The Internet of Things - how to simplify the world, by a simple shift

If you submit internet of things into an image search on Google, it returns a whole host of illustrations showing a confusing network of interlinked devices. Occasionally a person is illustrated somewhere in the jumble, but most often not.

It's a hard phrase to penetrate isn't it. Basically there will be loads of things talking to each other. But what will they be saying, to what end, and, ermm, where do I fit in? The things are pretty dull as well. It's a sensor in a parking space.

And with development frameworks like node.js and interoperability frameworks from things like HomeKit, making devices that speak to each other is the easy bit.

As my focus is on helping businesses understand and design better products for people this cart before the horse scenario seems fundamentally wrong.

Us designers need to make sure that the devices speak to the needs of people.

The simple shift

I think a simple reframing will help address that problem. Rather than talking about the internet of things, we instead need to be talking about the internet of me and the internet of us.

Immediately the focus changes. No longer do you get caught up in the complexity of all these devices chatting to each other. The attention is now on the person (or people), with their tasks and goals.

With people in the centre we can start to map out what they're trying to do, their decisions, the information they need, the devices they have with them (including all the data from the available sensors), the devices they can access remotely (or later).

We can make sure that the things fit seamlessly into people's lives rather than rub up against them. It's a human problem and needs to be solved in a human focused way.

And ultimately help businesses (those providing the information or devices) get better results quicker.

Back to that sensor in the parking place. It becomes the thing that helps you find and then guides you to the space. And once you're there it knows exactly how long your stay has been, charging you by the minute rather than a two hour block. The benefit is all for the person.

So what next?

We've started working on the processes and documents to match this thinking. Taking what's familiar and adapting it to take different devices and contexts into account. And merging our understanding of people and artificial intelligence in order to make sure we can create intuitive omnichannel experiences that centre on the individual and the likely actions they want to take.

Fancy a workshop?

As we develop these ideas further we'd like to start discussing them with teams facing the same challenges. So get in touch if that's of interest. Or please just share your thoughts in the comments.