.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So this gives us some intuition that rapidly producing many alternatives has a lot of value.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:14.10,0:01:19.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And to explore this further, Steven and I had people create egg drop devices.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:19.10,0:01:21.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You may have done this when you were in high school.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:21.10,0:01:23.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you haven’t, it’s a lot of fun, and I suggest trying it out.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:23.90,0:01:25.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what you can do with an egg drop device,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:25.71,0:01:30.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is you’re building a contraption that will protect an egg from a fall.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.29,0:01:36.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Here we threw one out my third-story office window and, lo and behold, the egg survives.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:01:36.43,0:01:42.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we tested a whole bunch of people in variance of this design and people come up with all sorts of stuff.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:42.08,0:01:47.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They come up with good ideas, and bad ideas, and creative solutions, and really unimaginative ones.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.59,0:01:50.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And one thing that is really interesting is that,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:50.46,0:01:58.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in aggregate, people often pick one idea early on, and they stick with it to their detriment.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:58.48,0:02:02.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so here is a couple participants talking about that experience.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.58,0:02:07.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(No, I don’t know, for some reason this is… this seems to be the only idea,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:07.40,0:02:12.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in that there needs to be a platform and then it’s going to cushion, if possible, with the materials.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:12.16,0:02:14.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I… I don’t see any, any other way.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.29,0:02:18.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,>> I’m not a very good outside-the-box thinker,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:18.33,0:02:21.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so I kind of just had one idea and I was going to try and make it work.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:02:21.98,0:02:27.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,>> I kind of went with the whole parachute idea, and what I had from the beginning. So.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.51,0:02:33.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,>> This is the best approach for such a design.)
Dialogue: 0,0:02:34.17,0:02:38.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What we see here is an example of what Karl Duncker called “functional fixation.”
Dialogue: 0,0:02:38.97,0:02:44.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In a number of experiments that he ran in the 1940’s he gave people tasks like this:
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.58,0:02:50.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Attach the candle to the wall such that none of the wax drips on the table.”
Dialogue: 0,0:02:50.10,0:02:53.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ten, twenty percent of the people figured it out.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:53.35,0:03:03.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Take a moment and see if you can figure it out.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:03.24,0:03:07.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The solution — as a couple of you have got, but I bet many people didn’t —
Dialogue: 0,0:03:07.66,0:03:13.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is to take the box that holds the tacks and use that as a container for the candle.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:13.50,0:03:16.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That will protect the wax from dripping on the table.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:16.62,0:03:24.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what’s interesting about this is that, because the tacks are in a box, we don’t see the box.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:03:24.24,0:03:29.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you give people the exact same set up, where the tacks are outside the box,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:29.64,0:03:33.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all of a sudden the box becomes obviously available as a resource
Dialogue: 0,0:03:33.85,0:03:37.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and nearly everybody solves exactly the same problem.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.07,0:03:39.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So Stephen and I set off and tried to figure out
Dialogue: 0,0:03:39.46,0:03:44.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whether we could augment people’s design process to get them to explore more alternatives.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:44.79,0:03:49.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And one of the things that we did, is we forced people to come up with multiple alternatives in parallel.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:03:49.53,0:03:52.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We call this parallel prototyping,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:52.16,0:03:58.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and in this particular study we had people design graphical advertisements for the web.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:58.65,0:04:01.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, we’re going to put people in one of two conditions:
Dialogue: 0,0:04:01.51,0:04:07.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You’re either going to be in a serial condition, where you iteratively create six prototypes from start to finish;
Dialogue: 0,0:04:07.82,0:04:13.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or in a parallel condition, where you create three alternatives, get feedback, create two more,\N
Dialogue: 0,0:04:13.64,0:04:16.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,get feedback, and then make a final one.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:16.08,0:04:20.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I should clarify that the amount of time that was available was exactly the same in both conditions,\N
Dialogue: 0,0:04:20.83,0:04:24.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and in both conditions people got exactly the same amount of feedback.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:24.51,0:04:27.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The only difference is when and how they got it.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:29.35,0:04:33.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, again, people come up with all sorts of stuff: Creative ideas and crummy ideas,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:33.71,0:04:41.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,well executed and poorly executed, and, overall, we’re able to measure, using web analytics,\N
Dialogue: 0,0:04:41.92,0:04:46.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the click-through rate that people clicked on these advertisements.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:46.62,0:04:52.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so, over the past several years, we’ve run millions of advertisements out on the web.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:52.58,0:04:57.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what we see, in aggregate, is that participants who got a parallel design medicine —
Dialogue: 0,0:04:57.87,0:05:02.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who were forced to create multiple alternatives in parallel — had a higher click-through rate:\N
Dialogue: 0,0:05:02.81,0:05:07.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The ads they created were clicked on more than ads in the serial condition.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:07.17,0:05:13.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And not only that, but the people who clicked on those ads and then went to the site subsequently
Dialogue: 0,0:05:13.25,0:05:16.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,spent a whole lot more time on that site
Dialogue: 0,0:05:16.33,0:05:21.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and what this is telling us is that we’re getting the right people through to those ads.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:22.04,0:05:27.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We also had experts — both advertising professionals and clients for this website —
Dialogue: 0,0:05:27.80,0:05:34.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rate the quality of the advertisements and the experts also rated the quality of the parallel ads to be higher.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:34.17,0:05:38.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then we had the ads rated by a crowd online for the diversity of the ads.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:38.72,0:05:42.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what we see is that the ads in the parallel condition are also more diverse.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:44.33,0:05:48.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so why does a parallel approach yield better results?
