| "Time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little | | | | with the increasingly accurate measurement of time. |
| wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to | | | | Although measuring time was gaining momentum |
| life." - Faulkner "The Sound and the Fury" | | | | through human evolution, it is still a very inaccurate |
| Although my background has little professionally to do | | | | process. The emergence of mechanized time appears |
| with design, I have always found myself responding to | | | | with the beginning of the Renaissance. A device called |
| the user experience. For example, if a bag of chips is | | | | an escapement allows a controlled release of power; it |
| hard to open, I don't just moan and groan, I mutter | | | | takes rotational energy and switches it to a |
| something about what was the packager thinking - | | | | back-and-forth movement, tick-tock. The clock as you |
| does freshness mean I can't get in the bag without a | | | | know it, a collection of spinning gears, is born. Time, for |
| pair of scissors? | | | | the first time, is now measured with a mechanical |
| When it comes to homes, design matters even more. I | | | | device. |
| am always looking at ways to enhance user | | | | The first clocks are only capable of measuring hours |
| experience such that our homes are working more for | | | | and are inaccurate by several hours per day. Monks |
| us than we are for them; that homes are working for | | | | are the most excited about this technological advance. |
| all of us, not some of us. This is more possible than | | | | Their practices and devotions to God now happen |
| ever before and I'm sure technology and lifestyle | | | | with consistency. However, one feature was sorely |
| choices will continue to reinforce this new approach. | | | | missing, a bell. A few gears later and the clock had a |
| Many elements come into play when we design. | | | | ring. Up into the tower it went and by the mid 14th |
| Design is everything from personal expression to | | | | century, whole villages moved to the sounds of |
| machine-driven precision. Some people like gold, some | | | | mechanized time. |
| people like linoleum: technology or simplicity; automated | | | | One hundred years later, the advances in time |
| or manual; man-made or natural; efficient or beautiful; | | | | measurement include a minute hand. The clock |
| costly or cost effective. But one element in particular | | | | mechanics shrink until they fit into your living room and |
| affects design perhaps beyond all others, time. Indulge | | | | by the 17th century they have shrunk some more and |
| me as I ponder the impact that the measurement of | | | | are in your pocket. These watches are more of a |
| time has had on the way we design. | | | | novelty as the accuracy is still quite off - you and I still |
| Long ago, really long ago, time was measured by the | | | | have a tough time meeting at 4:00PM. In 1656 Galileo |
| sun, the moon and the stars, day, month and year. | | | | invents the pendulum and with it time accuracy takes |
| Time was not so distinct or discreet. It was sinuous, | | | | another step forward. |
| elastic, syrupy and incredibly expansive. It was a flow | | | | The leap that ushers in our present time |
| like water in a stream running fast and slow | | | | consciousness comes in 1657 with the invention of the |
| simultaneously and you could be in its rush or in its | | | | balance wheel. This device gives us accuracy within 10 |
| calm. There was no, "Oh, gosh! Gotta go, it's almost | | | | seconds per day. Now, you and I can meet promptly |
| spring!" Or, "You're late!" Instead with such softness of | | | | at 4:00PM. For the first time, your watch says the |
| time, one can imagine that to be in the present | | | | same as mine. This marks the point in evolution when |
| moment must have been much easier. Time would | | | | there is agreement among our clock towers, |
| have conveyed no sense of urgency and in its place | | | | grandfather clocks and pocket watches. No surprise |
| would have been a deep connection to the purpose or | | | | that the Renaissance has come to a close and we |
| activity at hand. It seems sensible that deities were | | | | not far from the Age of Enlightenment. Human affairs |
| considered to embody every tree, stone and gust of | | | | begins to be guided rationally, not by faith or |
| wind. The experience of being alive must have | | | | superstition; we move from an arbitrary world to one |
| seemed quite overwhelming all by itself. | | | | increasingly validated by reason. |
| Today is quite different, time is money, and we have | | | | Fast forward another 300 years to the mid 1950's and |
| the gadgets to prove it. They interrupt us endlessly | | | | we have the first atomic clock. Accuracy is within a |
| reminding us of what has to happen and when. Our | | | | few seconds over 1,000 years. Jump forward to 2006, |
| paychecks are a clear measure of our effectiveness | | | | our last significant achievement in time measurement, |
| in time management. Time, it would seem, is running the | | | | attoseconds. An attosecond is one quintillionth of a |
| show. Time feels extremely real. If appears to be as | | | | second. I don't even know what that is - it's one billionth |
| real as the chairs we sit on and the table before us. | | | | of one billionth of a second! From my biological |
| Time so occupies our thinking that the bulk of our | | | | perspective, an attosecond makes no sense. What an |
| conversation and concerns are either in the past or in | | | | attosecond does tell me is that the present moment |
| the future. Hardly ever are we in the present; hardly | | | | has, over the course of only seven centuries shrunken |
| ever are we just ... present. | | | | down to something too tiny to even imagine. No |
| How did this shift in time consciousness occur? How | | | | wonder we have such a hard time being present. |
| did the present moment so quickly shrink away and | | | | There's no more now, now. Mechanized time has |
| practically disappear? Why is being present so hard? | | | | disappeared the present. All that is left is the past and |
| Why do we struggle to connect to inner purpose? | | | | future; we no longer live in a place that supports being |
| Why do we need Eckhart Tolle to give us the Now? | | | | present. |
| What if we could ignore our clocks? What if we could | | | | It's no surprise that so much focus is required when |
| throw off the yoke of measured time and step back | | | | we want to be present; there's no societal value |
| into its uneven river? What if we could time shift? And | | | | placed on the present. It's hard to do even for the |
