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Learn through experiments

Prototype and repair a navigation flow

Which control actually reaches the learner’s saved work?

Entering midway? Revisit Choose evidence for a product assumption for the preceding worked example, or start here and use the explanation below.

1 · Try

Start with a concrete question

A small deterministic screen-flow prototype exposes the destination of each action. It is not a prediction of user behavior.

Try the initial inputs, then write a prediction before changing one setting. All calculations run locally on your CPU.

Go directly to the experiment · Review basic mathematics

2 · Predict

What do you expect?

Before changing a setting: Which control actually reaches the learner’s saved work? Write what you expect and why.

3 · Experiment

Change one thing. Inspect what happens.

  1. Try every action in the icon-only version.
  2. Choose a revised prototype and replay the same action.
  3. Test the help recovery route.
  4. Author a three-screen flow with labels and expected state transitions, then test it against a fresh task.
Experiment inputs
Inputs
Your settingsMechanism
Calculation belowEvidence
Compare outcomes
Target reached0 task
Navigation steps1 steps

Follow the calculation

  1. Task: resume the saved water-use investigation from Home. Prototype: icon-only.
  2. Activated control: first navigation item.
  3. State transition: Home → Catalog.
  4. Target is not on this screen; revise the flow or choose another control.

Test a concrete task against a screen flow. Labels and recovery routes change where an action leads; they do not prove every user will choose correctly.

Build a textual screen-flow prototype

Write three screens with visible control labels, destinations and a recovery path. Walk a peer through the task without explaining which control to choose.

87/8,000 characters. Drafts save locally and are included in backups. Importing or opening a draft never runs it.

Compare with my earlier draft
Home: [★] [Browse] [Help]
★ → Catalog
Task: resume saved investigation.
Recovery: none.

Explain what you changed and why in your observation notes. Text differences do not establish quality.

Inspect an example solution after your attempt
Home: [Resume saved work] → Saved work; [Browse courses] → Catalog; [Help] → Help.
Saved work: [Water-use investigation] → Investigation.
Help: [Find saved work] → Saved work.
Test destination correctness separately from whether a user chooses the control.

This is one worked example. Test another input and explain its limitations.

Captures keep your inputs, prediction and observation. Results are recalculated from those inputs. Resetting inputs keeps your captures and challenge history.

4 · Understand

Explain the mechanism

Prototype and repair a navigation flow

A small deterministic screen-flow prototype exposes the destination of each action. It is not a prediction of user behavior.

Follow the mechanism

A flow specifies what an action does; a usability study observes whether people choose the action.

The help shortcut costs an extra step but can recover from uncertainty.

Record both destination correctness and step count rather than collapsing them into a design score.

Worked example

Task: resume the saved water-use investigation from Home. Prototype: icon-only.

Activated control: first navigation item.

State transition: Home → Catalog.

Target is not on this screen; revise the flow or choose another control.

Calculation

Target reached = destination equals Saved work; steps count actual authored transitions.

Try a controlled comparison

  1. Try every action in the icon-only version.

  2. Choose a revised prototype and replay the same action.

  3. Test the help recovery route.

  4. Author a three-screen flow with labels and expected state transitions, then test it against a fresh task.

What this does not establish

  • All messages, people, documents and outcomes here are original fictional teaching fixtures; results are not measurements of real organizations.
5 · Apply

Try a fresh case

A flow goes Home → Help → Saved work → Investigation. How many transitions does this path contain?

This is a public practice check. Retries support learning; matching a number does not certify independent proficiency.

Take the investigation further

Choose any extension. These are project prompts for you to carry out; they are not automatically assessed.

School investigation

Create a new case with different numbers and explain your decision to a classmate.

College investigation

Implement or analyze a fresh case, document assumptions and compare at least two alternatives.

Workplace investigation

Prepare a decision artifact with evidence, operating constraints, an owner and a follow-up measurement.

6 · Continue

Keep the evidence, choose your next step

Completion records your own decision that you have worked through this investigation. Practice checks and independent project evidence are separate.