Badass

Key Points

Bigger Context

• most tools are used to serve a bigger context

  • Eg. Cool camera vs cool photographer

• Badass means developing expertise

• Badass users talk about what they do to users

• Don’t do faux badass with badges, need real skills

• Don’t make a better x but better user of x

• design for post ux ux

  • Eg. User shares picture, gets good comments that makes them want to do more

• how would your user compete against other users

Curve



• user ability with tool should also translate to ability in context



• avoid the suck zone
  • User spend more time but not get more ability
  • Watch out for upgrades that bring users back into suck zone
• watch out for levelling off after suck zone
• Watch out for stuck zone



• exercise: how does your user get stuck
  • Never publish a note
  • Never use links
  • Never use schemas
• Need to get past stuck zone

Improvement

• definition of badass in your context
  • Given a sprint task involving new technologies an expert can deliver results and build expertise for the future
• for tool
  • Given a a sprint task with new tech, a user of Dendron can easily plan out their steps and make references for future use

Experts

• if you can’t get to 95% proficiency in 3 practice sessions, its too much

• perceptual knowledge: what experts do but aren’t aware of doing (aka intuition)

• Help users gain this through surfacing patterns and cues

• Summary

  • Experts practice better
  • Experts develop perceuptual knowldege through high quality high quantity exposure with feedback

• make users want to get better

• Users don’t move ahead of “stuck zone”

• Gap of disconnect: achieving compelling context but being prevented by the tool

• Derailers: things that cause the gap of disconnect

  • Anticpiate
    • Snowboarding (things do suck the first day)
  • Compensate

• achieving mastery

• Create a performance path

  • What is needed for mastery

• exercxise: belt path

  • Install dendron
  • Open preview
  • Type
  • Lookup to create a new note
  • Create a wiki link
  • ....
  • Create a schema
  • Publish a site

• Show progress (what can you do in first 30min)

• Exercise: first superpower for your context

  • Lookup to find a note
  • Daily journals
  • Share a link
  • Share a note

• after 1st superpower, figure out how to lead user to next super power

• Create experiences that are intrisnsically rewarding (not badge but better result)

• Give users high payoff tips

Design

• when adding new feature, make sure it doesn’t add additional cognitive cost
  • Cake or fruit feature
• reduce cognitive leaks
  • Help users track behavior, making things automatic
  • Focus on top of mind problem
  • Motive-aider, help with posture, every two minutes get a pleasing vibration sensation
• assume no willpower
  • Build automatic habits
  • Intrinsically rewarding exercises (eg. Daily journals)
• Get past brain spam filter
  • Make it visceral
    • Use obj oriented code vs show a terrible code base
  • convince with context
    • Don’t want emotional flatline
    • Have a nike moment
  • cut down on just in case knowledge
    • Question anything that is just in case
    • Map knowledge to specific skills



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Backlinks

• Books (kevin-public)