Cognitive Design

There is growing interest by educators, managers, designers and other professionals in applying the latest thinking in neuroscience to their discipline. They want to know how findings about mirror neuron, brain plasticity, the neurochemistry of emotions, reward circuits and other insights into brain structure and dynamics can help make them better educators, leaders and innovators.

 This is good news for cognitive designers. Not only does it create market demand but applying neuroscience requires a good deal of design thinking and informed speculation about psychological-level impacts, two things cognitive designers do for a living.

To see this point in action, check out the excellent post Your Brain at Work. Two respected business scholars look at some of the recent results in neuroscience and what they might mean for organizations and management.  Specifically, they discuss creative thinking (innovation), the role of emotions in decision-making, designing rewards that motivate and multitasking.

To improve innovation they suggest we need to better understand the brain’s default network.  This is a network of brain regions that is at work even when we are not focused on an external task.   The default mode appears to be always running and uses up much of the energy our brain consumes. It may be linked to introspection and could account for the seemingly spontaneous generation of useful ideas when we least expect it.

The authors stress that the default network is also essential for “transcendence” or our ability to shut out the external world and mentally simulate or visualize what it would be like to be in a different place or time.  All good stuff for improving creativity but how do we take advantage of it?

The authors are quick to point out that the policy some companies have that allow employees to use 10-20% of company time for their own purposes is not necessarily the best way to leverage the default network. This is true because employees will spend this time working on tasks that require engagement with the external world, not the detachment and reduction of external stimuli needed to unleash of the creative power of the default network.

But what to do? Sit and let your mind wander? Meditate? The authors bring this issue to a fine point:

“But embracing detachment as a work policy is difficult, because it’s extremely hard to quantify the results of practicing it (which also may explain why the free-time programs that do exist are bound by parameters like time frame, percentage of time, and delivery deadline). Nevertheless, you should experiment with total detachment, because it’s a better way to generate breakthrough ideas.”

And this is where the cognitive design comes in. What experiments can you suggest? Please explain how they will leverage the default network to enhance creative thinking in a business setting.

Image source:  Business person icon was designed by Honnos Bondor from the Noun Project

Inside Pixar Animation Studios

Watson, IBM’s room-sized super computer that beat the world’s best human Jeopardy players in 2011 has given birth to a much smaller and more serious offspring.  According to Bending the Knowledge Curve with IBM  Watson, the new version is now just 9″ x 18″ x 36″ inches, weights about 100 pounds and is focused on answering questions in healthcare, finance, call centers and the government.

Will Watson reach and exceed top level human performance in these domains? There is reason to think so. For example, after just 18 months in healthcare, Watson is already showing promise towards completing a version of the US medical licensing exam. We could see big things in a 3-5 year time frame.

IBM believes success with Watson in multiple domains will trigger a new computing revolution, one focused on cognitive computing systems. Such systems will do for knowledge work what the early data oriented systems did for transactional work.  The goal is not to replace human experts but to vastly amplify their reach and effectiveness.   This is not an idle claim. Remember, you could consult with the current Watson and wipe out any other human player in the game of Jeopardy!

And IBM is not the only one that thinks technology is poised to bend the knowledge curve. McKinsey’s Global Research Institute calls Watson out as an example of one 12 technological disruptions (automation of knowledge work) that will transform life, business and the global economy.   They estimate a multi-trillion dollar global impact in 2025 by technologies that automate knowledge work.

What does this mean for cognitive designers?

We should see a wide range of new options for shifting the cognitive load of knowledge work from humans to machines.

To gain more insight check out the free chapter in the forthcoming book, Smart Machines: IBM’s Watson and the Era of Cognitive Computing.  The section, How Cognitive Systems Will Help Us Think, is especially relevant for cognitive designers.   It is also worth your time to watch IBM Watson: The Science Behind the Answer.  While this won’t make you an expert in deep analytics and natural language processing, it does give a good overview of the 4-steps the Watson uses to answer an open domain question. Something a computer has never been able to do before!

