Speaking of good articles in Wired … last week I really enjoyed this piece on the power of feedback loops. The concept isn’t new but he offers some fun examples of new products built around the idea of loops. I may try out the Zeo headband for sleep tracking. And given our work on SugaredSpoon, I was interested in his discussion on medication noncompliance and the opportunity for feedback loops there.
I also appreciated this conceptual overview of the key stages in a feedback loop:
A feedback loop involves four distinct stages. First comes the data: A behavior must be measured, captured, and stored. This is the evidence stage. Second, the information must be relayed to the individual, not in the raw-data form in which it was captured but in a context that makes it emotionally resonant. This is the relevance stage. But even compelling information is useless if we don’t know what to make of it, so we need a third stage: consequence. The information must illuminate one or more paths ahead. And finally, the fourth stage: action. There must be a clear moment when the individual can recalibrate a behavior, make a choice, and act. Then that action is measured, and the feedback loop can run once more, every action stimulating new behaviors that inch us closer to our goals.