Shared mental models within UX teams — are you aligned?
You’ve heard of Jakob’s Law and read all the articles on integrating mental models for better UX outcomes. What next?
Psychology and good design experiences go hand-in-hand, as goes the fairly recent adage. Chances are you’ve come across the basic “laws” of UX and seen examples in action. You may have even taken an interest in behavioural science and cognitive psychology — but if not, I’ll be glad to cover those areas for you. Let’s start with a more meta-look at mental models, because I guarantee you have quite a few of your own.
What are mental models exactly?
Various arts and sciences (such as philosophy, ergonomics and cognitive psychology) will have slightly diverse, but altogether straightforward explanations for what mental models look like in practice. Their differences lie in what each professional or academic field places a heavier emphasis and focus on. In this case, I’ll just go with the design angle, because that’s what we’re here for.
In short, it is a representation and a framework of how we expect things to work. It’s your ingrained thought process, based on previous experiences and interactions (be it with systems or otherwise); an internal working model of the outside world.
The main use for it is to ease cognitive overload, so you don’t have to rack your brain too hard each time you come across the same scenario. Mental models also come with a clumsy caveat, namely that they tend to be resistant to change and instructions.
Team Mental Models (TMM)
Shared mental models in teams can be easily observed in environments, where steps are clear-cut and methodical. Think not only factories, but also medical settings and others, where rule-abiding is key to ideal outcomes.
Design tasks are more difficult in this regard, as there is no definite formula to the solution for a given assignment. Creativity combined with data might present a thousand different answers to the problem, but pinpointing the picture-perfect panacea is an elusive challenge.
What follows is having to develop ideas, which bring together team members’ unique knowledge and assumptions — and accommodating them to fit around each other. This cognitive diversity is then what facilitates creative synergy on a team level.
As per a 2007 study, different mental models can be categorised as follows:
- The task model relates to knowing which particular skill to pull out from your toolkit when performing a task.
- The process model is your take on problem-solving strategies and common design methods used for an assignment.
- The team model is your understanding of other team members, their abilities, roles, responsibilities and how to interact with them.
- The competence model is your confidence in how well-equipped or suited is your team for accomplishing the task at hand. This basically brings all three previous models together, and has an impact on overall team performance and delivery outcome.
- Finally, the context model is the enveloping background information such as communication methods and the organisational structure.
Team members’ mental models converge to create a shared mental model, gradually building up one of each sub-type; and so the magic begins.
Aligning TMMs
To prevent pointless friction along the road, there are some basic steps you can take when starting out with a new team. Because I am such a big fan (and abuser) of metaphors, I will be framing all of this in a story-telling narrative.
➤ Articulate & describe the task. Consider this the blurb at the back of a book, or the spoiler-filled review, which gives away everything. Set the scene, and explain what the whole mission is about, i.e. what the expected outcome entails, as well as how success is defined.
You might also want to throw in some possible pitfalls to mind along the way or where things might get rocky. Better be warned in advance than ambushed on to go.
➤ Continue with detailing what each team member is bringing to the party and what their roles are, so everyone has an idea of all the characters on the playing field.
Note that everyone considers themselves the main character. Hence, you would do well to also mention how they all relate to one another, rather than just giving the briefest of introductions with a job title for each and then moving on. This is also a good time to mention delivery time frames and some key nitty-gritty facts.
➤ Discuss strategies for anticipated scenarios and how you will remedy disputes inside or outside. Communication is such an underrated solution to most common problems.
Allow time for a quick Q&A session, in case you forgot to mention something or simply left a blind spot undetected. Perhaps give everyone a stress-ball as a “welcome to the crew” gift, if you would like to foreshadow something.
Be mindful of groupthink
Groupthink happens when there is just simply too much cohesion in a team’s mindset. Extremes are truly our worst enemies. This gives rise to a preference for preserving agreement over rocking the boat with an out-of-the-box idea. The result? A stale, static environment eclipsing even the brightest of minds.
If the team motivation doesn’t lean towards generating ideas or stimulating creativity, needless to say, its performance will be negatively impacted (or at best, not fulfilling its potential).
All of us bring our own spark and imagination to the table, which should be tapped into rather than assimilated until everyone is the same worker bot. So try to avoid washing the life out of your group by attempting to fit your star-performers into square-shaped holes; or by letting them yield to a mental status quo.
“Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.” — Walter Lippman
Foster teamwork, but leave plenty of room for iterating on current mindsets and available options. The only time a higher sharedness in mental models is ideal is when the environment is procedural rather than creative, or if the task at hand is complex (possibly coupled with an intense workload).
Customise the takeaways to your setting, and keep in mind the mental models you will encounter in group dynamics.
Thanks for reading! ❤️
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Further Reading
- Mental models and the evolution of an idea by Michael J. Fordham
- Do mental models thwart innovation? by Meghan Wenzel
- Mental models in product design by Teresa Man
References & Credits
- Petra Badke-Schaub , Andre Neumann , Kristina Lauche & Susan Mohammed (2007) Mental models in design teams: a valid approach to performance in design collaboration?, CoDesign, 3:1, 5–20, DOI: 10.1080/15710880601170768
- Mathieu, J. E., Heffner, T. S., Goodwin, G. F., Salas, E., & Cannon-Bowers, J. A. (2000). The influence of shared mental models on team process and performance. Journal of applied psychology, 85(2), 273.
- Images by pch-vector on Freepik
