Organizations use mental model diagrams to better understand how people think about different topics and situations. Mental models help organizations strategize, prioritize projects, skip writing large requirements documents, and help different teams work together effectively. They also allow organizations to better support people's needs and match how information is structured in people's minds.

1. How Organizations Use Mental Model Diagrams
Aligning
Design Strategy
with
Human Behavior
Indi Young

2. Our Time Together
3:15-3:20 This Is Not Evaluative Research
3:20-3:25 Introduction to Mental Models
3:25-3:55 How Organizations Use Mental Models
3:55-4:00 Your Questions
cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-
2
Mar-11

3. This Is Not
Evaluative
Research

4. Evaluative
“(adj) determining the significance, worth, or quality”
“assessing or judging the value of”
“e·valu·a·tive adj. Philosophy expressing an attitude
or value judgment”
“examining and judging carefully”
Definitions from wordnetweb.princeton.edu, textanalysis.info, umich.edu cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 4

5. Generative
“gen·er·a·tive adj. 1. Having the ability to originate,
produce, or procreate. 2. Of or relating to the
production of offspring.”
“[jen-er-uh-tiv, -uh-rey-tiv] –adjective. capable of
producing or creating.”
Definitions from thefreedictionary.com, dictionary.reference.com cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 5

6. Techniques Uses
Preference Survey Visual Design
Opinions, likes, desires Focus Group Branding
Mood Board Market Analysis
Customer Feedback Advertising Campaign
Preference Interview
Card Sort
Evaluative Usability Test Test Interaction Functionality
What is understood or accomplished Log Analysis Test Screen Layout
with an artifact, process, or service Search Analytics Test Nomenclature
Customer Feedback Test IA
Card Sort
Generative Non-Directed Interview Interaction Design
Mental environment in which things Contextual Inquiry Information Architecture
get evaluated & decided Mental Model Alignment & Gap Analysis
Ethnography Contextual Information
Field Study
Diary
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7. Generative: make a nest, Evaluative: take the ideas
paper the walls with outside the nest and see
empathy, be creative in how well they actually
that place, generate support people
supportive ideas
(debate about user-centered design: whether or not you invite
customers to co-create with you in the nest)
NTNU Engineering Sci & Tech BY-NC-SA; Bolt|Peters “User 06” BY cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 7

8. The customer
objectives are to
increase satisfaction
and loyalty.
This is hard. We have difficulty taking off our employee hat.
Conference Table Discussion – Pulpolux !!! BY-NC-NA Flickr cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 8

9. Empathy
Experience of the feelings, thoughts, attitudes of another
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10. New York Times 23-Aug-09 “Experiencing Life, Briefly, Inside a Nursing Home” by Katie Zezima cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 10

11. Empathy Generates, Not Evaluates
The point is to understand people deeply—
— so deeply you could live their life, walk
in their shoes, and make decisions exactly
the way they would.
Navajo Moccasin – Gary Graves CC-BY-NC-ND Flickr ggraves/2745631003 cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 11

12. Introduction
to
Mental Models

13. What are mental models?
“Models people have of themselves, others, their
environment, and the things they interact with”
Design of Everyday Things – Don Norman cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 13

14. What are mental models?
Models your team has of others
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15. Site Owners Measuring Success - Google Analytics Team, Jeff Veen cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 15

16. Type I Diabetics Coping with Their Condition Daily – Adaptive Path Team cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 16

17. Patrons Deciding What to Order – McDonald’s Menu Team, Jeff Pollard cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 17

18. People Running an Information Center – Omar Sosa Tzec cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 18

19. Buyers Purchasing Merchandise – Macy’s, Mary Piontkowski cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 19

20. Mental Spaces
Large Business Owners Deciding How to Address HR/Financial Processes – PeopleSoft Team cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 20

21. Towers
Large Business Owners Deciding How to Address HR/Financial Processes – PeopleSoft Team cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 21

22. Boxes
(behaviors,
beliefs,
reactions)
Support
Large Business Owners Deciding How to Address HR/Financial Processes – PeopleSoft Team cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 22

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25. Model of Support Items
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26. Large Business Owners Deciding How to Address HR/Financial Processes – PeopleSoft Team cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 26

27. Pin the Tail on the Donkey Game – Motleye CC BY Flickr cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 27

28. Data exploration by Stamen Design – available at http://www.mysociety.org/2007/more-travel-maps/ cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 28

29. Data exploration by Stamen Design – available at http://www.mysociety.org/2007/more-travel-maps/ cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 29

30. cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 30

31. My Custom Pin the Tail on the Donkey – jsigharas CC-BY Flickr jsigharas/ cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 31

