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Designing for trust: Applying Promise Theory to collaborate effectively with your remote teams

Designing for trust: Applying Promise Theory to collaborate effectively with your remote teams

This is the talk that I gave at Design Matters Tokyo 2022. It talks a topic of remote collaborations through the lens of information architecture and Promise Theory.

Akira Motomura

May 16, 2022
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  1. Designing for trust:
    2022.05.14‒15
    Akira Motomura @ YUMEMI
    Applying Promise Theory

    to collaborate e
    ff
    ectively with your remote teams
    Design Matters Tokyo 2022

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  2. 2
    Introduction
    Design Matters Tokyo 2022

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  3. 3
    Akira Motomura
    Board Member / Service Designer
    Introduction

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  4. 4
    Digital Design x Engineering Agency
    Introduction

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  5. 5
    We help our trusting clients
    to create digital services that everyone uses.
    Introduction

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  6. 6
    Business and Business to Customer
    a.k.a. BnB2C
    Introduction

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  7. 7
    Introduction
    Table of contents
    Introduction
    Before and after the covid-19
    Information, context, and understanding
    The basics of Promise Theory and its applications
    Conclusion

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  8. 8
    Introduction
    This talk’s main point
    I promise that

    my language is always carefully designed

    for us to collaborate e
    ff
    ectively.

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  9. 9
    Before and after the covid-19
    Design Matters Tokyo 2022

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  10. 10
    Before and after the covid-19
    before
    Time to breathe
    after
    Endless meetings and chat responses
    e.g., co
    ff
    ee break, taking a walk e.g., meeting after meeting, chat after chat

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  11. 11
    before
    Physical space
    after
    Digital space
    e.g., o
    ff i
    ce, conference room e.g., video conference, chat room
    Before and after the covid-19

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  12. 12
    before
    Verval + non-verval communications
    after
    Textual communications
    e.g., voice, gesture, facial expression e.g., text
    Before and after the covid-19

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  13. 13
    What’ve been changed?
    Before and after the covid-19

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  14. 14
    Everything happens
    inside screens.
    Photo by Trinity Nguyen on Unsplash
    Before and after the covid-19

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  15. question

    15
    What do we need to design

    to collaborate e
    ff
    ectively with others

    in an environment like this?
    Before and after the covid-19

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  16. 16
    Information, context,
    and understanding
    Design Matters Tokyo 2022

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  17. 17
    What is information?
    Are there di
    ff
    erent types?
    Information, context, and understanding

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  18. 18
    Information, context, and understanding
    3 types of information
    Perception / Cognition Spoken language Written / Graphical language Information organization + design Information technology
    Physical information Semantic information Digital information
    Information animals including humans use to perceive

    their environment for the purpose of taking physical action
    Information people create for the purpose of

    communicating meaning to other people
    Information by which computers operate,
    and communicate with other computers
    Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash
    Photo by Cam Adams on Unsplash
    Tacit Explicit

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  19. 19
    Information, context, and understanding
    Context (and its collapse)
    Physical information Semantic information Digital information
    Information animals including humans use to perceive

    their environment for the purpose of taking physical action
    Information people create for the purpose of

    communicating meaning to other people
    Information by which computers operate,
    and communicate with other computers
    Tacit Explicit
    Circumstance
    Agent Agent
    Information
    Information
    Agent Agent Agent
    Agent Agent Agent
    Agent Agent
    Information
    Agent Agent
    Circumstance Circumstance

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  20. 20
    Information, context, and understanding
    What our current work environment consists of:
    Physical information Semantic information Digital information
    Information animals including humans use to perceive

    their environment for the purpose of taking physical action
    Information people create for the purpose of

    communicating meaning to other people
    Information by which computers operate,
    and communicate with other computers
    Circumstance
    Agent Agent
    Information
    Information
    Agent Agent
    Circumstance Circumstance
    Tacit Explicit
    Information
    Agent Agent Agent
    Agent Agent Agent
    Agent Agent

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  21. 21
    Information, context, and understanding
    Some characteristics of our current work environment:
    1. No physical qualities available
    2. No synchronous and shared contexts
    3. Less tacit (and unedited) information available

    4. More explicit means of communications such as text
    5. More individual perspectives and contexts
    6. More explicit (and edited) information available


    More upfront designs of what we communicate with others are required;

    you are the one who is responsible for designing your own messages.

