The Anatomy of a Play

Each play has some common elements. The “How Do I …” and “Why Do You Need the … Play” sections help you understand if you’re in the right spot to learn about what you’re looking for. The mindful canvas is an effective guide for being mindful of various variables to successfully solve the problem. The rest of the play describes the variables to keep in mind in order to achieve your desired outcomes; it’s sprinkled with examples, tips, and real‐world stories.

• Introduction: The context of why the play even exists, and what are its desired outcomes. This description is prompted by, “How do I…?” to define the problem space.
• Why you need the play: This section describes the business impact of implementing the play.
• Roles and responsibilities: This section calls out who is needed for successful implementation of the play, what their roles is (driver or contributor), and their responsibilities.
• Mindful canvas: These are the variables, or the “ingredients,” to consider when implementing the play. See “The Mindful Canvas” section below for more details. As you read the play, we have left some scribble space to write your own throughts and comments.
• Tip: Any tips that are contextually in the “How” section are presented along the side with a lightbulb icon.
• The how: The variables in the play canvas are described in further detail here. Each numbered section relates to the play canvas. Examples of what a data point could look like and questions to ask appear throughout.
• Example: Examples help anchor the concept to a real‐world scenario. They are in the “How” section; if they are long enough, they are visually called out, but otherwise they can be found contextually in the text.
• In summary: A short recap of the thesis of the play.
• Anecdote: Real‐world experiences related to the play.
• How to maximize the value of the play: You can think of this as a “tips” section for the overall play on how to drive maximum impact.

The Mindful Canvas

One artifact that is consistent for each play is the mindful canvas.

Every practitioner and every organization has different contexts, goals, and resources; therefore, it would be foolhardy to write a one‐size‐fits‐all playbook for implementing the philosophy of user experience. Our solution is to approach it in a more mindful manner, helping you understand the system and its key variables so you can make the most effective decisions and plans for your own specific context.

As you can see, the goal of the mindful canvas is not to solve each discrete problem for you. Instead, it’s to create a deliberate process of decision‐making so you can identify, understand, and experiment with the key variables that are at play. Once you’ve done that, you can make highly effective decisions that fit both you and your organization.