(Illustrated above) An architect works through a cascade of dialogs to change a very specific setting in her building modeling application. When she first used the tool, this navigation seemed excessively effortful. Now, she does “not even think of it” as she performs the task seemingly “automatically”.

A financial trader expertly tabs through the fields in a trade form, entering specific data and making relevant selections. To help him move on to his next trade more rapidly, he is in the habit of selecting an option that books a completed trade and automatically opens an empty trade form.

A scientist, having learned a preferred pathway for narrowing in on subsets of valuable data in her analysis application, quickly moves through a series of complex visualizations in a specific sequence.

Where have targeted individuals already developed useful habits and automaticity in the tasks and larger activities that your team is striving to mediate?

What errors currently occur due to knowledge workers “automatically” acting in inappropriate ways? Could these problems present opportunities for your team’s product?

How might your sketched functionality concepts meaningfully reference workers’ existing, productive habits?

Where in your application concepts might targeted workers develop new habitual behaviors after frequent use of certain options?

Where could work practices mediated by your computing tool be repeated and consistent enough for workers to attain a degree of useful automaticity?

How might certain predictable behaviors in your functionality concepts allow individuals to quickly navigate their frequent interactions in increasingly “effortless” ways over time?

What negative habits could workers form within the channeling flows of your sketched application offerings?

What errors might stem from users automatically interacting onscreen instead of considering the unique characteristics of their current situations?

What design responses might your team envision to reduce or eliminate certain opportunities for negative adaptations and automaticity errors? How might these methods tie into your larger error prevention and handling approaches?

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?