Miller’s Law – A Rule in Product Design and Life Management
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Miller’s Law – A Rule in Product Design and Life Management
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Re: Miller’s Law – A Rule in Product Design and Life Management
#2Jack of all trades. Master of none.
Re: Miller’s Law – A Rule in Product Design and Life Management
#3You know how people say: “on a scale of 1-10”?
I’ve used the principle of Millers law to start asking people to measure on a scale of 1-7.
Universally, people balk at the scale. But I explain to them that most people can’t tell the difference between 2 and 3 on a ten point scale. If you can’t articulate a difference, there’s no use in the measurement.
Seven is great because you get more than the simplicity of 1-5. So... 1 - the worst 2 - bad 3 - below avg 4 - average 5 - above average 6 - good 7 - the best.
And don’t even THINK about responding with “5.5”. ;)
Re: Miller’s Law – A Rule in Product Design and Life Management
#4You know how people say: “on a scale of 1-10”? I’ve used the principle of Millers law to start asking people to measure on a scale of 1-7. Universally, people balk at the scale. But I explain to them that most people can’t tell the difference between 2 and 3 on a ten point scale. If you can’t articulate a difference, there’s no use in the measurement. Seven is great because you get more than the simplicity of 1-5. So…
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Re: Miller’s Law – A Rule in Product Design and Life Management
#5Tangential, but I was able to recite all the words, but only because memorized them in a nonsensical, but easier to remember story. I like the exercise because it forces me to be creative.
The CAT looked at me eating an APPLE, I threw a BALL outside to see if it would chase it instead it climbed a TREE...
Re: Miller’s Law – A Rule in Product Design and Life Management
#6You know how people say: “on a scale of 1-10”? I’ve used the principle of Millers law to start asking people to measure on a scale of 1-7. Universally, people balk at the scale. But I explain to them that most people can’t tell the difference between 2 and 3 on a ten point scale. If you can’t articulate a difference, there’s no use in the measurement. Seven is great because you get more than the simplicity of 1-5. So…
There is research into this - your intuition is pretty much in line with best practices (though 7 isn’t magic compared to 5 or anything). Eg http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.839...
Re: Miller’s Law – A Rule in Product Design and Life Management
#7You know how people say: “on a scale of 1-10”? I’ve used the principle of Millers law to start asking people to measure on a scale of 1-7. Universally, people balk at the scale. But I explain to them that most people can’t tell the difference between 2 and 3 on a ten point scale. If you can’t articulate a difference, there’s no use in the measurement. Seven is great because you get more than the simplicity of 1-5. So…
This is very close to one of the key criticisms behind Net Promoter Score when we was looking at implementing it for a client.
Basically it uses an 11 point scale and your net promoter score is the proportion of 0-6 (negatives) subtracted from the positives (8 or 9-10). I may have got ranges wrong but the idea is the same. This was touted as "the only number you need to improve" for business success.
Re: Miller’s Law – A Rule in Product Design and Life Management
#8Miller’s law says that people can remember 7+/-2 things at a time. I think that’s why people usually like structured lists much better than a unstructured, unsorted laundry list.
Re: Miller’s Law – A Rule in Product Design and Life Management
#9I think 5-9 words is much more than 7 bits of information...
Re: Miller’s Law – A Rule in Product Design and Life Management
#10Tangential, but I was able to recite all the words, but only because memorized them in a nonsensical, but easier to remember story. I like the exercise because it forces me to be creative. The CAT looked at me eating an APPLE, I threw a BALL outside to see if it would chase it instead it climbed a TREE...
Me, too. Instead of having to remember all 20 words, I just had to remember a few stories: the cat eating an apple on a ball in a tree, the square face whose house is a boxcar, etc.