S4 Ep5: Indi Young - Mental Models and Thinking Styles

Power of Ten is a show about design operating at all levels of zoom, from thoughtful detail to changes in organisation, society and the world, hosted by design leadership coach, Andy Polaine. Indi Young is a solution strategist who uses purpose-focused qualitative data science. She created her method over a 30-year span, and teaches that method in courses, coaching, workshops, books, talks, and through working with teams on research studies.Indi discusses how people are complex and nuanced and their mental models and thinking styles are not fixed personas or personalities. They changed based on context and it is essential that organisations listen to and consider different ways of thinking and addressing user needs.Indi was a joy to speak with and this is a long episode, but she articulates her thinking and insights so well I could not bear to edit out more.TIMESTAMPS00:00 Introduction01:25 Indi's background04:12 Origin's of design and strategic research - before UX research existed!08:50 Persuading stakeholders to trust research18:25 On Netflix, bias and unintentional harm26:42 On Mental Models and interior cognition33:20 The gobstopper/jawbreaker model40:01 Thinking Styles47:35 Why do companies still get this wrong all the time?55:07 One small thing56:52 Where to find Indi online57:45 OutroSHOW LINKSINDIWebsite: https://indiyoung.com/Indi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/indiyoung/Indi on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/indiyoung.bsky.socialIndi's Newsletter: https://indiyoung.substack.comIndi on Medium: https://indiyoung.medium.comTime to Listen - https://indiyoung.com/books-time-to-listen/Practical Empathy - https://indiyoung.com/books-practical-empathy/Mental Models: https://indiyoung.com/books-mental-models/ANDYWebsite: https://www.polaine.com Newsletter: https://pln.me/nws Podcast: https://pln.me/p10 Design Leadership Coaching: https://polaine.com/coachingCourses: https://courses.polaine.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/apolaine/ Mastodon: https://pkm.social/@apolaine YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@apolaineMENTIONSLisa Dance's Today is the Perfect Day to Improve Customer Experiences: https://serviceease.net/book