What do helicopters, HAL9000 and parrots have in common? None of them have anything to do with Vanguard but all appear in the presentation I gave recently at Adaptive Path’s MX conference and the IA Summit. I highlighted some of the techniques we’ve been using at Vanguard to measure our user experience and some of the cultural challenges we face when using data to inform our decision-making. I gave out copies of an example Capability Strategy Sheet, here is the PDF.
And although I hate seeing myself on video, if you really must see it, here it is from MX 2011.
A More Mauvy Shade of Pinky Russet 
Thanks for posting this!
As far as measurement goes, do you do anything differently in situations where two tasks conflict with each other? For example, “telling a friend” is good marketing but it could distract users from other tasks, and it would be difficult to measure the overall effects. (In that example, it’s probably negligible, but I wonder if there are more significant cases.)
We don’t do anything differently, but the prioritization of tasks within a capability sheet certainly helps us understand which tasks and measures take priority. At the end of the day its all about balancing the tasks and measures to achieve the desired outcome.
Hi Rich.
Great talk, glad to see you managed to sneak some Python references in there too..! I’d forgotten about the David Gunson anecdotes, hilarious stuff, haven’t thought about them for years…
On a side note, Happy Birthday mate, have a great day..!!!!
Best wishes to your and your family,
Dave
Hey Richard – almost 4 years later, and I have found another application for the capabilities model you taught at MX2011 … I’m glad that at least one of the .pdf files is still available here. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences!