What if your favourite apps turned into little machines? What makes physical objects more emotionally engaging than apps? How do we connect to them through our natural senses and cognitive abilities? Together we'll break down some of our favourite apps to their elementals and imagine them as physical machines. We'll examine aspects of experience which can bring us closer to the services we use everyday. How? With a few short hands-on exercises, we'll explore the jobs-to-be-done behind popular apps. Quick prototypes and scenarios of how these might exist as machines will try to uncover what we're after. The ‘Apps as Machines’ workshop was held during ThingsCon in May 2014 in Berlin — by Boris Anthony, Hannes Jentsch and Martin Jordan

1. Apps as Machines
ThingsCon, Berlin
May 2, 2014
Boris Anthony
Hannes Jentsch
Martin Jordan

2. Boris Anthony
@Bopuc
Hannes Jentsch
@kaffeetrinken
Martin Jordan
@Martin_Jordan
Who’s speaking?

3. Presenting
Image: mailer_diablo, Overhead projector, used during lessons in a classroom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:OHP-sch.JPG

4. • expanding the definition of ‘machine’:
a physical thing that does a job, that fulfills a need
(apps generally do the job of something we had before)
• something tangible, which affords us more opportunities
for engagement

5. Reading
Image: shiwei xu, http://www.cgarchitect.com/2012/03/reading-room8

6. • engagement with a broader spectrum of our senses
• which in turn engage a broader spectrum of our cognition
• which build deeper, richer memories

7. Navigating
Image: https://followmi2ba.wordpress.com

8. • breaking down popular apps, finding the jobs they do
• imagining those jobs being done by a ‘machine’
• capturing the experiences these ‘machines’ produce
and dwell on how we can bring more of those experience
to the Things future

9. Toasting

10. As we start to make Apps as
Machines, what are the building
blocks of rich physical experiences
we can draw from?
Hypothesis
A physical experience offers us
so many opportunities for cognitive,
and thus, emotional engagement.

11. Popular apps’
jobs-to-be-done
Personas
and Scenarios
Agenda
Make machines
and present them

12. Your task
Set up your group

13. Uncovering the jobs behind …
• in order to translate the apps into useful machines
we need to understand what apps & services are doing:
- car2go gets you from A to B
- a drill hammer helps you to hang a painting on the wall
- Pinterest supports you in collecting and remembering things

14. Jobs-to-be-done Framework
Jobs-to-be-done describe the tasks that a
product or service is carrying out. People don’t
just buy products or just want to use a certain
service. They ‘hire’ them to do a job.
— @ClayChristensen, http://www.christenseninstitute.org

16. • break down some of our favourite apps to their elementals
• examine aspects of their experience
• list the jobs, tasks they are performing
• What is Dropbox doing? What are the jobs-to-be-done?
Your task

17. Your task
6 Jobs 7 Minutes1 App

18. APPS AS MACHINES — Uncovering the jobs behind
Dropbox lets you bring all your photos, docs, and
videos anywhere and share them easily. Access any
file you save to your Dropbox from all your computers,
iPhone, iPad, and the web. With Dropbox you’ll always
have your important memories and work with you.
Dropbox’s jobs-to-be-done*
Dropbox
description and screens from Apple AppStore

19. Dropbox’s jobs-to-be-done*
— Jobs-to-be-done describe the tasks that a product or service is
carrying out. People don’t just buy products or just want to use a certain
service. They ‘hire’ them to do a job.
For example: Car2Go gets you from A to B. The drill hammer helps you
to hang a painting on the wall. Pinterest supports you in collecting and
remembering things. — @ClayChristensen, http://www.christenseninstitute.org
have my documents always with me
retrieve my documents wherever I need them
secure copies of important documents
show photos to my friends & family
collaborate with my colleagues
store my memories of important moments

20. The right machine for …
Adam
31, European traveller on
a trip through South Korea

21. Image: Nokia Brand Photography

22. • create a scenario with a distinctive point-of-view
• go through your job list, pick one and apply it for Adam
• What is Adam’s situation?
• What are his goals — in this specific situation?
• What are his needs to achieve this goal?
Your task

