Week XII Lab: Count One Slip, Test One Fix

Workshop 12 asked you to catch a recurring slip and build a cheap forcing function. This lab adds the beginner science: write down what counts as the error, count it a few times, add one simple fix, count again, and say what happened.

Question.

Did your fix make the slip happen less, or did the problem just move?

You will practice

• Defining one error clearly
• Counting before you change anything
• Naming the error with Don Norman’s list
• Testing one homemade constraint
• Noticing whether the fix helped, moved the error, or made life fussier

Time: one sitting of about 45 minutes, plus counting the action as it already happens over a day or two.

Materials: paper or a notes app, tape/string/cardboard/sticky notes, and the thing that already goes wrong.

1. Pick one slip

Choose one everyday action that sometimes fails: leaving without keys, over-pouring coffee, grabbing the wrong bottle, plugging in the wrong cable, putting a device in the wrong mode.

Write four short lines:

• Goal (what you meant to do)
• Slip (what goes wrong)
• One attempt = one door close, one pour, one plug-in, etc.
• Norman type: capture, description, data-driven, associative, or mode

A slip means the goal was right and the action went wrong. If you chose the wrong goal, pick a different example.

2. Count the baseline

Do not add the fix yet.

Do the action the normal way at least 5 times (8 is better). After each try, mark:

ok / slip / caught it in time

Then write:

• tries
• slips
• slip rate = slips ÷ tries

Example: 2 slips in 8 tries = 0.25.

That number is your “before.”

3. Draw the steps

Draw boxes for the action, in order. Circle the box where your brain skipped a check, or where the room gave no clear clue.

Most knowledge stays hidden until you act and it fails. The drawing makes that hidden pattern visible.

4. Build one cheap fix

Name the type:

• interlock — you cannot do B until A is done
• lock-in — you cannot leave the good setup without an extra action
• lockout — the wrong object or button is blocked
• mark only — a color or note that shows the mismatch but does not block it

“Mark only” is weaker. A forcing function blocks the wrong move.

Write one sentence first:

If I add ____, slips should drop because ____ is now in the room, not only in my head.

Also watch for two traps:

• the old slip dies, a new one appears later
• the fix is so extra that you start forgetting the fix

That second trap is creeping featurism: too many added parts.

Test the action 3 times right now. If the old slip is still easy, change the object immediately.

5. Count after the fix

Leave the object in place. Log the next 5–8 real tries the same way.

Write the new slip rate.

Then choose one verdict:

• the slip happened less
• the error moved
• the fix added fuss of its own
• mixed

Use the counts, not a feeling. Small numbers are fine. Honest counting is the skill.

Optional nature check

Week 12’s Grove forms are already physical constraints. Pick one and write three lines: what wrong move it blocks, which fix type it resembles, and whether your household object is doing the same job.

• Ovenbird nest hides eggs on the forest floor
• Wheel bug’s forelegs lock it into ambush, not chase
• Groundhog burrow holds a stable winter state
• Water snake’s banding breaks its outline in rippled water
• Ginseng waits to flower until the root can afford it
• Hoag’s Object is gravity sorting stars into ring and core

Done when you can fill this

Slip:
Norman type:
Fix (object + type):
Before rate / after rate:
Verdict: less / moved / fussier / mixed
Keep it for 30 days? yes / no — one reason

A photo or sketch of the object next to those numbers is enough. The picture without the counts is a craft project. The counts without the object hide whether the fix sat in the path of the action.