Looking for a good analogy! [on hold]












3














I've recently been finding analogies quite helpful when explaining something to clients. Something I'm explaining on a regular basis is that causing users to stop and pause to think about something can seem quite negligible (sometimes it can just be a half of a second pause), but when confronted with multiple instances of these pauses they can add up and amount to a bad user experience.



Does anyone have a good analogy for this? Any ideas welcome!










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put on hold as primarily opinion-based by JonW Dec 29 '18 at 8:41


Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.











  • 2




    Steve Krug wrote an entire book on the subject, Don’t Make Me Think. You may find some good analogies therein (or just give a copy to your clients). In her book, Badass: Making Users Awesome, Kathy Sierra calls these small distractions “cognitive leaks.”
    – Patrick McElhaney
    Dec 29 '18 at 14:26


















3














I've recently been finding analogies quite helpful when explaining something to clients. Something I'm explaining on a regular basis is that causing users to stop and pause to think about something can seem quite negligible (sometimes it can just be a half of a second pause), but when confronted with multiple instances of these pauses they can add up and amount to a bad user experience.



Does anyone have a good analogy for this? Any ideas welcome!










share|improve this question







New contributor




scottriddoch is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











put on hold as primarily opinion-based by JonW Dec 29 '18 at 8:41


Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.











  • 2




    Steve Krug wrote an entire book on the subject, Don’t Make Me Think. You may find some good analogies therein (or just give a copy to your clients). In her book, Badass: Making Users Awesome, Kathy Sierra calls these small distractions “cognitive leaks.”
    – Patrick McElhaney
    Dec 29 '18 at 14:26
















3












3








3


1





I've recently been finding analogies quite helpful when explaining something to clients. Something I'm explaining on a regular basis is that causing users to stop and pause to think about something can seem quite negligible (sometimes it can just be a half of a second pause), but when confronted with multiple instances of these pauses they can add up and amount to a bad user experience.



Does anyone have a good analogy for this? Any ideas welcome!










share|improve this question







New contributor




scottriddoch is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











I've recently been finding analogies quite helpful when explaining something to clients. Something I'm explaining on a regular basis is that causing users to stop and pause to think about something can seem quite negligible (sometimes it can just be a half of a second pause), but when confronted with multiple instances of these pauses they can add up and amount to a bad user experience.



Does anyone have a good analogy for this? Any ideas welcome!







website-design design users experience






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Check out our Code of Conduct.











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asked Dec 28 '18 at 14:46









scottriddoch

162




162




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Check out our Code of Conduct.




put on hold as primarily opinion-based by JonW Dec 29 '18 at 8:41


Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.






put on hold as primarily opinion-based by JonW Dec 29 '18 at 8:41


Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.










  • 2




    Steve Krug wrote an entire book on the subject, Don’t Make Me Think. You may find some good analogies therein (or just give a copy to your clients). In her book, Badass: Making Users Awesome, Kathy Sierra calls these small distractions “cognitive leaks.”
    – Patrick McElhaney
    Dec 29 '18 at 14:26
















  • 2




    Steve Krug wrote an entire book on the subject, Don’t Make Me Think. You may find some good analogies therein (or just give a copy to your clients). In her book, Badass: Making Users Awesome, Kathy Sierra calls these small distractions “cognitive leaks.”
    – Patrick McElhaney
    Dec 29 '18 at 14:26










2




2




Steve Krug wrote an entire book on the subject, Don’t Make Me Think. You may find some good analogies therein (or just give a copy to your clients). In her book, Badass: Making Users Awesome, Kathy Sierra calls these small distractions “cognitive leaks.”
– Patrick McElhaney
Dec 29 '18 at 14:26






Steve Krug wrote an entire book on the subject, Don’t Make Me Think. You may find some good analogies therein (or just give a copy to your clients). In her book, Badass: Making Users Awesome, Kathy Sierra calls these small distractions “cognitive leaks.”
– Patrick McElhaney
Dec 29 '18 at 14:26












4 Answers
4






active

oldest

votes


















3














Death by meeting ☠️



The best analogy I've come up with for office-dwellers is meetings. Both the scheduled and unscheduled variety apply, but the latter is the best parallel.



There's nothing more disruptive to productive workers than the constant task-switching of a meeting-culture office. Listen to a sad little story with me …




You have some big stuff on your list today

You put on your headphones and settle in

You pick the next problem or task from your list

You're really going to accomplish something today!

💥

A meeting reminder pops up on your screen

All that hard work is flushed 🚽

Shuffle off to the conference room on floor 5

Spend the next hour wrapping your head around a totally new issue

One of the attendees pulls you aside to talk about follow-up

You talk for another 10 or 15 minutes

You roll back to your desk over an hour later

Just the thought of getting your head back in the zone exhausts you

15 minutes later you're back in your groove 🛫

An exec drops by to chat about something that's been on his mind 🛬

😞




Interrupting your user's workflow is a lot like that in a little microcosm.






share|improve this answer





























    3














    A good analogy for this can be found in this article from nngroup:




    Most computer users have learned that running too many programs at
    the same time can slow down or even crash the machine. We work around
    these limitations by closing programs when we aren't using them.