Magic is a pure example of cognitive design.  It requires insight into how minds work and it uses that insight to meet a deeply felt psychological need.  So I am always on the lookout for good examples of how to use magic in innovation, organizational change, leadership and other business contexts. I call this serious magic or the use of magic for non-entertainment purposes.

One interesting thing about magic-  it  is an illusion we can use to break down other illusions or open the mind to possibilities. This is illustrated superbly in video by  Ferdinando Buscema  on Magician Leadership.  In the video he argues many interesting points including how exposure to fine arts makes us better leaders and how Keats’s notion of negative capability is essential for embracing uncertainty and engaging in possibility thinking versus reflective or analytic thinking.   The suggestion is that mastering negative capability is important for innovation, leadership and managing organizational change.

But that’s not the best stuff, at least from the standpoint of using illusion to bust an illusion. He also explores the notion of synchronicity which at its core challenges our notions of past, present and future as well as cause and effect.   Synchronicity appears when causally unrelated events that are related by meaning happen together.  You think about a friend you have not seen for years and they knock on your door or you are reading an interesting article about  a rare butterfly only to look up and see one hovering outside your window. The more compelling the coincidence of acausal events is the more synchronicity you have. We can quickly dismiss such events as a fluke or open our minds to the uncertainty, deeper patterns and possibilities they represent.

Ferdinando does a magic demonstration to illustrate synchronicity in the video. Even though you know it is an illusion your mind is forced to consider the possible (perhaps only momentarily) because you cannot see the cause-and-effect mechanism at work.  Could meaning rather than cause-and-effect connect events? Can past, present and future be blurred into a single moment?  One magic trick won’t convince you but it  can create a moment of negative capacity where you at least feel uncertain.  A strong cognitive effect with a serious purpose.

I am interested to hear from change agents, educators or others that have used magic experience design to produce non-entertainment outcomes.  How have you used serious magic?

The internet of things is made up of our current computer-based internet plus a wide range of other devices that have a sensor and can send or receive information.  These other devices include cameras,  personal health monitoring devices,  phones, cars, parking spaces, Christmas trees, appliances in your home, dog collars, power meters, traffic sensors, toys, fire alarms  and many others.  One estimate sees 24 billion devices on the internet of things by the year 2020. That’s more than 3 devices for every person on the planet.

By connecting all  of these things to the internet we enable direct machine to machine (M2M) interactions.  That means one machine controlling or at least communicating with another via the internet. This will also create a river of big data the likes of which we have never seen and enable new services, marketing opportunities and even business models.

Take for example, Budweiser’s Red Light. This device links to the internet via your WIFI and monitors the games of your favorite hockey teams. When a goal is scored it goes off. This enhances the experience of watching the game. A nice example of cognitive design- creating experience value and building brand.  To quote:

“Our mission to get every Canadian closer to the game one goal at a time”

How can you build brand on the emerging internet of things? More generally, what new service and business opportunities does it present?

Internet of Things graphic: IEEE Communication Society Blog

Red Light image: The Classic Install

There can be little doubt that the race is on to improve how we innovate.  Individuals, businesses, universities, economic regions and entire nations have a full on push to out innovate their competitors.  New ways for making innovation faster, better and cheaper are sprouting up everywhere.

There is a lot of noise, some jewels and of course the fundamentals still hold true and dominate the game.  One fundamental, often overlooked, is that innovation flows from specific skills and habits of mind.  Innovators have a calling, think flexibly, experiment and are able to influence others to act on their ideas.  These skills serve the innovator well even if they lack funding, organizational support or external incentives.

