“Research” as a label feels like asking “What don’t we know?” Difficult to express.
“User Needs” feels like a “What are our informed assumptions as people” kind of a posture.
“Situations” feels like a way to contextualize what we think we know and then start to develop questions for research based on that context.
Had a great chat with @Helge on the topic. Excited to get a proper definition of this concept down, as I think it can fit into the Glare framework.
Ultimately, in Define, we’re creating a shared vocabulary and understanding of the scenarios.
is there a pdf available somewhere, would appreciate reading my way through if possible?
Ok, for the cool part… this Glare site is the documentation, with the ability for all our contributors to suggest and edit the ideas. Define in one of the four facets.
Ok, for the next part… we haven’t opened it all up yet and would love specific feedback on v1.0 before we open the doors. I’ll DM you.
Was thinking about situations, and defining them in different formats @helge:
Sentence:
A situation is a moment when someone is trying to make progress toward a goal.
Four bullets:
Here are the four defining parts of a situation:
Paragraph:
A situation is a moment when someone is trying to make progress toward a goal. It captures what triggered that moment, what they are trying to do, and what makes success or failure matter, giving teams clear context before jumping to solutions or metrics.
Longer form:
A situation is a moment when someone is trying to make progress toward a goal. It captures what triggered that moment, what they are trying to do, what stands in their way, and what success or failure means right then. Situations explain why people act, think, and feel the way they do, giving real meaning to behaviors and signals.
Situations set the foundation for production design work that follows. They create shared understanding before teams jump to solutions, metrics, or execution.
By grounding work in real situations, teams surface assumptions, focus on scenarios that actually matter, and frame clearer questions. Situations cut across personas, tasks, and journeys, turning vague understanding into concrete context and usable design signals.
@Bryan thank you for your excellent reflection.
I got caught in the first sentence. And wanted to add a bit more to the thinking before getting into the details
My addition:
I would not describe a situation as a moment.
A situation is a specific set of circumstances or facts at a particular time and place.
I often see situations through the lens of the context they are a part of:
Context refers to the surrounding information, background, or environment that helps explain or give meaning to something.
According to Madsbjerg one can understand context through the lens of phenomenology, which is what I’ve been trying to do and bring it into a digital measurable learnable realm:
Ok, forgive me @Helge for using Glare as my reference, I’m trying to reconcile these ideas in support of the framework. This PDF is a dense reflection.
Phenomenology
Phenomenology asks… “What is it like for this person to be here, now, trying to do this?”
I believe the idea of a UX metric with follow-up questions is to figure this out when a concept stimulus is presented to them. Perhaps this is sensing what 100 people are doing.
Situations
Madsbjerg’s idea is that meaning appears when behavior is understood within the situation that gives it significance. Context is the field, and situations are the units inside that field where meaning becomes visible.
Context
Based on this article, context is the surrounding conditions that give behavior its meaning:
Sensmaking
Sensemaking is the practice of turning behavior into understanding by interpreting it within culture, context, and lived experience.
I think this is what we’re trying to do with a design signal. Package this up in to a unit of understanding that can support decision making. A UX metric alone cannot do this, and it loses the context.
Context creates meaning, phenomenology reveals it, and sensemaking turns it into understanding. So…situations are how context becomes usable, helping teams understand behavior instead of guessing at design signals.
Glare implications: Situations seem to live in Define, Sensmaking lives in Measure (specifically, Findings)