    Just like computers, human brains have a limited amount of processing
    power.




    Causing users to pause several times to think about what they are doing, add to their cognitive load, decreasing their performance.






    share|improve this answer



















    • 1




      This is a great one!
      – Nicolas Hung
      Dec 28 '18 at 18:10






    • 1




      Depending on the technical knowledge of the audience, you might also throw in some facts about how context switching between threads is expensive because the system has to reload the state from before the last switch. Humans have to do this, too.
      – jpmc26
      Dec 28 '18 at 23:03



















    3














    I have a demotivational poster behind my desk that sums this up quite nicely.



    Irresponsibility-
    No single raindrop believes it is to blame for the flood.



    It's in the owner's best interest to remove all distractions from the goal of the site/app/program. They add up quickly to become a major problem for the user.






    share|improve this answer








    New contributor




    Starshine is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.


























      1














      In a supermarket, customers might forgive having to wait in the checkout line once .. twice ..



      but if it happens to often, they won't come back.





      How's that? :)






      share|improve this answer

















      • 1




        I think a better shopping analogy is if the store were to randomly introduce unrelated things in an otherwise logical aisle. If the shopper was looking for their favorite cereal and was suddenly confronted with toilet paper in the middle of the cereal section, you could really screw with their head.
        – plainclothes
        Dec 29 '18 at 0:34




















      4 Answers
      4






      active

      oldest

      votes








      4 Answers
      4






      active

      oldest

      votes









      active

      oldest

      votes






      active

      oldest

      votes









      3














      Death by meeting ☠️



      The best analogy I've come up with for office-dwellers is meetings. Both the scheduled and unscheduled variety apply, but the latter is the best parallel.



      There's nothing more disruptive to productive workers than the constant task-switching of a meeting-culture office. Listen to a sad little story with me …




      You have some big stuff on your list today

      You put on your headphones and settle in

      You pick the next problem or task from your list

      You're really going to accomplish something today!

      💥

      A meeting reminder pops up on your screen

      All that hard work is flushed 🚽

      Shuffle off to the conference room on floor 5

      Spend the next hour wrapping your head around a totally new issue

      One of the attendees pulls you aside to talk about follow-up

      You talk for another 10 or 15 minutes

      You roll back to your desk over an hour later

      Just the thought of getting your head back in the zone exhausts you

      15 minutes later you're back in your groove 🛫

      An exec drops by to chat about something that's been on his mind 🛬

      😞




      Interrupting your user's workflow is a lot like that in a little microcosm.






      share|improve this answer


























        3














        Death by meeting ☠️



        The best analogy I've come up with for office-dwellers is meetings. Both the scheduled and unscheduled variety apply, but the latter is the best parallel.



        There's nothing more disruptive to productive workers than the constant task-switching of a meeting-culture office. Listen to a sad little story with me …




        You have some big stuff on your list today

        You put on your headphones and settle in

        You pick the next problem or task from your list

        You're really going to accomplish something today!

        💥

        A meeting reminder pops up on your screen

        All that hard work is flushed 🚽

        Shuffle off to the conference room on floor 5

        Spend the next hour wrapping your head around a totally new issue

        One of the attendees pulls you aside to talk about follow-up

        You talk for another 10 or 15 minutes

        You roll back to your desk over an hour later

        Just the thought of getting your head back in the zone exhausts you

        15 minutes later you're back in your groove 🛫

        An exec drops by to chat about something that's been on his mind 🛬

        😞




        Interrupting your user's workflow is a lot like that in a little microcosm.






        share|improve this answer
























          3












          3








          3






          Death by meeting ☠️



          The best analogy I've come up with for office-dwellers is meetings. Both the scheduled and unscheduled variety apply, but the latter is the best parallel.



          There's nothing more disruptive to productive workers than the constant task-switching of a meeting-culture office. Listen to a sad little story with me …




          You have some big stuff on your list today

          You put on your headphones and settle in

          You pick the next problem or task from your list

          You're really going to accomplish something today!

          💥

          A meeting reminder pops up on your screen

          All that hard work is flushed 🚽

          Shuffle off to the conference room on floor 5

          Spend the next hour wrapping your head around a totally new issue

          One of the attendees pulls you aside to talk about follow-up

          You talk for another 10 or 15 minutes

          You roll back to your desk over an hour later

          Just the thought of getting your head back in the zone exhausts you

          15 minutes later you're back in your groove 🛫

          An exec drops by to chat about something that's been on his mind 🛬

          😞




          Interrupting your user's workflow is a lot like that in a little microcosm.






          share|improve this answer












          Death by meeting ☠️



          The best analogy I've come up with for office-dwellers is meetings. Both the scheduled and unscheduled variety apply, but the latter is the best parallel.



