Spatial Operating Environment: Oblong’s ‘g-speak’

michael — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:55:30 +0000

Remember that really cool operating system that Tom Cruise used in Minority Report? Well, a company based in Spain called Oblong has made it a reality. Judging from the demo videos, it is extremely versatile and responsive. My main concern is that Oblong wants to provide a complete solution for spatial interaction whereby we use their wall, their table, etc. The reality of ubiquitous systems is that devices and services must integrate with each other in order to satisfy daily business activities. For example: Let’s say a Logistician is using the g-speak wall for delegating shipping routes. The spatial interaction for such an activity meets several critical needs for logistics like rapid decision-making, simulation, and collaboration. However, what if she wants to pass the data to some legacy system? Dragging the artifact from the the g-speak wall to the g-speak table would fall short of integrating with existing technologies in that the business may not be ready to deprecate them due to outlying factors; factors not associated with the interactions afforded through spatial computing.

Current applications of g-speak at Fortune 50 companies, government agencies, and universities:

Financial services
Telepresence
Network operations centers
Logistics and supply chain management
Military and intelligence
Automotive
Natural resource exploration
Data mining and analytics
Medical imaging
High-touch retail
Trade shows and theatrical presentations
Consumer electronics interfaces

It will be interesting to see the evolution of Oblong’s solution and if they can integrate with other operating environments.

http://oblong.com/

Activity Modeling for Kanban “Pull” Systems

michael — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 04:49:35 +0000

Aligning audience goals with technical goals can seem daunting. Oftentimes, it is necessary to approach a solution from the highest level and then drill down. By using Activity Models, Interaction Designers can drill down into audience goals by starting with a high-level activity statement (e.g., Compose Music for Piano), then identify actions that comprise that activity (e.g., improvise on a melody, define the theme, find an introduction, establish a phrase and chorus). These actions begin to define vertical slices of features; essentially chunking the design.

Kanban - Feature development is streamlined by moving features through a kanban ”pull” system. Kanban systems can take many forms. Most kanbans are comprised of two primary components: units (i.e., Goal) and cards (i.e., features and user stories). For more information about using kanban systems for software development, check out Scrum-ban | Lean Software Engineering.

At kaizenconf 2008, Jef Newsom gave a talk titled Driving Toward the Goal: Standard Work in Software Development. Jef’s facilitation style is very much about getting people into action. To illustrate a kanban pull system, Jef used a presidential election. The goal, Vote for a Presidential Candidate. The primary actor (what Jef calls a ‘protagonist’), Valerie the Voter. (read more about Jef’s talk)

For the purpose of illustration, the example from the talk at kaizenconf was very useful to show how “standard work” (a.k.a., user stories) moved through the units. However, for Interaction Designers a much deeper understanding of user goals must be attained.

Activity Models - By utilizing Activity Models as an analysis method for identifying user goals and generating features, Interaction Designers can populate a product backlog. Also, artifacts produced by Interaction Designers during activity modeling can support subsequent units in the kanban system.

Kanban "pull" system with Activity Model populating the backlog.

A synthesis of activity theory framework and user mental models, Activity Models introduce a highly generative design method for analysis and discovery. Activity Models can be created as immediately as analysis and discovery of user activity is needed. However, some groundwork is required. First, Interaction Designers must know the ‘who?’ within a context or domain. Starting with personas and conducting user interviews—using non-directed interview techniques—data is gathered to help create an activity model. (more about activity models in upcoming article)

Activity Modeling - Artifacts and Process (diagram by Sharon J Cichelli)

Open Screens » interaction design

Spatial Operating Environment: Oblong’s ‘g-speak’

Activity Modeling for Kanban “Pull” Systems