| what would be the impact on design without time as | | | | short duration of one breath, much less a whole hour. I |
| its master? | | | | haven't even done it right now and yet it is what I am |
| Humans seem to be hard wired to measure our | | | | writing about (I still have dinner to prep and then an |
| surroundings. We measure distance, weight, volume, | | | | LLC operating agreement to work on). Mechanized |
| temperature, value and time. We seem to have done | | | | and atomized time squelches the experience of pure |
| this for much of the 4 million years that we have been | | | | sensation. The present moment is sacrificed to |
| around. The earlier needs would have been simpler | | | | precision. And, it's a small leap to connect punctuality |
| and when measuring time, it was suitable to planting, | | | | with morality. Any questions? If so, look at your |
| harvest, pray, hunting and travel. For much of those 4 | | | | paycheck - it is a measure of your ability to manage |
| million years, nature was the clock: day and night; | | | | time. |
| summer and winter; full moon and new moon. That | | | | Do I sound a bit judgmental? I might. I might even sound |
| was it! I just wonder what it was like - who were we | | | | like there is something wrong with us humans. There |
| in consciousness and how did a brain operate when | | | | isn't. None of this is bad or wrong, it's the way it is. In |
| time was that indistinct? When we looked at each | | | | fact, I would suggest that if we are measuring time in |
| other, was the next thought already forming and | | | | attoseconds (the time it takes light to travel 3 |
| blocking out spoken words, or, did we gaze and take | | | | hydrogen atoms), we must be very close to the other |
| the other person in, keyed to instinct and harmony? No | | | | side; we must be so very close to breaking through a |
| urgency, just purpose. | | | | time consciousness that has engulfed us for 700 |
| 5000 BC illustrates the first evidence of a device used | | | | years. That very thought is exciting beyond words. |
| to track the progression of time, a sundial. These | | | | I want to return to design after this indulgence in the |
| shadow devices depended on direct sunlight. They | | | | history of time. When time is an imprecise target, it is |
| also depended on a technician to calibrate them to | | | | difficult to lock in on it. For example, it's a moving target |
| their correct latitude and to make seasonal | | | | at night in the fog. Without time precision, the focus |
| adjustments. They were useful indicators during | | | | shifts. People choose bigger or more expensive. We |
| mid-day and became increasingly inaccurate toward | | | | make pyramids or we make cathedrals. We crave |
| the beginning and end. They were best at indicating | | | | measures, it is what we humans do, we just choose |
| noon and the Romans were the first using sundials to | | | | different ones. When one measure is un-measurable, |
| distinguish AM and PM. They soon evolved early and | | | | we go with another, one that can be measured. But |
| late for morning and afternoon. The sundial had | | | | with precise and universally agreed mechanized time, |
| another shortcoming that wouldn't emerge as a | | | | night turns to day, the fog lifts and the target ceases |
| problem until the days of trains and telegraphs: | | | | to move. It is now a clear measure and we can put |
| different longitude positions meant that your noon was | | | | the focus on getting the job done rather than doing it |
| different from mine, hard to run trains when every | | | | biggest, best or even doing it right. |
| station had a different time. | | | | Time is money. If it takes too long, it will cost too much. |
| The next advance in time measurement came a few | | | | Time is as measurable as money. The job has to get |
| millennia later around 16th century BC in Babylon, the | | | | done on budget and on time. That's our language. |
| water clock. This was an urn with a tiny hole in the | | | | Those are our measures. They are evolved and |
| bottom. It was filled with water and allowed to drain. | | | | precise measures. However, if we are to begin to |
| The time it took to drain was a reasonably consistent | | | | have designs that make our world more livable, we |
| measure of time. The big bonus was that it could track | | | | need new systems of measurement. What does |
| the passage of time without sunlight. The shortcoming? | | | | design look like when it is about getting it right? There is |
| It could freeze and the measure was not consistent, it | | | | no measure for getting it right. There is a measure for |
| wasn't comparable. My urn, or its drip hole, was bigger | | | | popularity and sales but those are different measures. |
| or smaller than yours - my units of measurement were | | | | Compare parenting with income. Income measurement |
| longer or shorter. | | | | is clear and precise - immediately you and I know |
| The water clock spread in use until it was in India, | | | | where we stand in relationship to each other. But |
| China, Greece and Rome. The Romans called it a | | | | who's the better parent? That's not nearly as |
| clepsydra and gave it a fairly high degree of | | | | measurable. Much like the sundial, we have a rough |
| refinement. It was used for teaching, preaching and | | | | idea of where we might be on the curve of parenting |
| legal proceedings. The judge would grant a prosecutor | | | | but it's imprecise. So, we don't measure it, it's harder to |
| a measure of water that was the time allotted for the | | | | talk about, and, we don't really know what we need to |
| presentation. A prosecutor keen on winning favor with | | | | know in order to turn out better adults capable of |
| the judge would sometimes drink some of his water | | | | parenting. |
| indicating his intention to be brief. A similar concept, the | | | | If we want our homes and products to provide a |
| incense clock, was used in the East; a chunk or stick | | | | better user experience, we start by taking the clock |
| of incense would burn for approximately a fixed | | | | out of the equation. We put in caring more about the |
| amount of time, much like the water clock. | | | | result than the time it takes. We begin to evolve ways |
| As early as the 3rd century AD the sand or hour glass | | | | to measure our success in this endeavor. We would |
| comes into use. It is much like the water clock but it is | | | | care about the experience. Taking time measures out |
| portable and it doesn't freeze. This portability hints at | | | | of the equation and putting people first is one access |
| the breakthrough in maritime navigation that will come | | | | to a world design that works for all. |