4 ms·

Interesting idea and, at a glance, it looks pretty well thought out. It was obviously inspired by Agile/Scrum and the software development process. I like the c

Interesting idea and, at a glance, it looks pretty well thought out. It was obviously inspired by Agile/Scrum and the software development process. I like the checklists and noticed it has a couple retrospective point, which I think is a critical part of Agile development. A couple things I'd be interested in for follow-up: - How does it go in practice with an actual project? Any real world examples or case studies? - Any practices introduced here that could be carried back into the scrum / software development world?

danso 7y ago
I saw the guide linked to a recent indepth writeup on how the NPR Visuals Team developed the project page for their White Lies investigative podcast: http://blog.apps.npr.org/2019/05/17/white-lies.html http://blog.apps.npr.org/2019/05/17/white-lies.html An excerpt: > In keeping with our hypothesis-driven design process, we started the project by identifying likely audiences for our digital experience, the contexts by which they’d come to the site (via a promo on social, etc.) and their expectations. With that audience exercise in mind, we decided on a few primary editorial goals for the project: > - Provide a standalone narrative for people who only encounter the story on the web (and may or may not go on to subscribe to the podcast) > - Intrigue readers and entice them to listen to the full podcast > - Provide multimedia material that couldn’t fit into an audio-only experience > - Introduce newcomers to the history surrounding the murder, including Bloody Sunday and the civil rights struggle
- klenwell 7y ago
  One thing I noticed the document doesn't address: what if the hypothesis is wrong? Is the project abandoned? Or is that included in the eventual product/result? And is the product in this case an editorial story/article? First sentence suggests a "storytelling project": > Hypothesis-Driven Design (or HDD for short) is a problem solving method that helps editorial teams take a user-centered and evidence-based approach to the discovery, design, and development of new storytelling projects. I assume that means podcast/This American Life-style stories.
  - danso 7y ago
    Don't know the answers to your questions, though it seems the Visuals team produces work for daily stories, not just big features like special podcasts and series. They also produce a few projects that don't seem to originate from the radio/podcast side: - What do Red and Blue America Have in Common? Craft Breweries and more: https://blog.apps.npr.org/2018/11/19/elex-18-districts.html https://blog.apps.npr.org/2018/11/19/elex-18-districts.html - Listeners' favorite albums: https://blog.apps.npr.org/2018/01/03/all-songs-considered-poll.html https://blog.apps.npr.org/2018/01/03/all-songs-considered-po... - Visualization of redactions in the Mueller report: https://blog.apps.npr.org/2019/04/22/reading-between-redacting-barr.html https://blog.apps.npr.org/2019/04/22/reading-between-redacti... - Previously, on Arrested Development (an interactive database of AD's jokes and gags): https://apps.npr.org/arrested-development/ https://apps.npr.org/arrested-development/ - Playgrounds for Everyone (a crowdsourced guide to accessible playgrounds): http://www.playgroundsforeveryone.com/ http://www.playgroundsforeveryone.com/ - Book Concierge (book recommendations): https://apps.npr.org/best-books-2018/ https://apps.npr.org/best-books-2018/
  - Jtsummers 7y ago
    Not just podcasts. Follow the link provided in GP, it's a mixed-media format (audio, text, images). It seems the "hypothesis" here is about how to present the information. Hypothesize about the format, propose an experiment, see how users react, evaluate how to proceed. It's an application of Scrum project management with multiple prototypes (hypothesis -> prototype) as experiments on how to present the information. It's not about the story's hypothesis (X happened because of Y, oops that's not how the facts pan out).
  - prepend 7y ago
    I imagine a repo of “terminated stories” kind of like how clinical trials have to register their trial before knowing the results. Probably not practical for NPR, but I’m going to try it out for my internal collection of projects.

danso 7y ago

I saw the guide linked to a recent indepth writeup on how the NPR Visuals Team developed the project page for their White Lies investigative podcast: http://blog.apps.npr.org/2019/05/17/white-lies.html http://blog.apps.npr.org/2019/05/17/white-lies.html An excerpt: > In keeping with our hypothesis-driven design process, we started the project by identifying likely audiences for our digital experience, the contexts by which they’d come to the site (via a promo on social, etc.) and their expectations. With that audience exercise in mind, we decided on a few primary editorial goals for the project: > - Provide a standalone narrative for people who only encounter the story on the web (and may or may not go on to subscribe to the podcast) > - Intrigue readers and entice them to listen to the full podcast > - Provide multimedia material that couldn’t fit into an audio-only experience > - Introduce newcomers to the history surrounding the murder, including Bloody Sunday and the civil rights struggle

klenwell 7y ago
One thing I noticed the document doesn't address: what if the hypothesis is wrong? Is the project abandoned? Or is that included in the eventual product/result? And is the product in this case an editorial story/article? First sentence suggests a "storytelling project": > Hypothesis-Driven Design (or HDD for short) is a problem solving method that helps editorial teams take a user-centered and evidence-based approach to the discovery, design, and development of new storytelling projects. I assume that means podcast/This American Life-style stories.
- danso 7y ago
  Don't know the answers to your questions, though it seems the Visuals team produces work for daily stories, not just big features like special podcasts and series. They also produce a few projects that don't seem to originate from the radio/podcast side: - What do Red and Blue America Have in Common? Craft Breweries and more: https://blog.apps.npr.org/2018/11/19/elex-18-districts.html https://blog.apps.npr.org/2018/11/19/elex-18-districts.html - Listeners' favorite albums: https://blog.apps.npr.org/2018/01/03/all-songs-considered-poll.html https://blog.apps.npr.org/2018/01/03/all-songs-considered-po... - Visualization of redactions in the Mueller report: https://blog.apps.npr.org/2019/04/22/reading-between-redacting-barr.html https://blog.apps.npr.org/2019/04/22/reading-between-redacti... - Previously, on Arrested Development (an interactive database of AD's jokes and gags): https://apps.npr.org/arrested-development/ https://apps.npr.org/arrested-development/ - Playgrounds for Everyone (a crowdsourced guide to accessible playgrounds): http://www.playgroundsforeveryone.com/ http://www.playgroundsforeveryone.com/ - Book Concierge (book recommendations): https://apps.npr.org/best-books-2018/ https://apps.npr.org/best-books-2018/
- Jtsummers 7y ago
  Not just podcasts. Follow the link provided in GP, it's a mixed-media format (audio, text, images). It seems the "hypothesis" here is about how to present the information. Hypothesize about the format, propose an experiment, see how users react, evaluate how to proceed. It's an application of Scrum project management with multiple prototypes (hypothesis -> prototype) as experiments on how to present the information. It's not about the story's hypothesis (X happened because of Y, oops that's not how the facts pan out).
- prepend 7y ago
  I imagine a repo of “terminated stories” kind of like how clinical trials have to register their trial before knowing the results. Probably not practical for NPR, but I’m going to try it out for my internal collection of projects.