The best way to develop innovation skills is to practice them regularly until they become habits. Innovation is not a special technique or method, it is a habit of mind and way of viewing the world. For example, the knowledge card to the right provides a simple way you can practice a habit of highly effective innovators.   Innovators engage the world in a robust way. One way they do that is by using all of their senses.  Getting in the habit of using all of your senses in a way that opens up creativity is not hard but it does take practice.  Try playing this card  five or six times or until you have built up some good notes on products and services that really delight your sense of touch.  Not only will you have new experience to draw on for thinking creatively about features and functions you should be well on your way to using your hands in a more robust way to know the world.  A very good dividend for a modest amount of effort.

To  scale this approach we will need many knowledge cards covering the core skills and habits of highly effective innovators.

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One way we democratize something is to make it available to a very large group, preferably everyone. Publishing your ideas on the Internet was democratized by blogging and trading stocks was democratized by on-line brokers.  These functions, once held by highly trained experts are now open to anyone with a computer and Internet connection.

Now attention is turning to the democratization of leadership. Scholars have long recognized two general types of leaders. We have the formal or assigned leader such as the CEO or VP that carries the title, power and budget of leadership.  But we also have the informal or emergent leader that wields influence and is driven by passion to change how things work.  The question is, how do we develop and unleash these informal or emergent leaders? 

If you have a good answer, you might want to submit it as a story or hack (disruptive idea) to the Leadership Everywhere Challenge. This is the latest M-prize being sponsored by the Harvard Business Review and McKinsey Consulting.   A snapshot:

“In the future, a company that strives to build a leadership advantage will need an organizational model that gives everyone the chance to lead if they’re capable; and a talent development model that helps everyone to become capable.”

In my teaching at Northwestern University I have been fortunate enough  to work with emergent leaders from across the US. They are driven to lead without formal authority because they have an authentic insight into how to make things better and the natural influence skills to get others to act on their ideas.  The skills and habits that make up informal leadership talent are developed very differently from those of formal leaders.   They are developed through a micro or day-to-day learning from experience rather than elaborate and macro leadership development programs.

I’ve captured this micro approach to developing emergent leaders in a free mobile learning app called NewHabits. Check out the modules or decks on innovation. They teach you how to find a cause, think flexibly, experiment and get others to act on your ideas.  While the modules are focused on innovation these are just the skills and habits that drive emergent leaders. Best of all they can be practiced daily without formal authority, a training budget or the need to change your organization.

A good way to democratize leadership? Give the App a try and let me know what you think.

The NeuroGaming Conference and Expo runs May 1-3, 2013 in San Francisco.  In neurogames technology is used to more directly link game play to your brain, nervous system and body.   Examples include touch stimulation, augmented reality and gesture-based interfaces, brain-controlled games, emotional dynamics and even the direct electrical stimulation of the brain to improve performance. 

The conference will cover games, therapeutic games, investing and trends. In addition, eye tracking, brain monitoring and others tools that provide a robust but cost effective way of measuring mental states are covered.   For example, Advanced Brain Monitoring will be at the conference. They offer a wireless medical grade EEG monitoring unit (shown directly above) that should be useful for all sorts of cognitive design studies.  Check out a short video on how it is being used to help uncover the neuro-correlates of strong leadership. 

Best of all you can directly experience the games and tools on the expo floor.

I hope readers that attend the conference will share their impressions and photos. I am especially interested to hear if you believe neurogames offer a 10x improvement in the gaming experience.

Check out the open access International Journal of Design.  It includes many articles of relevance to cognitive designers for example,  25 Positive Emotions in Human-Product Interactions.  There is a current call out (due March 1, 2013) for papers on designing for subjective well-being.

Like behavior change, designing for well-being is one of the grand challenges of cognitive design.  Well-being, often viewed as a combination of  health, prosperity and happiness is being defined by the editors as “someone’s enduring life appreciation.” They point out there is growing interest in the topic and that:

“This growing interest can be observed in the lively discussions on topics such as empathic design, value-centred design, socially responsive design, meaningful design, positive design, and happiness-driven design.”

I agree. They are looking for long and short papers  that present frameworks and tools for well-being driven design as well as a discussion of the ethical and social implications.