Dialogue: 0,0:05:49.38,0:05:53.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think one of the important things that creating multiple alternatives in parallel does,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:53.75,0:05:56.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is it separates your ego from the thing that you make.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:56.90,0:06:02.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If I have only one idea and you critique it, I’m going to treat that as feedback about me;
Dialogue: 0,0:06:02.66,0:06:06.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whereas if I have multiple different ideas and I get critique about them,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:06.41,0:06:12.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I can see that its feedback about the ideas and not a referendum on me as a person,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:12.15,0:06:18.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Also, automatically, by creating multiple alternatives, people are inspired to compare what they’ve created
Dialogue: 0,0:06:18.08,0:06:23.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and try and transfer what they’ve learned from one design as they go forward in the future.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:24.03,0:06:27.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we see this transfer across a wide variety of domains.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:27.17,0:06:30.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For example, in Dedre Gentner’s research on business negotiation,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:30.85,0:06:34.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she had participants read business school cases,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:34.52,0:06:40.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and she either had people read the cases one at a time and think about each individually,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:40.29,0:06:44.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or she had people read them two at a time and compare them.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:44.56,0:06:49.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what she found was that having people compare two cases —
Dialogue: 0,0:06:49.22,0:06:53.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to be able to contrast them and see similarities —
Dialogue: 0,0:06:53.06,0:06:58.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,yielded to a three-fold increase in the amount of wisdom that they were able to get
Dialogue: 0,0:06:58.80,0:07:04.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,out of those cases and transfer to a new negotiation task.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:04.51,0:07:10.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, what we got out of this is that maybe there’s some big benefits of creating multiple alternatives,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:10.41,0:07:13.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,especially for design teams and not just for individual design.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:13.98,0:07:18.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the next experiment we ran looked at sharing multiple alternatives.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:20.06,0:07:23.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Same basic idea — we have a new client this time.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:23.85,0:07:27.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we’re going to have people either create and share multiple,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:27.05,0:07:29.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,create multiple and share their best,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:29.42,0:07:32.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or create and share only one.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:32.32,0:07:35.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Participants came up with lots of different designs.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:35.76,0:07:37.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And [what] you can see is that
Dialogue: 0,0:07:37.78,0:07:42.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the “share multiple” condition drastically outperforms the other two conditions.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:42.33,0:07:48.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So being able to create and share multiple designs has especially significant benefits for teams.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:48.26,0:07:50.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And there are a number of reasons for this.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:50.83,0:07:55.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’d like to point out one in particular, which is the increase in group rapport.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:55.12,0:07:59.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When we asked people how they felt about their teammate, both before and after the task,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:59.74,0:08:06.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the create- and share-one conditions, people felt worse about their teammate afterwards —
Dialogue: 0,0:08:06.78,0:08:13.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the single design approach can create enmity between teammates, and hostility —
Dialogue: 0,0:08:13.91,0:08:19.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whereas, when creating and sharing multiple designs, people felt better about their teammates afterwards.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:20.46,0:08:25.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One important benefit of sharing multiple designs, both with users and with designers,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:25.29,0:08:30.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that alternatives provide a vocabulary for talking about the space of possible designs.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:30.90,0:08:35.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As Tohidi and colleagues showed, this could be especially valuable for users
Dialogue: 0,0:08:35.07,0:08:38.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because users don’t know what the space of possible designs is.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:38.22,0:08:42.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so having multiple alternatives gives this vocabulary.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:43.27,0:08:46.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I hope that today’s lecture has provided you with the conceptual tools
Dialogue: 0,0:08:46.56,0:08:49.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for why it’s valuable to create many different alternatives.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:49.49,0:08:53.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I hope that this will be really useful for you as you go about your design projects.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:08:53.30,0:08:56.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’ll see you next time.