As I was reading this chapter, I couldn’t help but notice how good interactive design draws upon the traits of conversation. Listening, thinking, and speaking are all integral to conversations: missing one of them renders a conversation dull or even meaningless. Similarly, in interactive design those three actions work together in conjunction to enable interaction.

When the chapter mentioned how a weak area in an interactive product becomes the weak link for the entire design, I instantly drew the connection to cyber security. I took a core class last semester called Cybersecurity and it mentioned how the strongest defense is as strong as its weakest link. It doesn’t matter if you have an amazing defense, if there’s a small loophole, the defense nonexistent. 

After reading this, I’ve come to realize that many of the desirable traits that we want in people are all integral to good design. I’ve never really thought about conversations, but after reading this, I’m going to pay much more attention to whether or not I’m fulfilling the three core elements of conversation and interaction: listening, thinking, and speaking.