          There's nothing more disruptive to productive workers than the constant task-switching of a meeting-culture office. Listen to a sad little story with me …




          You have some big stuff on your list today

          You put on your headphones and settle in

          You pick the next problem or task from your list

          You're really going to accomplish something today!

          💥

          A meeting reminder pops up on your screen

          All that hard work is flushed 🚽

          Shuffle off to the conference room on floor 5

          Spend the next hour wrapping your head around a totally new issue

          One of the attendees pulls you aside to talk about follow-up

          You talk for another 10 or 15 minutes

          You roll back to your desk over an hour later

          Just the thought of getting your head back in the zone exhausts you

          15 minutes later you're back in your groove 🛫

          An exec drops by to chat about something that's been on his mind 🛬

          😞




          Interrupting your user's workflow is a lot like that in a little microcosm.







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered Dec 28 '18 at 18:51









          plainclothes

          19.6k43777




          19.6k43777

























              3














              A good analogy for this can be found in this article from nngroup:




              Most computer users have learned that running too many programs at
              the same time can slow down or even crash the machine. We work around
              these limitations by closing programs when we aren't using them.



              Just like computers, human brains have a limited amount of processing
              power.




              Causing users to pause several times to think about what they are doing, add to their cognitive load, decreasing their performance.






              share|improve this answer



















              • 1




                This is a great one!
                – Nicolas Hung
                Dec 28 '18 at 18:10






              • 1




                Depending on the technical knowledge of the audience, you might also throw in some facts about how context switching between threads is expensive because the system has to reload the state from before the last switch. Humans have to do this, too.
                – jpmc26
                Dec 28 '18 at 23:03
















              3














              A good analogy for this can be found in this article from nngroup:




              Most computer users have learned that running too many programs at
              the same time can slow down or even crash the machine. We work around
              these limitations by closing programs when we aren't using them.



              Just like computers, human brains have a limited amount of processing
              power.




              Causing users to pause several times to think about what they are doing, add to their cognitive load, decreasing their performance.






              share|improve this answer



















              • 1




                This is a great one!
                – Nicolas Hung
                Dec 28 '18 at 18:10






              • 1




                Depending on the technical knowledge of the audience, you might also throw in some facts about how context switching between threads is expensive because the system has to reload the state from before the last switch. Humans have to do this, too.
                – jpmc26
                Dec 28 '18 at 23:03














              3












              3








              3






              A good analogy for this can be found in this article from nngroup:




              Most computer users have learned that running too many programs at
              the same time can slow down or even crash the machine. We work around
              these limitations by closing programs when we aren't using them.



              Just like computers, human brains have a limited amount of processing
              power.




              Causing users to pause several times to think about what they are doing, add to their cognitive load, decreasing their performance.






              share|improve this answer














              A good analogy for this can be found in this article from nngroup:




              Most computer users have learned that running too many programs at
              the same time can slow down or even crash the machine. We work around
              these limitations by closing programs when we aren't using them.



              Just like computers, human brains have a limited amount of processing
              power.




              Causing users to pause several times to think about what they are doing, add to their cognitive load, decreasing their performance.







              share|improve this answer














              share|improve this answer



              share|improve this answer








              edited Dec 28 '18 at 20:00

























              answered Dec 28 '18 at 18:06









              Aline

              579312




              579312








              • 1




                This is a great one!
                – Nicolas Hung
                Dec 28 '18 at 18:10






              • 1




                Depending on the technical knowledge of the audience, you might also throw in some facts about how context switching between threads is expensive because the system has to reload the state from before the last switch. Humans have to do this, too.
                – jpmc26
                Dec 28 '18 at 23:03














              • 1




                This is a great one!
                – Nicolas Hung
                Dec 28 '18 at 18:10






              • 1




                Depending on the technical knowledge of the audience, you might also throw in some facts about how context switching between threads is expensive because the system has to reload the state from before the last switch. Humans have to do this, too.
                – jpmc26
                Dec 28 '18 at 23:03








              1




              1




              This is a great one!
              – Nicolas Hung
              Dec 28 '18 at 18:10




              This is a great one!
              – Nicolas Hung
              Dec 28 '18 at 18:10




              1




              1




              Depending on the technical knowledge of the audience, you might also throw in some facts about how context switching between threads is expensive because the system has to reload the state from before the last switch. Humans have to do this, too.
              – jpmc26
              Dec 28 '18 at 23:03




              Depending on the technical knowledge of the audience, you might also throw in some facts about how context switching between threads is expensive because the system has to reload the state from before the last switch. Humans have to do this, too.
              – jpmc26
              Dec 28 '18 at 23:03











              3














              I have a demotivational poster behind my desk that sums this up quite nicely.