32. How Organizations
Use Mental Model
Diagrams

33. Support People’s Situations Better
Match Mental Information Structures
Strategize, Prioritize
Skip Writing Huge Requirements Docs
Help Teams Work Together

34. Support People’s Situations Better
Match Mental Information Structures
Strategize, Prioritize
Skip Writing Huge Requirements Docs
Help Teams Work Together
The Stanford Radar Dish Antenna – Raul Diaz CC-BY-NC Flickr radzfoto/3152110235

35. People don’t just beat a path to
our door anymore. The website
wasn’t doing a good job of
replacing sales reps, so we
needed the mental model as
evidence to change it and
guide that change.
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39. We needed proof for the VC’s that we
were doing our due diligence about our
potential audience in this competitive
space. What we got was that, and
more. We learned why online dating
hasn’t worked well.
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40. Figure Out How to Handle an Attraction
Let Someone Know
I'm Interested
Female Dominated
Male Dominated
Both Genders Flirt Around
with Someone
Consider Whether I Consider Whether to Exchange Non-
Should Act On My Respond to an Verbal
Attraction to Someone Approach Communication
Struggle With Consider
My Attraction to Whether to Talk More and
Someone Respond to an More
Approach
Be Unsure If I Appear Be Subtle With
Want to Pursue Disinterested My Interest So See if Someone is
Someone I Until I Am Sure He'll Pursue Interested in Me
Work With of My Feelings Me
Think It's Ok to Watch Her
Read Next Respond Body Language
Date Someone Email Before Politely to
At Work If You For Sign of
Responding Email Interest
Work Indirectly
Wonder if Guy Let Someone Get a
Converse Know I'm Response from
in Other State Anyway to Find
will Move Interested by an Ice Breaker
Out More Sending Email Online
Closer
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41. Observe How
Someone Interacts
with Others
Get a Better Sense of a Person See How
Person Reacts
Female Dominated in Social
Environments
Male Dominated
Both Genders Watch How
Ask Friends to Tell Me Person
About a Person Interacts with
Other Singles
Watch Her
Ask Friends Actions before
About Introducing
Someone Myself
See If Person
Ask Co- Responds Well
Workers About Teasing from
Someone Family/Friends
Ask Friend to Play Along with
Find Out About Assigned
Someone Partner in Skit
Weigh Friend's See How
Opinion About Someone
Someone Responds to
Me
Find Out About Observe the
Someone That Behavior of the
I'm Being Set Person's
Up With Friends
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42. Go Out With a Person for the First Time
Female Dominated
Male Dominated
Both Genders
React to My First
Sight of Person
Feel Shocked
by Different
Appearance
Lose Spark I
Felt Because of
Their Looks In
Person
Like a Guy's
Looks from
Afar
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46. Management told us to go make a new
application that will compete with others who
are already in the market. They thought we
could just do a better job.
The mental model told us that
people are pretty well-served in
that area already. But it also
showed us a whole new area of
the business that was
completely under-served!
So now we’re telling management that
a different service will be a stronger
bet. We just have to convince them to
go for it.
cc by-nc-nd Indi Young 46

47. Assign Jobs Find Out Driver Location Reroute Drivers
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50. As leader of the centralized design
group, I needed to convince other
departments to trust us. I needed
some early, substantiated design wins.
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53. Some new service design ideas just
came from the words people used like,
“Check family account.” We don’t have
something called a “family account,”
but it is obvious that people think about
things in terms of the whole family and
not each individual cardholder.
Screenshots Kendra Davey, Pima County Library, prezi.com/fcyebws1kejb/mental-model/
Photo kendra k www.flickr.com/photos/kendrak/473205575/ cc by-nc-nd Indi Young 53

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57. I walked out of the library the other day after it
was closed and saw a gentleman sitting on the
ground using his laptop and my first thought
was, “access wi-fi outside the library.” Then I
thought, maybe we need an area for people to
sit outside the library and use their
laptops. Before this, I doubt I would have
really thought about that customer.
some just came from the words people
used like, Check family account. We don’t
have something called a “family account”
but it is obvious that people think about
things in terms of the whole family and not
each individual cardholder. Even this small
bit of knowledge gives us a lot of
opportunity to design new services
Wi-Fi BY-NC-ND Gerard Girbes www.flickr.com/photos/strike/1563071397/ cc by-nc-nd Indi Young 57

58. Left: Dan Arganbright, Quixtar; Right: Discussion – *keagy.com of XPLANE CC-BY Flickr *keagy.com/ cc by-nc-nd Indi Young 58

