Understanding the Norman’s Action Cycle

Norman’s action cycle

In his 1988 book, The Design of Everyday Things, author Donald Norman lays out several principles of designing and building things (doorways, telephones, computers, and so on) for human interaction. A former Apple Fellow and cofounder of the human-computer interaction design firm Nielsen Norman Group, Norman was the first to use the phrase “user experience” in a job title and is considered by many to be one of the founders of the field of human-computer interaction (HCI). He released an updated edition of his book in 2013, which continues to influence the field of computing.

One important concept in Norman’s work that can be directly applied to our work of modeling APIs is the Norman’s action cycle. It’s a model for the way humans interact with any object, whether on a computer screen or in the real world.

Norman’s action cycle is composed of seven stages divided into two sections. Section 1 is known as Execution. This is where people plan and then commit some action. The Execution side of the model has three parts:

• Plan
• Specify
• Perform

For example, we might decide we need to turn the light on in our room in order to continue reading a book. We then need to figure out where the light switch is. Finally, we need to actually go over to the wall and flip on the light switch. In that last step (perform), we affect the world around us. ...