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Sharing personal thoughts on how metaphors can hinder, rather than help software modeling and design (at different levels). Talk presented at the 2014 Better Software Conference.
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THE METAPHOR FALLACY A tale about the UI, the DB, and a Bus Stop
Better Software Conference – Florence (Italy), 14-10-2014
STEVE @MARASPIN
http://www.mvlabs.it/
CONTEXT ONE:
HOTEL ENTERTAINMENT
Movie Player Application
Distributed Context
Internet
What if it fails?
Replication
What if connection fails?
No Problems!
Are things that simple?
The Movie Entity
Headquarter Update
Remote Update
Different Documents
How to solve the conflict?
Natural entity representation
What if we represented it like…
Conflicts avoided
GOOD PRACTICES
NOT ALWAYS
WHAT WE COME UP FIRST
CONTEXT TWO:
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Ever seen something like this?
CRUDWARE
/kruhd'weir/ Pejorative term for the hundreds of megabytes of low-quality freeware circulated by user's groups and BBSs in the micro-hobbyist world.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/crudware
/kruhd'weir/ Realistic term for user interfaces grown out of a database schema, regardless of use cases, scenarios, or users alltogether.
SOMETHING TO FIGHT AGAINST
Table is so wide, we need to scroll horizontally…
We simply can't keep so much information in mind at once!
USER CENTERED DESIGN
Use Cases
Simplified Interfaces
LET'S NOW TALK
ABOUT MOBILE
AN AFTERTHOUGHT
Consistent Design
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Bringing everything everywhere
FORGETTING
HOW SYSTEMS
WILL BE USED
CONTEXT MATTERS
Continuous Design
Complimentary Design
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Don't shrink, rethink
Don't shrink, rethink
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56
57
58
INFLUENCED BY WHAT WE KNOW, BY WHAT WE EXPECT
Understanding of one idea, or conceptual domain, in terms of another
Conceptual Metaphor Theory
Your claims are indefensible I've never won an argument with him You disagree? OK, shoot! He shot down all of my arguments
Argument is War
Metaphors can help us understand things, but they can also influence and direct us toward unintended goals. War goal is defeating enemy, argument goal should be reaching a solution. What if our metaphor is so strong that it hinders our reasoning rather than helping it?
So what?
Stop Now
Really. Skip to next slide. And read it carefully.
Attempt to solve the problem before continuing
Connect the dots with no more than 4 straight lines
without lifting your hand from the paper
The limitations our mind adds to the problem often
prevent us from finding the best solution to it
Doorbell outside
Doorbell
Doorbell
Light
WHAT CAN HELP US?
HE'S OUR ANSWER!
HE'S OUR ANSWER!
His sense of humour, I mean
With humor
thoughts
and ideas
are arranged
in novel ways
PAIRWORK
Elaborating more than one solution
Incubating
Systems Thinking
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Component parts of a system can best be understood in the context of relationshipswith each other and with other systems, rather than in isolation
BE INQUISITIVE
QUESTIONS?
Further reading
Further reading
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/uggboy/8043043095 - hotel room • https://www.flickr.com/photos/inklaar/7776986724 - supermarket • https://www.flickr.com/photos/larlyboi/10817772745 - figting match • https://www.flickr.com/photos/hindrik/8578352814 - man walking with monitor • https://www.flickr.com/photos/piermario/375470947 - doorbell UX issue • https://www.flickr.com/photos/icathing/26603225 - woodden spoiler • https://www.flickr.com/photos/highwaysagency/11235762823 - smartphone • https://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/14391802087 - smartphone usage at the traffic light • https://www.flickr.com/photos/mr_t_in_dc/6937521074 - smartphone while on bicycle • https://www.flickr.com/photos/42736403@N08/5439996103 - 3 monitors on personal computer • https://www.flickr.com/photos/sinkdd/14674613090 - using a smartphone under the rain • https://www.flickr.com/photos/caribb/184328594 - bus stop on a rainy day • https://www.flickr.com/photos/horlik/4461554607 - darts on target • https://www.flickr.com/photos/planetbene/6073389358 young friends playing with lego • https://www.flickr.com/photos/wiertz/6952472683 - bin and drafts sent to trash • https://www.flickr.com/photos/christianhaugen/6026460141 barrels • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_thinking#mediaviewer/File:Systems_thinking_about_the_society.svg – systems thinking • https://www.flickr.com/photos/theloushe/4640871734 - kid with magnifier • https://www.flickr.com/photos/uspn/4894253589 - bus in India. Crowded
Other pictures are by Stefano Maraspin, or gathered from fotolia/iStockphoto archives
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Picture Credits
Stefano Maraspin @maraspin
