Find out why playing squash is good for your UX skills.
Everybody heard of squash, it’s the sport that keeps Gordon Gekko on the edge. It’s the healthiest sports in the world mind you. So maybe you’ve played or are playing regularly.
In any case, As I was in the middle of my game yesterday, I just realized that this was the perfect opportunity to use my UX skills and build on it to deliver the killer strike.
How, what, when??? Well I’ll tell you why after the break.
So how did I come to the conclusion that UX would help me beat my very good friend yesterday?
(I will not reveal his identity at any price. €10 would do though).Isn’t squash about beating your opponent, taking him where he doesn’t’ expect, being tricky and sneaky? Yes it is.
And isn’t UX about understanding your audience, serving them what they expect in a rewarding and satisfying manner? Well yes it is.
So how does those 2 opposite aspects combine to make a better UX and better squash player?
It all lies on observation and understanding of your squash partner. Understanding his tactics, his moves, the way he uses the space, how much force he pulls into hitting the ball, how fit he is.
Your partner has a task: scoring points and beating you (and getting a free drink afterward for winning). Your task in this case, is to make him fail his, and sometimes failure is good.
This is madness, how come a UX person would actually conceive that you want your “user” to fail their task.
Well it takes the same amount of skills and method to get someone to fail their task as to succeed it. We are talking about a competitive sport now, so one’s win is another’s loss.
To go back to the court, how did I use my UX skills to get a free drink aka victory?
Well if I couldn’t rely on my fitness level, I had to use my brain and I did just that.
I prototyped and tested, again and again until I got it right, and all done in real time. But to get my shot right, I had to try to change the way he was positioned. More observing, more testing of shots (drop ball, volley, drop shot….) until I found the perfect spot.
Also, if the court was a screen, how does my partner “navigates it”. By observing his moves and position, I was actually drawing a mental heatmap (yes I’m that good) of where it’s worth clicking (hitting the ball). But in reverse, instead of targeting the hot spots, I’d go for the cold ones.
I was an interaction designer for the last 3 sets. Jesse James Garret says that “Interaction design is concerned with describing possible user behaviour and defining how the system will accommodate and respond to that behaviour” Well I was doing just that, I was the system and I accommodated my game play to respond to that behaviour.Now, once I realized that I was using my UX wired brain to do evil (help someone fails his task.) rather than good (well providing the structure to make him succeed), I knew that I was ready to bring some more UX goodness into my work.
Bottom line
“Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster” said Sun-Tzu. Well I would humbly put it this way ”Know your users and know yourself, you can build thousands of Great Experience without frustration”. I am all for peace, not war.
The drinks were on me after the game :
Let me know if you play squash, care about UX and if that helps win the next game.
(I’m not responsible if card sorting on the court gets you beaten 9-0)