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  22. 22
    What are the things to consider?
    Information, context, and understanding

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  23. 23
    Information, context, and understanding
    Information processing limitation:
    The magical number seven plus minus two
    The number of objects an average human can hold in working memory is

    7 ± 2. What this means is that the human memory capacity typically

    includes strings of words or concepts ranging from 5‒9.
    7
    ±
    2

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  24. 24
    Information, context, and understanding
    Cognitive tendency:
    Principles of least e
    ff
    ort
    We act to perceive, based on the least e
    ff
    ortful interpretation of the
    information provided, even though it sometimes leads us astray.
    Unconscious
    Intuitive
    Automatic
    "System 1”
    Conscious
    Deliberate
    Re
    fl
    ective
    “System2"
    Tacit Explicit
    LEAST
    EFFORT
    If there are several ways of achieving the same goal,
    people will choose the least demanding course of action.

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  25. 25
    Information, context, and understanding
    Individual understanding:
    Umwelt
    Di
    ff
    erent people experience and interpret di
    ff
    erently

    even though they share the same information and environment

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  26. 26
    Information, context, and understanding
    Cognitive sca
    ff
    olding:
    Physical invariants
    Persistently stable properties of given physical environment
    e.g, stairs,
    fl
    oor plans
    Persistently stable properties of given semantic environment
    e.g., labels, signs, symbols, rules, de
    fi
    nitions
    Semantic invariants
    Photo by Martino Pietropoli on Unsplash Photo by Balázs Kétyi on Unsplash

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  27. 27
    Information, context, and understanding
    Interpreting experiences:
    Narrative
    Humans make sense of the world through stories
    Beginning Middle End
    Exposition
    Rising action
    Climax
    Falling action
    Denouement
    Happy
    Unhappy

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  28. 28
    Information, context, and understanding
    A crazy dude?
    Photo by Viktor Bystrov on Unsplash

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  29. 29
    Information, context, and understanding
    “A staring contest”
    Photo by Viktor Bystrov on Unsplash
    A crazy dude?

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  30. 30
    Information, context, and understanding
    A simple description changes our understanding
    Photo by Viktor Bystrov on Unsplash
    “A staring contest”

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  31. 31
    Information, context, and understanding
    Language as infrastructure
    Andrew Hinton
    Understanding Context: ENVIRONMENT, LANGUAGE, AND INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
    Design has traditionally been centered on objects and physical environments.
    There is no “language design” discipline — it’s instead called “writing.”
    There’s nothing wrong with that, but we have to come to grips with

    the reality that language is a more important material for design than
    ever, especially with the arrival of pervasive, ambient digital systems.

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  32. 32
    How can we take an advantage of this?
    Information, context, and understanding

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  33. 33
    Information, context, and understanding
    Designing a meeting
    A meeting

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  34. 34
    Information, context, and understanding
    A meeting
    When is it?
    What is it about?
    Who attends?
    Where is it held?
    How to attend?
    Why do we need it?
    Designing a meeting:
    De
    fi
    ning the (external) context

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  35. 35
    Information, context, and understanding
    A meeting
    When is it?
    What is it about?
    Who attends?
    Where is it held?
    How to attend?
    Why do we need it?
    12:00 p.m. on Tuesday
    Design specs
    Ryo, Mike, and, Akira
    To review and discuss
    Designing a meeting:
    De
    fi
    ning the (external) context
    Via Online
    Via Zoon Meeting URL

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  36. 36
    Information, context, and understanding
    A meeting
    When is it?
    What is it about?
    Who attends?
    Where is it held?
    How to attend?
    Why do we need it?
    12:00 p.m. on Tuesday
    Design specs
    Ryo, Mike, and, Akira
    Via Online
    Via Zoon Meeting URL
    To review and discuss
    Designing a meeting:
    De
    fi
    ning the internal structure
    How do we proceed?

