Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior

From product development to Website development Indi's work in this book is extremely detail and comprehensive. The book will help you define a model of how and why the various behavior groups think. You can then define the gaps between this model and your current design, to your proposed design, and your business goals. A great strategic tool to map out a product roadmap and strategy.Jim Mandas - Customer Experience consultant.

I never really enjoy using only one process to understand a situation, but rather I believe that using a bunch of different techniques to try to gain insight from a variety of perspectives. This book focuses on one very specific way to build a "mental model," and goes into extreme detail into how to do this. I read this book, and I know for sure that I can walk off and do this, but I also wish that rather than going into mind numbing depth in certain areas ("here's how to build a spread sheet that does this") and instead went into more depth of the "why" of the methods used. I would definitely use this book to think of a new way to process and address interviews, but I also think that this model takes into account mainly behavior, and can't really address the needs of products in complete breakout categories that address totally unaddressed needs of consumers.

Indi Young's approach to conceptualizing and representing an outside-in view of market needs and their relationship to company capabilities is a compelling thinking and communication tool. I look forward to leveraging her work to help my clients. Must read for anyone driving enterprise-level change for companies.

Great resource, it will be key in the success of my new job! This is a must have for any UX professional.

The book is about a methodology. It is very thorough step by step. It reads like a road map and as a book tends not to be compelling. The book ended abruptly with the last step.

Coming from a background qualitative research in an academic context, I am delighted to have a thorough guide of how to analyse similar kinds of data in an actionable way.This book provides some theory but assumes the understanding the user research is important. It is a step-by-step, comprehensive guide of how to carry out the method of Mental Models in real projects. I especially like that Indi takes into account variable situations practitioners might face and weighs different shortcuts and approaches based on these situations. For example, she explains what to do if you are keen to create a mental model on a project but have no stakeholder support. This is brilliant because a lot of online guides aren't as grounded in reality and tend to leave you convinced but empty-handed.This book is not a theoretical exploration of a topic or a poetic argument for user experience, so do not buy it if you're looking for that kind of inspiration. What is it good for is a hands-on guide for conducting user research in a way that's based on delivering a long-term, deep, and productive understanding of an organisation and a way to analyse or create a product. It focuses on generative research (done to uncover a mental context a user/customer is in, not to test a particular product). The book provides guidance and advice for each step of the process, and anything lacking in the book is explained in the appendices. I found the appendix that covers the cost and duration of such a project particularly useful because I was able to provide my employer with an idea of the investment we are expecting to make by transforming our method to this approach.There are some things that might make it easier for you to enjoy the book or find it useful: it helps if you have some understanding of how to listen to people or some experience conducting ethnographic interviews, it definitely helps if your organisation/employer is open to change or adopting new strategies. I can see how a very stiff work environment would make this book frustrating. I got immediately fascinating by the idea of trying this out, and it was brilliant to find my manager as excited. Nevertheless, the book provides some advice even for those working in a very large organisation.I should mention that I also attended Indi Young's workshop on the methods in this book. When I left, I was definitely convinced that--if done right--this method can produce amazingly rich insights and drive design, product improvements, organisational business strategy, and anything else that requires understanding how particular people work. Some of the other reviews mention "fluff" and empty filler words. I also found the many quotations quite tedious but they did not reduce my opinion of the usefulness of the book. Perhaps the feeling that some sections are too detailed or obvious comes from a difference in expertise. The book is definitely written for practitioners of all levels so those who have been doing UX for over ten years will definitely find some sections to be repetitive.I should also say that I find the process of getting started quite difficult. This is not a quick fix or a magic pill but a detailed method that requires understanding, learning, and practice. The book has left me feeling that I can accomplish all three.

I didn't get much from reading this. Some examples pictures don't reproduce well in kindle.there is mention of red text that isnt red.

This book was excellent. It provides an in-depth discussion into creating mental models that align with the mental models of users. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the subject.

Si no es porque este libro es de una autora tan maravillosa como Indi, Jamás pagaría tanto por una calidad de impresión TAN POBRE! Debería de darles vergüenza vender algo de tan buen contenido, en una calidad TAN BAJA