Frequently Asked Questions

FAQs

What does Ishmael Interactive do? 

Ishmael Interactive provides a reliable and replicable process for product, service, program, and system research, development, delivery, and effectiveness measurement. In short, we’ve developed the scientific method for business.

How do you provide the scientific method for business?

We provide the scientific method for business in three ways: through books, trainings, and fractional consulting. 

Books

The HCD Guide Series is four books that can be used independently or as a set. They cover the why and the how for customer and stakeholder research (Discovery), offering development (Production), offering launch and sustainment (Delivery), and effectiveness measurement (Measurement). 

Trainings

Our trainings are semi-custom and always offered with both virtual and on-site options. We currently offer: 

(1) The two day HCD Intensive that covers the material in all four development phases and apply it to your work. 

(2) The one day Measurement Intensive in which we build a great measurement index that reflects your specific offering context and the data you have access to in your organization.  

If you’d like other/different/new trainings, please email us and we’ll see what we can put together! 

Consulting

Our fractional consulting model is for anyone who either already has their R&D system going, but would like some ongoing support, or folks who have picked up the Guide Series but want to get some one-on-one time. Fractional consulting is based on a retainer model that is flexible across your time and needs. 

What does "human-centered design" mean? 

Human-centered design references cognitive scientist Don Norman’s work. His book The Design of Everyday Things (2013) posits that the center of every business offering needs to be the humans who will hopefully use that offering—not the organization or technology the offering is built on. The humans, after all, are your customers and stakeholders, so consciously designing for humans makes great business sense. 

If you’re “human-centered” does that mean you’re anti-technology? 

Absolutely not. Our Director, Ana Monroe, is a lifelong technologist with multiple patents on software projects.

But we are anti-more-technology-for-technology’s-sake. Many times, technology products don’t actually serve customers that well. Lots of tech companies push products (and license fees!) that trap you in a never ending loop of more and more about less and less, all while accruing technical debt to boot. They feed on your intelligence—instead of driving it. 

Using the HCD Guides and applying the scientific method to business means jumping out of this pattern to achieve real insights that are possible to implement and sustain for your business, meaning your work will actually have the impact on stakeholders that you want and need. 

Why should I invest in HCD?  

Because it works. The HCD process outlined in the Guide series is not theory; it is practice. This is the system with which VA increased trust scores by dozens of percentage points; this is the system that earned the General Services Administration $11 million in profits in pure efficiencies; this is the system that turned healthcare.gov around.

And it costs almost nothing; just you, your intellect, and your investment. 

What order should I read the Guides in? 

The Guides are modular, so take them in any order that makes sense for you depending on where you are in your product and service development cycle.

Do you need to know if your offering is having the impact you need and want? Get the Measurement Guides.

Want to get to know your customers? Discovery is your home base.

Driving towards launch? Delivery Guides.

Drowning in research but not sure how to design the Next Great Thing? The Production Guide will get you through. 

I don’t have time to read the Guides—can I still learn this process? 

Absolutely! We offer semi-bespoke trainings virtually or on-site. Contact us to inquire about timing.  

I don’t have bandwidth to read a book or attend a training right now—can Ishmael Interactive take on product and service development for me? 

We can do that! We’ll use a fractional consulting model to partner effectively with your organization. We’ll pull talent from our complete roster of research, design, and development specialists and build the right time for your needs. We teach your staff as we go along, and ensure that you get outcomes that delight your customers and drive revenue for your organization. 

Where did the name Ishmael Interactive come from? 

"Ishmael" has frequently been the name folks call a person who spends a substantial amount of time wandering in deserts, whether on land or in water. They know they are looking for something bigger than what they have, and they know it’s there. They know they can’t stop until they find it, and they know it will be extraordinary. If this is you, welcome home. Call me Ishmael.