the six elements of focus to improve your craft

THE SIX ELEMENTS OF FOCUS

Davide ‘Folletto’ Casali

UX Redirector Advisor

NIGHT.EU

Manifesto Ibridi F E L L O W

@Folletto

WHAT IS FOCUS?PART I

We know what we’re doing

I haven’t done much today

Focus can be the difference between

knowing your destination and being lost

Focus can be the difference between

done and not done

The gravitational point toward which

everything converges.

CENTERClarity

FORCESAction

TIMEPatience

Clarity Focus

Why is it so hard to keep focus?

FEARThe comfort of non-confrontational assumptions

FRUSTRATION AVOIDANCE

CONFLICT AVOIDANCE

Toward Self Toward Others

FOCUS AS VISION CLARITY

PART II

Simon Sinek Start With Why

What

How

Model by Simon Sinek

Why

“

”Simon Sinek

Dr. King gave the "I have a dream" speech,

not the "I have a plan" speech.

Do you know your why?

Does your client know its why?

Clarify with everyone involved. Find the why.

FOCUS AS GOAL CLARITY

PART III

Issue 1MULTI-FOCUS

Issue 2IMPLIED FOCUS

Set one goalwith metrics

Communicate

Set goal. Communicate. Repeat.

FOCUS AS USERS

PART IV

user

user user

user user

user

Behaviour

Goal

Why

“”

Alan Cooper

The best way to successfully accommodate a variety of users is to design for specific types of individuals with specific needs.

“Focus” on many people

Focus on one person

Identify your user: behaviour, goal, why.

FOCUS AS PRAGMATISM

PART V

“”

Steve Jobs

Focus means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are.

It’s possible to build without focus.

Hey! _________ solves that already!

Scrum

Kanban

XP

Do they?

MILESTONE

One major user-valuable

feature

A set of minor fixes

and features

Unpack and apply your favourite technique

Each milestone is a Minimum Viable Feature

Set milestones, keep them fluid.

FOCUS AS ATTENTION

PART VI

CH

ALL

ENG

E

SKILLS

Anxiety

Boredom

Flow

Mihaly Czisentmihaily

kotaku.com/where-pro-street-fighter-players-look-1701167840kotaku.com/where-pro-street-fighter-players-look-1701167840

“”

R. Sawaki, S.J. Luck

An attend-to-me signal can be overridden by an active suppression process to prevent

the actual capture of attention.

R. Sawaki & S. J. Luck (2010) Capture versus suppression of attention by salient singletons

Increase motivation. Reduce interruptions.

FOCUS AS INNER CALM

PART VII

hey!

This moment is a skill you can train

“”

John Cleese

The creative architects had this tolerance for this discomfort we all feel

when we leave things unresolved.

“”

Baird, Smallwood, Mrazek, Kam, Franklin, Schooler

Engaging in simple external tasks that allow the mind to wander may facilitate creative

problem solving.

Baird, Smallwood, Mrazek, Kam, Franklin, Schooler (2011) Inspired by Distraction Mind Wandering Facilitates Creative Incubation

Learn breaking the train of thought. Find true free space.

SUMMARYPART VIII

SYNC DESIGN BE

goal

visi

on

user

s

prag

mat

ism

atte

ntio

n calm

“

”Bruno Munari

To complicate is easy, to simplify is hard. To complicate, just add,

everyone is able to complicate. Few are able to simplify.

Thanks.

@Folletto

INTENSEMINIMALISM.COM