23. Job Story Framework
“Job Stories are great because it makes you think about
motivation and context and de-emphasizes adding any
particular implementation. Often, because people are so
focused on the who and how, they totally miss the why.
When you start to understand the why, your mind is then
open to think of creative and original ways to solve the
problem.”
— @AlanKlement, https://medium.com/the-job-to-be-done/af7cdee10c27

24. Your task
7 Minutes1 Story1 Persona

25. APPS AS MACHINES — The right machine for …
31, European traveller on a trip through South Korea
JOB-TO-BE-DONE
STORY*
Adam
When (situation)
retrieve my documents wherever I need them
I am back from a 3-day trip around the
islands where I’ve been 7 years ago with my university love

26. STORY*
When (situation)
I want to (need)
So that (goal)
— “Job Stories are great because it makes you think about
motivation and context and de-emphasizes adding any particular
implementation. Often, because people are so focused on the who and
how, they totally miss the why. When you start to understand the why,
your mind is then open to think of creative and original ways to solve the
problem.” — @AlanKlement, https://medium.com/the-job-to-be-done/af7cdee10c27
I am back from a 3-day trip around the
islands where I’ve been 7 years ago with my university love
and sitting in the hotel lounge in the evening
I can verify if I just re-visited the same place
where I have been almost a decade ago.
quickly find photos from a very specific
time and place and compare them to my recent ones

27. Input for your creation

28. Image: Gérard de Lairesse’s Allegory of the Five Senses (1668)

29. Your task
• Think touch, scent, vision, sound, taste – and beyond
• How can your machine be superior to an app that does
the same job?
• How can they make use of our natural senses and
cognitive abilities?

30. Your task
8 Minutes1 Cheat Sheet 1 Idea

31. APPS AS MACHINES — Input for your creation
Cheat Sheet
SENSES
CHARACTERISTICS
STATES
Vision /
Sight
Material /
Texture
Motion Fast Slow Position
Size /
Amount
Full /
Empty
Smell /
Olfactation
Colour
Touch
Weight Range
Hearing /
Audition
Taste /
Gustation
Temperature /
Thermoception
Balance /
Equilibrioception
Time /
Chronoception
Constant Rising Rhythmic

32. Constraints
Avoid screens Avoid keyboards Avoid Little Printers

33. Inspiration for your video prototype

35. Your task
• video-prototype to make ideas and concepts graspable
• allows you to discuss concepts with stakeholders
• time constraints help to compress and summarise a concept
• food for thought:
- build an experience dummy with low-fi paper prototype
- or focus on interaction (less than on situation)
- or prototype with volume, while keeping shape simple
- or follow a storytelling approach

36. Low-fi paper prototype

37. Acting out

38. Tap-to-record video app recommendations
Vine
(6 sec)
Instagram Video
(15 sec)
Spark
(45 sec)
#ThingsCon

39. Example of 6-second service documentation
https://vine.co/v/br9z3x22gbw

40. Your task
20 Minutes1 Idea 1 Video

41. Your show-time

42. Meet Adam: Revisiting places on trip in South Korea
https://vine.co/v/MrwAFX5xOum

43. Take-aways

44. Take-aways
Leverage
all human
capabilities
There are
no new
base needs
Design for
specific
context

45. From Amazon App …

46. … to Amazon Dash
Image: Amazon Fresh

47. • replacing barcode scanner functionality of app
• improved ergonomics & enhanced sensors for special use case
• physicality gives opportunity for more emotional engagement
• general observation: maturation from graduation projects
to commercial applications
… to Amazon Dash

48. Credits
Icons:
Max Hancock
David Padrosa
Jakob Vogel
Ola Möller
Thanks! Thoughts?
Mister Pixel
Nicolas Morand
Luis Prado
Simple Icons
Luiza Peixe
—For more follow @AppsAsMachines on

49. Workshop impressions

50. Workshop impressions

51. Workshop impressions

52. Workshop impressions

53. Workshop impressions

54. Workshop impressions

55. Workshop impressions