(Illustrated above) A financial trader used to communicate about certain topics through a variety of different channels, but now he frequently uses his new trading application instead of reaching for other options. It has functionality that allows him to quickly send targeted messages to relevant parties, and he likes the idea of his group standardizing their approach to communication.

An architect used to have different approaches to adding construction notes to different types and scales of drawings. When her studio made the switch to using a building modeling application, which has very different implications and opportunities for these notes, she worked to inform and educate external colleagues about a new set of notation standards.

A scientist sets up procedures for her lab technicians to follow. While these procedures have always been consistent, the introduction of her lab’s new information management application has facilitated new levels of useful standardization that had previously been too difficult to achieve.

Which standardizations of work practice do targeted individuals and organizations currently value? Why? Where have they intentionally avoided standardization? Where do they disagree on the topic?

What value does standardization provide in current practices?

Who defined current standardizations? How were they introduced?

Which areas of work practice are trending toward more standardization? Which are trending toward less?

How are agreed upon work practices formalized into structured work processes within targeted organizations? What might your team learn from these transitions?

Where could conflicting standardization requests make it difficult to define useful onscreen support? At what point are requests too diverse for a single computing tool to be effective for a majority of users?

What advanced analogies about standardizations in other fields could valuably inform your team’s strategic ideation?

How might your sketched functionality concepts maintain or expand upon existing, useful standardizations?

What operations, tasks, or even entire activities that your team is considering for your product’s scope will likely require further standardization in order to be supported effectively?

Which parts of your sketched application concepts could imply further standardization by design? Could these constraints be a hindrance or will they meaningfully direct interaction and work outcomes?

Do you have enough information to usefully answer these and other envisioning questions? What additional research, problem space models, and design concepting could valuably inform your team’s application envisioning efforts?