When you are out driving in your neighborhood, have you ever come across a huge tree stump on the side of the road or in a passing yard? In seeing the remainder of a cut-down tree have you ever thought to yourself, “Will it grow again from that stump and if so, how long will it take? ”. You may have also thought, “How hard would it be to chop it down? Who cut the tree down and how did they do it? ”. These are a few random questions I ask myself when I drive by the occasional tree stump. I know it is a little silly to be asking seemingly strange questions about obscure topics like tree stumps but in our industry, we are continually formulating details of our projects and new teams involved in those projects with the same rigor and detective like analysis. We propose many of the same questions since a, and those involved take actions, use time and follow procedures. So much like someone, a team member, cutting down a tree in a specific amount of time and developing a known methodology; a use case.
Our social relationships influence the decisions that we make. The ability to make informed choices are motivation to keep us pursuing social relationships. Our vision and perceptions help us to take action in our path to learn and grow. Our very own social relationships help us to understand the user experience. Understanding what others are going through is an example of how we can do a better job to understand the other side.
Not only should we question our approach to make decisions on certain things, but we must also examine our thought process? Are we making the right choice? Are you? What helps us to make that final decision when purchasing something that we don’t need or if it is something that we do need? Do we think that this “thing” will help us to lose weight or get a better night sleep? Whatever our journey is there are different strategies to help us along the way. As the “Nudge Theory” comes into play, we are influenced by subtle suggestions, and it helps anyone to reinforce their decisions. The more influences or subtle nudges we have will help us to make that final call. Subtle hints leading to a predetermined outcome relies on an understanding of our social influences.
Using subtle suggestions, choices, and positive reinforcement as a means of social influence has a huge stake in our decisions related to items that we look at daily. Going back to that tree stump draws up a few questions. How can analyzing how a person might cut down a tree be used to make a connection to the nudge theory and how can it be used to make suggestions that help people to make their own choices in life? So, the next time you see a tree stump, don’t worry… ask those questions.
