Thinking in Information
#5 Productize Philosophy
Hi, there.
I hope you're had a good time resting with everyone else after a very confusing year to say the least. Looking back,
2020 was when I decided what I want to do with my life. I launched my website, designed my software platform that I am now assembling a team for and started this NewsLetter. Slowly, I am getting my life together going into 2021, of what can possibly be the biggest year of my life yet. Let's get on with the first letter of 2021...
Today, when we think of information, we can think of it as bits. Bits is simple, distilled and can be found everywhere. Words, Numbers, Images, etc. everything can be expressed in bits. Bits allows us to define information in exact terms. It must be noted that this was always not the case.
Thinking in Information
Information to my mom simply means some knowledge. And so was the case with everyone before 1948, until Claude Shannon gave his theory of information. The term "information" got a scientific definition. It is exact. When information is bits, you can have metrics and create mathematical equations for related concepts like information processing, retrieval and storage. This deceptively simple idea actually has profound implications as information forms the base layer of our universe. Shannon's theory started our transformation into what we now call the Information Age. "Man the food-gatherer reappears incongruously as information-gatherer.", said Marshall McLuhan. I found this quote in James Gleick's book Information Theory, which is at the foundation of my whole knowledge and the way I see the world. But I digress.
Designing products is often designing the exchange of information between the human and the technology. In the first letter, I told you about thinking in first principles as the way to make useful products. First Principles Thinking for Product Design begins with Thinking in Information.
Every app on your smartphone can be deconstructed into a few lines of information exchange. To start of with, these exchanges happen in either of three ways:
- Information that is pushed at you
- Information that you pull out
- Information that you create.
Next is, the 'where' in a product and the 'when' in the user flow, an information is made available. This is simply, the spacetime fabric of product design. Take for example the notification system. Push notifications is essentially information being pushed at you. And there must be a good reason for information to be pushed at users, instead of being pulled out by opening an app. But few care about coming up with this reason and push all kinds of information at users without a second thought leading to smartphone addiction. We must be rigorous about where, and when we make information available in our product designs.
It is with this method of thinking in information that I breakdown products. I demonstrated this in my essay about HEY EMail, and it is how I believe we can have way better design thinking. An example of this is in the next section.
📝 Original Essay
Re-thinking Notifications
Let's first define Notifications for what it is supposed to be: Information delivered with time-sensitivity. New Information that you must be prompted with some urgency. Following the above logic of Thinking in Information, I explore the various urgencies and types of information that must be delivered as notifications to create a concrete framework called the W.A.R.S. Framework. Any notification system can (and in my opinion, must) be designed using this framework.
The W.A.R.S. framework to design a “sincere” Notification System
Designers can use this framework to create sincere and meaningful notification systems for their products. Users can use this to customize their notifications and eliminate all smartphone addiction.
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🎦Curations
The Best Primer in Information Theory
[1/2] How Much Information?
When I watched this video for the first time, I realized that the universe is made up of information. Physicist and Filmmaker, Derek Muller (Veritasium) shows you why and then answers some fun little questions of how much information we're made of and so on.
[2/2] What is NOT Random?
Derek created the previous video to finally be able to create this one. Shannon's information theory created a bridge between information and uncertainty, information and entropy, information and chaos. This video will show you why and then you'll watch Derek form a bridge between information and freewill.
Claude Shannon: How a Genius Solves a Problem (by Zat Rana)
As this letter makes you more curious about Claude Shannon, and allow yourself to read how Zat deconstructs Claude's genius to deliver some important lessons in human intelligence.
🎻Art Appreciation
"I play the Orchestra"
Remember in the movie Steve Jobs, as Jobs tells Wozniak: "The musicians play their instruments, I play the orchestra." Turns out that is the most apt analogy to describe the role of a product designer in a team. I will break this down in a future letter, but for now, how about you explore what exactly is it that Conductors do.
When I think about Product Design, I like the mindset of thinking of products as instruments, instead of tools. And before I learned the word "instrument", I learned the word Violin. And so I am excited to share with you another addition to my 2021 story: a violin I bought yesterday. Now please help me figure out how to play the damn thing....
That's it. If you would like your friends to get on our bandwagon of Productize Philosophy:
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I would love to know your plans of 2021. Do reply, and as always any thoughts, criticisms, are welcome.
Talk Soon,
Abhishek.