Peter Morville is the President at Semantic Studios, where he does independent consulting, and he also recently published a book called Planning for Everything. I spoke with Peter about his upcoming workshop and about the future of AI. Peter will hold his workshop “Planning for Strategic Design” at the UX STRAT Europe conference, which will take place in Amsterdam on June 10 – 12 (see https://www.uxstrat.com/europe for more info).
Paul: Thanks for taking the time out to talk to me today. I wanted to chat with you a little bit about your upcoming workshop in Amsterdam, at UX STRAT Europe. It’s really shaping up nicely. Can you start by just telling us a little bit of your background? How you got to this place, and some memorable steps along the way?
Peter: Sure. My academic background is in library and information science. I went through the program at the University of Michigan in the early 1990s, and that’s where I fell in love with the Internet. After graduating, I worked with Lou Rosenfeld to build a company called Argus Associates, and we helped to pioneer what became known as information architecture.
Since 2001, I’ve been doing independent consulting through my company, Semantic Studios. We focus on information architecture and user experience and work with a wide range of clients from startups to Fortune 500s and Federal government agencies. Recently, I wrote a book called Planning for Everything. In a sense it’s a reframing of what I’ve been doing for the past 25 years, but more importantly I wrote it for a general audience to help us all get better at planning.
Paul: Cool. So, what is your workshop going to be about?
Peter: The workshop is named “Planning for Strategic Design.” While the book is for a general audience, the workshop is designed for leaders or practitioners who wrangle with information architecture, content strategy, user experience, or design challenges. The workshop adapts the framework of the book – 4 principles and 6 practices for planning – to the problems and opportunities in our work environments.
Paul: You gave this workshop in Boulder, last year at UX STRAT. Has anything changed since then?
Peter: A year ago I used the workshop as a way to develop ideas for the book. Now the book is written, I’m able to draw upon the organization and clarity that comes with a year of hard work. So while I was happy with the workshop in Boulder, it’s even better now. In fact, I feel this is the best workshop I’ve ever done, since the topic lends itself so well to a participatory format. As we explore the principles and practices of planning, I sort people into small breakout teams to start sharing problems they face in their work environments and working together on insights and solutions. The energy in the room when people start doing this is really exciting.
Paul: What else do people need to know about the workshop? Is it for only people with a lot of experience?
Peter: One of the things I love about this workshop is it’s interesting and useful to a wide audience from junior designers to senior executives. In one workshop, a CEO participated and really enjoyed it. Everybody at UX STRAT is involved in planning. In our industry, we’re all professional planners; we’re designing and planning products and services for the future.
Paul: Suppose you were in an airport, let’s say in New York City, and you overheard somebody talking about your workshop. What could they say to make you think, Ah, they really got it. They really understood me, they really understood the workshop. What kind of sentence would drive that reaction in you?
Peter: They would say, “I was surprised to learn there is no one right way to plan.”
Paul: It seems like there’s a lot of new technologies that are on our doorstep; they kind of seem far away, but they also kind of seem like they’re encroaching. Over the next few years, what’s going to rock your world, or what do you think is going to provide the biggest challenges for our profession?
Peter: In the context of planning, artificial intelligence and machine learning are extremely interesting. Now I should add a caveat: I’ve been a skeptic of AI since the early 1990s. I’m often in conversations in client organizations where someone says, “We’re going to solve all of this IA stuff with AI.” And I have to explain that’s been the “official future” for decades, yet here I am.
That said, AI is making inroads into knowledge work, and it’s unclear which jobs will disappear in the next 10 years. I think it’s going to radically change how (and what) we plan. And as our machines can increasingly make better predictions and plans than we can, it raises huge questions around trust. Who is this AI acting for? Does it have my best interests at heart?
Paul: Anything else you’d like to tell our readers before we sign off?
Peter: This workshop is best when we have a diverse mix of planners and improvisers, so no matter where you fall on the spectrum, sign up now, and we’ll see you in Amsterdam.
Paul: Alright, thank you very much, Peter.