SessionFive024

Another Amateur's Guide to Communicating Requirements

Presenter: Brian Marick

Since Plato, at least, we've been talking about creating mental models of the world. We usually think of them as like pictures, where everything you can point to in the picture matches something in the world. What if that kind of mental mode is mostly beside the point?

Using exercises, we'll ask two questions: What if the power of a mental model isn't inherent in the model itself, but in the way you explain it to someone else? And what if model-building is powerful when it builds on our expertise, as social animals, at predicting what actions will make someone smile?

This session is related to An Amateur's Guide to Communicating Requirements. It's not necessary to attend both sessions.

Key points:
- Not a whole lot beyond examples is required to explain many things.
- We extrapolate better about specific people than about abstractions.

At least six people. Max 15?

Equipment: small tables that people can cluster around, or the long rectangular tables (where each group of three can surround an end). Lots of flipcharts and such supplies

ProgramScheduleAndSessions2005

Updated: Thursday, May 5, 2005