              Irresponsibility-
              No single raindrop believes it is to blame for the flood.



              It's in the owner's best interest to remove all distractions from the goal of the site/app/program. They add up quickly to become a major problem for the user.






              share|improve this answer








              New contributor




              Starshine is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
              Check out our Code of Conduct.























                3














                I have a demotivational poster behind my desk that sums this up quite nicely.



                Irresponsibility-
                No single raindrop believes it is to blame for the flood.



                It's in the owner's best interest to remove all distractions from the goal of the site/app/program. They add up quickly to become a major problem for the user.






                share|improve this answer








                New contributor




                Starshine is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                Check out our Code of Conduct.





















                  3












                  3








                  3






                  I have a demotivational poster behind my desk that sums this up quite nicely.



                  Irresponsibility-
                  No single raindrop believes it is to blame for the flood.



                  It's in the owner's best interest to remove all distractions from the goal of the site/app/program. They add up quickly to become a major problem for the user.






                  share|improve this answer








                  New contributor




                  Starshine is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                  Check out our Code of Conduct.









                  I have a demotivational poster behind my desk that sums this up quite nicely.



                  Irresponsibility-
                  No single raindrop believes it is to blame for the flood.



                  It's in the owner's best interest to remove all distractions from the goal of the site/app/program. They add up quickly to become a major problem for the user.







                  share|improve this answer








                  New contributor




                  Starshine is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                  Check out our Code of Conduct.









                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer






                  New contributor




                  Starshine is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                  Check out our Code of Conduct.









                  answered Dec 28 '18 at 20:41









                  Starshine

                  311




                  311




                  New contributor




                  Starshine is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                  Check out our Code of Conduct.





                  New contributor





                  Starshine is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                  Check out our Code of Conduct.






                  Starshine is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                  Check out our Code of Conduct.























                      1














                      In a supermarket, customers might forgive having to wait in the checkout line once .. twice ..



                      but if it happens to often, they won't come back.





                      How's that? :)






                      share|improve this answer

















                      • 1




                        I think a better shopping analogy is if the store were to randomly introduce unrelated things in an otherwise logical aisle. If the shopper was looking for their favorite cereal and was suddenly confronted with toilet paper in the middle of the cereal section, you could really screw with their head.
                        – plainclothes
                        Dec 29 '18 at 0:34


















                      1














                      In a supermarket, customers might forgive having to wait in the checkout line once .. twice ..



                      but if it happens to often, they won't come back.





                      How's that? :)






                      share|improve this answer

















                      • 1




                        I think a better shopping analogy is if the store were to randomly introduce unrelated things in an otherwise logical aisle. If the shopper was looking for their favorite cereal and was suddenly confronted with toilet paper in the middle of the cereal section, you could really screw with their head.
                        – plainclothes
                        Dec 29 '18 at 0:34
















                      1












                      1








                      1






                      In a supermarket, customers might forgive having to wait in the checkout line once .. twice ..



                      but if it happens to often, they won't come back.





                      How's that? :)






                      share|improve this answer












                      In a supermarket, customers might forgive having to wait in the checkout line once .. twice ..



                      but if it happens to often, they won't come back.





                      How's that? :)







                      share|improve this answer












                      share|improve this answer



                      share|improve this answer










                      answered Dec 28 '18 at 20:28









                      Fattie

                      808517




                      808517








                      • 1




                        I think a better shopping analogy is if the store were to randomly introduce unrelated things in an otherwise logical aisle. If the shopper was looking for their favorite cereal and was suddenly confronted with toilet paper in the middle of the cereal section, you could really screw with their head.
                        – plainclothes
                        Dec 29 '18 at 0:34
















                      • 1




                        I think a better shopping analogy is if the store were to randomly introduce unrelated things in an otherwise logical aisle. If the shopper was looking for their favorite cereal and was suddenly confronted with toilet paper in the middle of the cereal section, you could really screw with their head.
                        – plainclothes
                        Dec 29 '18 at 0:34










                      1




                      1




                      I think a better shopping analogy is if the store were to randomly introduce unrelated things in an otherwise logical aisle. If the shopper was looking for their favorite cereal and was suddenly confronted with toilet paper in the middle of the cereal section, you could really screw with their head.
                      – plainclothes
                      Dec 29 '18 at 0:34






                      I think a better shopping analogy is if the store were to randomly introduce unrelated things in an otherwise logical aisle. If the shopper was looking for their favorite cereal and was suddenly confronted with toilet paper in the middle of the cereal section, you could really screw with their head.
                      – plainclothes
                      Dec 29 '18 at 0:34





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