59. We still work with the Mental
Model we co-created in 2005. I
am pulling it out again this week
for a new piece of work. It really
has stood the test of time for us.
Connie Frenette, Bell / Aliant Canada cc by-nc-nd Indi Young 59

60. Support People’s Situations Better
Match Mental Information Structures
Strategize, Prioritize
Skip Writing Huge Requirements Docs
Help Teams Work Together

61. I was certain that a better IA would
help us increase our qualified leads,
among other things. The mental model
was a sure way to come up with the
top-down IA.
Our qualified leads increased
significantly in the first quarter
after launch, historically a low
quarter for our business.
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64. Prospective students, hip to internet use,
were turned off by the old organization. It was
difficult to find what they wanted to know.
Cal State East Bay
Prospective Student
Mental Model
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65. Credit to Archive.org cc by-nc-nd Indi Young 65

66. Design by Laura Hansen, India Christman and team, sponsored by Lee Thompson cc by-nc-nd Indi Young 66

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69. Support People’s Situations Better
Match Mental Information Structures
Strategize, Prioritize
Skip Writing Huge Requirements Docs
Help Teams Work Together

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73. cc by-nc-nd UX Workshops SF 24-Mar-11 73

74. Less Serious Passionate About
About Study the Topic
Carefully Consider Look Forward to the
Academic College Experience
Decisions
Lots of Other Means to an End
Life Experience
Worried About How
Exploring Paths
to Get In & Stay In
Student photos courtesy of Lower Columbia College via Flickr cc by-nc-nd Indi Young 74

75. Support People’s Situations Better
Match Mental Information Structures
Strategize, Prioritize
Skip Writing Huge Requirements Docs
Help Teams Work Together

76. Big Document – Ernie of Ann Arbor, Michigan CC-BY Flickr EAHIV/ cc by-nc-nd Indi Young 76

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78. DVD Release Dates – Redesign Proposal
Towers of Note in Mental Model
Get the DVD
Buy Special
DVDs Track Box Office Track Production
Competition Studio News
Quotes from Moviegoers
Track Box Track
Get DVDs as
Office Production
Gifts
Competition Studio News “I own the extended editions.”
“I own a lot of musicals … I have bought Meet Me in
DVD Release Top Box Office
Links to St. Louis.”
Entertainment
Dates Performers
Websites
Links to Gross “I get them as gifts a lot. DVDs … ”
Income
Tracking on
Films “I get DVDs as gifts for other people.”
Links to Box
Office Websites
“ … tracking the competition between the different movies.” “I keep an eye on release dates.”
“ … scheduling strategy … Watching what strategy they “ … upcoming movie tracker that watches as projects
employ and watching to see how that plays out in the box are developed… I know a lot about movies that aren’t
office is an independent source of entertainment.” going to be out for another two years.”
“ … tells you a lot about what the studio thinks about the “I subscribe to different mailing lists where they talk
movie… That interests me too–the whole dynamic of how about what’s coming out.”
studios release and produce movies. There is a whole level
of personal politicking you can find out about through the “ … always read coverage off movie-related stuff in
magic of the internet.” the media… there are a couple of websites that I
read regularly that are movie related.”
Observations
The current application, “DVD Release Dates,” allows people to enter a movie title and it will return the by-nc-nd Indi Young
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79. We gave the advertising agency
the mental model as part of the
brief. It made the brief so strong
and rich that their first work back
to us was closer to the mark.
Meeting photo courtesy of Jens Vermeersch, storyboard photo courtesy of Just Johnny; http://www.flickr.com cc by-nc-nd Indi Young 80

80. Support People’s Situations Better
Match Mental Information Structures
Strategize, Prioritize
Skip Writing Huge Requirements Docs
Help Teams Work Together

81. We expect that the mental model will
help all these different teams rally
together behind one vision, so we can
avoid the confusion and battles that
come with mergers like this.
Photos courtesy of Steven G. Dean, Devika Singh cc by-nc-nd Indi Young 82

82. The first time we got these mental models in
front of merchandising, I saw them have that
ah-ha moment! This was the first time they had
seen it all in one place, and they could see
that, yeah, there were gaps. The store
operations guys said the data agreed with
what they had found—it was the same stuff,
but presented differently.
Senior management outside
dot-com said, “Wow, this is
really actionable now.” It’s
interesting that regardless of
the data and the business,
the mental model is
successful in opening eyes.”
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83. Your Questions

84. A model of people’s behavior, philosophies, &
emotions in a certain scoped situation
Objects slotted, where appropriate, to support
that behavior
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85. Mental Models Book
Code: INDI (25% discount)
www.rosenfeldmedia.com
Resources Section:
- slides & videos
- articles
- how-to’s & templates
@indiyoung
indi@acm.org
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