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  37. 37
    Information, context, and understanding
    A meeting
    When is it?
    What is it about?
    Who attends?
    Where is it held?
    How to attend?
    Why do we need it?
    12:00 p.m. on Tuesday
    Design specs
    Ryo, Mike, and, Akira
    Via Online
    Via Zoon Meeting URL
    To review and discuss
    Designing a meeting:
    De
    fi
    ning the internal structure
    Context sharing
    Agenda 1
    Agenda 2
    Agenda 3
    Wrap-up
    Ice break
    Goal de
    fi
    nition
    Q & A
    Beginning
    Middle
    End
    How do we proceed?

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  38. 38
    Can you “promise” to thoughtfully design

    your everyday communications?
    Can your promises create “trust”?
    Information, context, and understanding

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  39. 39
    The basics of Promise Theory
    and its applications
    Design Matters Tokyo 2022

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  40. 40
    What is Promise Theory
    and why do we need to care?
    The basics of Promise Theory and its applications

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  41. 41
    The basics of Promise Theory and its applications
    Promise Theory
    A modeling language of information to describe and discuss cooperative
    behavior among di
    ff
    erent agents or actors, proposed by Mark Burgess,

    an independent theorist and practitioner in the
    fi
    eld of information science,

    in 2004.
    It has the capability to visualize, analyze, and solve any problems

    and bottle-necks of how people communicate and collaborate with

    each other in a formalized way.
    Also, it o
    ff
    ers a completely new way to understand the word around us.
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01092PYG8/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

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  42. 42
    The basics of Promise Theory and its applications
    Core concepts:
    Imposition
    Clean up the room.
    Is applied to others
    Tells how to behave or follow a certain recipe
    Diverges into unpredictable outcomes
    Is a top-down strategy
    i.e., hints, advice, suggestions, requests, commands,
    Promise
    I promise that the room will be clean.
    Is applied only to yourself
    De
    fi
    nes an end state or outcome
    Converges towards an intended outcome
    Is a bottom-up strategy

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  43. 43
    The basics of Promise Theory and its applications
    A concept map of Promise Theory
    Promise Imposition Obligation
    Intention
    The subject of some kind of
    possible outcome
    Publicly declared or

    stated intention
    An attempt to induce
    cooperation in
    another agent
    An imposition that implies a cost
    or penalty for noncompliance
    Autonomy
    The state of being free

    to choose
    Agreement
    An autonomous decision

    to accept a proposal

    from another agent
    Cooperation
    A voluntary behavior to give up an
    agent's autonomy to accomplish a
    common and larger outcome
    is necessary for
    has
    makes can be may take a
    form of
    If repeatedly kept, increases
    If accepted, leads to
    Agent
    Any part of a system that can
    intend or promise something
    independently
    evaluated by
    Assessment
    A decision about whether a
    promise has been kept or not
    Trust
    The basis for expectation or
    certainty of promised outcomes
    in
    fl
    uenced by
    possesses
    If stated publicly, becomes
    can increase
    attempts to induce

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  44. 44
    The basics of Promise Theory and its applications
    An imposition:
    Throwing a ball without warning
    + throw
    Imposition
    nope

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  45. 45
    The basics of Promise Theory and its applications
    A promise:
    Throwing a ball and accepting to catch the ball
    + throw
    - catch
    + throw
    Imposition Promise
    nope

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  46. 46
    The basics of Promise Theory and its applications
    Repeated promises:
    Repeated enough times, then it becomes playing catch
    + throw
    - catch
    + throw
    Imposition Promise
    nope
    Playing catch
    + throw
    - catch
    - catch
    + throw

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  47. 47
    The basics of Promise Theory and its applications
    An emergent promise:
    With multiple promises combined,
    + throw
    - hit
    Rules of play Hitting a ball Playing catch
    + throw
    - catch
    - catch
    + throw
    + rules
    - accept
    - accept
    + rules
    + +

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  48. 48
    The basics of Promise Theory and its applications
    An emergent promise:
    With multiple promises combined, it is a baseball game
    + throw
    - hit
    Rules of play Hitting a ball Playing catch
    + throw
    - catch
    - catch
    + throw
    + rules
    - accept
    - accept
    + rules
    + +
    A baseball game

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  49. 49
    The basics of Promise Theory and its applications
    Trusting means ignoring the internal promises,

    which greatly reduces the amount of information
    + throw
    - hit
    Rules of play Hitting a ball Playing catch
    + throw
    - catch
    - catch
    + throw
    + rules
    - accept
    - accept
    + rules
    + +
    A baseball game

