Time by Design - (Design Thinking, Design Theory) by Dawna I Ballard (Paperback)

About the Book

"Ballard provides a practical way of thinking about time for practitioners and others in both industry and academia. This book is grounded in a theoretical approach, which will provide not only guidance for practitioners in terms of what to do, but also an understanding of why and how time is construed. Ballard offers a rich understanding of time and temporality that moves beyond generic "best practices""-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

How effective individuals, teams, and organizations routinely communicate slow to go fast, and how time as a feature of human experience can actually be designed.

Speed in collective action, like teamwork or organizing, is never simply a time-based issue. While conventional theory relies on time-based interventions to achieve speed, this approach typically fails. In Time by Design, Dawna Ballard shows how speed is actually a function of the relationship between time and communication, or chronemics.

Ballard identifies two communication design logics--fast and slow--that reflect contrasting beliefs about how communication works to support urgent, time-sensitive work demands. Fast communication design logics are linear, short term in orientation, and treat time in interaction as transactional. Slow communication design logics are nonlinear and long term in orientation and treat time in interaction as transcendent. Given these distinct approaches, the book offers a practical toolkit that shows the reader how the two chronemic designs can be used in complementary fashion--and how effective teams, communities, and organizations routinely communicate slow to go fast.

Review Quotes

ENDORSEMENTS

"Dawna Ballard's Time by Design presents one of the most original perspectives on design I've encountered--showing how time shapes communication. It's essential reading for anyone interested in design."
--Gloria Mark, Professor Emerita, University of California, Irvine; author of Attention Span

"Ballard's brilliant framework turns time into a canvas for human communication. She invites us to design a world in which things take the time they must."
--Victor M. Montori, Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic; author of Why We Revolt: A Patient Revolution for Careful and Kind Care

About the Author

Dawna I. Ballard is Associate Professor of Organizational Communication and Technology in the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas Austin. Her research and commentary are regularly featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time, The Atlantic, Fortune, Forbes, Inc., and NPR, as well as venues such as SXSW and Creative Mornings.