IA

Indi Young's book "Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior" has become a staple in the UX community. Its in-depth look at a type of generative research illuminates the ability for design methodologies to have immense positive impact on the overall customer experience. This method for determining the way people think is not subjective in nature: rather it is a system of carefully crafted, extensively analyzed, data modeling. The cumulative data of a large set of one-on-one interviews creates a warehouse of information to mine. User behaviors and tasks are then organized into respective groupings (towers) and matched against both existing and future products and services. By visually seeing the flow of the customer's task-based mental space across a strata of different market segments (user personas), business stakeholders and designers can have greater insight into where their roadmaps and existing strategies fall short of supporting their main consumer base. All in all, Young's method of data modeling is a powerful tool for businesses to enhance their experience strategy through gaining empathy for their customers by listening to their behaviors and experiences. 
The attached document is an illustrated summary of the book, told in diagram form, that's right: squares, circles and few words. I thought it appropriate to summarize visually, aligning my end deliverable more closely with the book's proposed end deliverable of a full fledged diagram analyzing the data gathered, as it can be distributed both succinctly and easily. Feel free to re-use any of the diagrams should they help you communicate a specific idea to a team-mate or stakeholder, or take this summary as is: one person's interpretation of a wonderfully powerful book!

Download the Illustrated Summary

 
SOURCES:
Book: http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/alignment/
Author: @indiyoung

I found these diagrams printed on glass slates in a box from my grandfather, entitled: "THERMAL AGING OF LAMINATES." I find it interesting that even engineers document similar processes and systems in the same was as UX designers today. These slides were in the same box as others showing graphs of different materials aging overtime. I assume they were used for a presentation as each slide has a number and all are on clear glass. I wonder what the words behind each one would have been. Here's my interpretation:

fig. 1
A proper assessment of a given property [for a thermal material] should be made by taking a look at its significance (usefulness to the client), calculating the value of the property at hand, and evaluating the level of economic efficiency, which can be done by measuring how much time and equipment must be used to create the material.

fig. 2
Factors that affect the evaluation of the end point [data] include: the discrimination of evaluator in relation to other data points calculated, the significance (or use) of the given material and its overall rating, both of which are a function of time.

fig. 3
The format for evaluation includes the type of equipment, its model number, the system employed by this model number and the type of material being evaluated.
 
Because these are pretty high level, and the other slides are generic graphs without data, rather titles like: Properties as Functions of Aging Time." I either think he used them in a class on electrical engineering for students, or to explain the processes he employed at his business to potential clients or investors.