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  50. 50
    The basics of Promise Theory and its applications
    Trusting enables us to cooperate at scale,
    Baseball games
    Baseball fans
    Stadium
    Committee
    +
    ‒ +

    ‒ + + ‒
    ‒ + + ‒

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  51. 51
    The basics of Promise Theory and its applications
    Trusting enables us to cooperate at scale,

    promising much more complex activities
    Baseball games
    Baseball fans
    Stadium
    Committee
    +
    ‒ +

    ‒ + + ‒
    ‒ + + ‒
    A baseball league

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  52. 52
    The basics of Promise Theory and its applications
    Having a lens of promises

    brings more rigor and discipline

    to your way of communicating with others.
    And, it is a bottom-up strategy

    to increase and improve cooperations with your teams.

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  53. 53
    The basics of Promise Theory and its applications
    Two types of disruptors:
    Trouble-makers Change-makers
    Leading from the edges
    Not having trusting relationships with other members of a community
    Being regarded as causing troubles
    Leading from the edges
    Having trusting relationships with other members of a community
    Being regarded as making positive changes
    ‒ +

    +
    ‒ +

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  54. 54
    The basics of Promise Theory and its applications
    Steps to build trust and become a change-maker:
    1. Competence
    +
    You
    +
    +
    Show what you are competent at

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  55. 55
    The basics of Promise Theory and its applications
    Steps to build trust and become a change-maker:
    1. Competence
    +
    You
    +
    +
    You
    +

    +


    2. Relationships
    +
    Establish relationships and build allies
    Show what you are competent at

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  56. 56
    The basics of Promise Theory and its applications
    Steps to build trust and become a change-maker:
    1. Competence
    +
    You
    +
    +
    You
    +

    +


    +
    You
    +


    2. Relationships 3. Initiative
    + +

    +
    +
    +
    +
    Establish relationships and build allies Start new initiatives that actually make changes
    Show what you are competent at

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  57. 57
    Conclusion
    Design Matters Tokyo 2022

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  58. 58
    Conclusion
    To summarize, in a remote environment,
    Everything happens inside screens,

    o
    ff
    ering only semantic and digital information.
    Deliberately designing every message you make is ever more imperative

    as language is the primary construct of the semantic and digital context.
    Promising to design your everyday language enables you

    to build trust with your peers and collaborate more e
    ff
    ectively.

    View Slide


  59. 59
    Conclusion
    I promise that

    my language is always carefully designed

    for us to collaborate e
    ff
    ectively.
    A bottom-up strategy for better remote collaborations:

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  60. 60
    Conclusion
    References
    Andrew Hinton. Understanding Context: Environment, Language, and Information Architecture. O'Reilly Media. 2014.

    https://tinyurl.com/y34zqpe4
    1
    George A. Miller. "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information.” 1956.

    https://tinyurl.com/y2t6bwkc
    2
    Helen Bevan and Steve Fairman. “E The new era of thinking and practice in change and transformation: A call to action for leaders of health and care.” 2014.

    https://www.england.nhs.uk/improvement-hub/wp-content/uploads/sites/44/2018/09/Change-and-Transformation-White-Paper.pdf
    3
    James J. Gibson. The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Psychology Press. 1986.

    https://tinyurl.com/y3hs675s
    4
    Mark Burgess. Thinking in Promises: Designing Systems for Cooperation. O'Reilly Media. 2015.

    https://tinyurl.com/y4x7x7rh
    5
    Mark Burgess. “3. Promise Theory - Scaling cooperation with modularity and trust (part 3).” YouTube. 2017.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZcWZokRRac&t=324s
    6
    Peter Merholz and Jesse James Garrett. “28: The Leadership Ceiling (ft. Tim Kieschnick).” Apple Podcast. 2022.

    https://
    fi
    ndingourway.design/2022/04/29/28-the-leadership-ceiling-ft-tim-kieschnick/
    7

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  61. 61
    Thanks!
    About Akira
    Twitter

    note

    LinkedIn
    https://twitter.com/akira_motomura

    https://note.com/akiramotomura

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/akiramotomura
    About YUMEMI
    Let’s have a chat 💁
    Conclusion

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