The Playbook is a journey builder the same way that a gym is a “physical fitness builder.” A gym is full of spaces and tools (mats, open floors, guided classes, dumbbells, medicine balls, weight plates, bands, machines, ropes, etc.) that a person can use to build their fitness. The fitness goals of each person will always be unique and evolving, however, so what each person does at the gym is going to be different. Some might use a medicine ball for ab workouts, some might use it for weight work, and some might not use it at all, because they only want to work on cardio.In the same way, the Playbook is full of spaces and tools (spaces to express ideas; space to collect ideas; space to prepare to-do lists; space to organize memories; visual metaphor tools for expression; abstract ideas and concepts; lists of values, roles, skills; role models; grounding activities, etc.) that our storyteller can use to build their journey and reflect on the ways they exist in the world. The journeys of each person will always be unique and evolving too, so the ways our storyteller interact with our tools will be different. Every person will have different definitions/distinct memories of a concept like “responsibility” or “voice;” each person will want to connect ideas and role models differently, and prepare unique action plans for themselves.Therefore, the Playbook cannot force any prescriptive self-reflection model or conceptual definitions—these are for the storyteller to discover and understand for themselves in their own journey.
, is what you both came to on Friday. I agree: the Playbook is a journey builder, not a journey dictionary.That being said,
we can’t throw our storyteller into the journey building process blind.
That’d be as uncomfortable (and scary!!) as putting someone, who has maybe never worked out before in their life, in a giant gym and telling them they need to “get fit” without any context. “It needs to say hello,” and it’d be bad manners (and bad UX) not to.Therefore, the point of the
the story
within the Playbook, including the Fields of Knowledge and all the scenes we want to write, is to guide our storyteller through the spaces and tools of the journey builder, the point, and how to use them. Let’s think about the story we’re writing, and the Fields of Knowledge generally, like your friend who is taking you to the gym for the first time. Through them, you see where everything in the gym is located; you learn about the different kinds of fitness (cardio, strength, flexibility, etc.); you discover all of these tools, terms, and timelines for fitness; and you can witness their workout routine, maybe practicing with them before you practice your own.This is why we are writing a story and planning to place concepts in the Fields of Knowledge at all: it’s to begin scaffolding a guided experience. Using the the gym metaphor, it’s like we want to come up with a gym tour, with a few explainers, models, and a example routines, in order contextualize the journey toward physical fitness. We want to emphasize the point of fitness, why it’s good to practice, and how it looks different for everyone. In our Playbook, this looks like telling a good story about why journey building is necessary, how it’s done, and all the ways it can be fun through Butterfly and the Fields of Knowledge.Writing the story is
the design challenge
(a very exciting one!) from my vantage point. What are your thoughts? What part of this process are you interested in? What are shortcomings you foresee?