This is Rich Wand's Blog
I've just finished up 6 years leading the experience design team at EMC Consulting and enjoying a small breather before starting an exciting new chapter with Fortune Cookie.
I'm not quite sure what you'll find on this blog but in amongst the nonsense I'll be sharing my love for all things experiential.
If you are a User Experience Consultant in London or Brighton then please ping me on Twitter as I'm always looking to connect with talented practitioners.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
The world is changing and so are we
At last week’s London IA there was a presentation from a UX Designer, Alexander Baxevanis, who spoke about his side projects, interesting personal projects that he has on the go out of working hours. What stood out for me was when he apologized for the fact he didn’t finish all his projects. Why should he be apologetic?
His behavior is far from unique. In fact, it’s becoming more common. The world is changing around us and the technological change has had a noticeable impact on our attention & focus. We are developing fractured attention spans. Alexander has no need to apologize - this is the new reality as he is part of the distracted generation.
We are overwhelmed by information and surrounded by playgrounds of choice – being distracted has never been so easy. Even more so for those that are creative and divergent thinkers.
The digital ecosystem is not just shaping our lives, but also our behavior. Opinion is divided as to whether our changes are behavioral or are the current generation’s brains being hardwired to think and behave differently. Either way we are more distracted now than we used to be.
The more distracted you are the less focused you are on achieving your goals. Inevitably this means our focus is tempted away and we fail to complete what we set out to do, as Alexander is experiencing with some of his side projects.
Alexander joked that he does finish all work he is employed to do by Webcredible, so as not to slam the door shut on future job opportunities. Webcredible’s work environment is unlikely to be free of distractions. However they will use a combination of project management controls, motivators, repercussions and numerous other factors, to create a positive environment for their employees to stay focused. Not to forget, the monthly wage incentive.
However in a less disciplined environment the distractions will have significantly greater impact. So our behavior will almost certainly need to evolve to embrace the distractions and ensure those of us that were once finishers, will continue to be finishers no matter what noise and opportunity there is to tempt us away.
Have your say?
- Are you more distracted now than you used to be?
- Is this changing your behavior?
- What have you done to manage these distractions?
