Reading Good Talk: How to Design Conversations that Matter
As I’ve gone through a few different careers and on-the-job leadership training, I’ve learned that I can make people’s interactions with myself and others more enjoyable. Things like actively listening, asking relevant and thoughtful questions, and physically indicating my comprehension and attention have made conversations more pleasant and meaningful every day.
And, as I’ve moved deeper and deeper into user experience (UX) design I’ve realized that anything and everything can be designed with intention, including conversations and interactions with other people! Although I had picked up some of the basics of designing effective conversations, I was so thrilled to find out that Daniel Stillman had studied and made a primer of how to actually approach designing good conversations in his book Good Talk: How to Design Conversations that Matter. I’m looking forward to incorporating his tools and principles in my user research and design work.
I think the most helpful part of this book was thinking about conversations as having an operating system (OS) consisting of nine parts.
The Conversational OS is:
People
Invitation
Power
Turn Taking
Interface
Cadence
Threading
Goals
Error and Repair
This OS can be calibrated to the group or individual one is conversing with. As a conversational leader one must be able to navigate the conversation and manage the OS. This includes things like ensuring the people who are participating are the right people who need to have a say in the conversation, that there is equal power and turn taking, and that the goals of the conversation are understood. A conversation is an interface, and like a UX/UI designer there are different levers one can pull to ensure people walk away from the conversation having solved the goals of the conversation.
So, I do recommend this book! I hope you enjoy it as well.
Check out Daniel Stillman’s Website.
Photo credit: Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
