Unstuck is an iPad app including tools “designed to kick-start success for specific kinds of stuck moments”. It also includes paths to the appropriate tools, starting by describing your particular “stuck moment”.
Unstuck is one of most professional-looking iPad apps I’ve used. Here is one step along the path that leads from description of the stuck moment to unsticking tool. This particular step uses a card-sorting metaphor. Other steps involve more digital-native methods of interaction.
I’m not sure I’d agree with the description of Unstuck as “virtual on-the-go life coach” (Leena at TechCrunch), since it’s less general, and more unsticking-specific, than that description suggests. But the app certainly seems well thought out, in terms of both process and presentation.
I’ll try to find out more about the decisions behind Unstuck. One set of decisions relates to the process through which the app takes its user. What are the psych and therapy grounds on which it is built? Another set relates to the presentation. Why iPad? Why this particular mix of interaction styles (card-sorting, box-checking, etc.)?
Then there’s the obvious question. What if you’re stuck because you can’t resist trying out new iPad apps, web services, etc.?
Andrew,
Thank you so much for your wonderful post about Unstuck! And you’ve posted a great set of questions. Here are some thoughts in response:
In terms of the process we take a user through to help them get Unstuck, this is based on two decades of working with people in stuck moments and seeing the patterns. For nearly twenty years, we’ve worked with leaders and people in businesses of all types, and we’ve seen patterns of where they get stuck, how they get unstuck. When we set out to do this app, we studied people in more personal stuck moments and then compared those situations to what we know form the business world.
The expertise really comes down to a few things: Knowing the right questions to ask. Being able to put things into context. Doing an expert job at pattern matching. That’s what we do every day with clients, and with Unstuck, we’ve found a way to apply it to a whole new realm.
One point worth emphasizing: What you get out of this app really depends on how much enthusiasm you put in. It becomes more relevant the more you use it. The best way to get unstuck is to work on getting unstuck. What this app is doing is helping you do that.
As for the interaction design, we’ve designed this for the iPad specifically, because we think it’s the perfect platform for the kind of interaction and experience we want to create. Down the road, we’ll look at how to extend your access to other kinds of devices you use throughout the day—phones, laptops, etc.
Hope this helps and look forward to hearing how you, and your readers, are using Unstuck.
David
Unstuck.com
David,
Thanks for your comment, and good luck with Unstuck!