Purpose
What does it do?
Event Condition Timeline provides a structured approach to time mapping, to provide consistency across analytic methods.
Event Condition Timeline is an AI-ready experience mapping method for analyzing process flows and user journeys. Event Condition Timeline can be used to repeatably analyze one timeline or multiple timelines competitively or over time.
Cause
Why did we build this?
op1digital is committed to building understandable systems.
op1digital operates at the intersection of risk management, user experience, problem solving, systems design, and emerging technology. Our extensive strategic and operational experience positions our solutions as ready-to-implement and ready to tackle real-world problems.
Through our work in UX and risk management, we realized that some methods do not naturally include a time model, and that time models may not be naturally synchronized when using multiple methods.
Problem
What are we solving?
Many types of problems, including user experiences, require mapping sequences of events that occur over time. Different methods use different mapping approaches. This can make it difficult to perform apples-to-apples comparison that supports comparison of different scenarios, future possibilities, outcomes, critical conditions, or competitive behavior.
Impact
Why do we need to solve this?
Failure to use consistent time mapping practices may:
- Lead to incorrect conclusions about the viability or superiority of a solution
- Lead to premature optimization and misoptimization
- Lead to inconsistency in repeat assessments
- Serve as a barrier to pattern recognition
- Increase overhead of performing analysis
Solution
How do we solve this?
To achieve repeatable consistency in a timeline, we need to achieve three things:
- Map events using clear definitions in a model which is mutually-exclusive, comprehensively-exhaustive (MECE).
- Provide means to extend into longer flows and conditional flows.
- Provide means to integrate both qualitative and quantitative data.
By handling more complex flows and data within the timeline, we ensure the model is not superseded when exploring the problem space, impacts, the solution space, or outcomes.
Result
Event Condition Timeline is complementary to and can be combined with other methods, including both methods that have or do not have their own time mapping.
Event Condition Timeline provides strong consistency to support an apples-to-apples comparison and repeatability, backed by a MECE (mutually-exclusive, comprehensively-exhaustive) time model.
Event Condition Timeline can be used by humans, AI, or by humans working with AI.
Technical Attributes
How does this solution align to your needs?
By design, Event Condition Timeline exhibits:
- MECE Modeling: Employs a MECE (Mutually Exclusive, Comprehensively Exhaustive) time-based framework to ensure complete coverage and non-overlapping event categories.
- Extensibility: Focuses on a single event at a time but supports chaining multiple Event Condition Timeline models and adding conditional routes to model complex or branching flows. Accommodates qualitative and quantitative data overlays, enabling detailed measurement (e.g., duration, cognitive load, success rates) within the timeline.
- Right-Sizing: Scales from large, long-lasting events to brief, single interactions, offering versatility for different problem scopes.
- Repeatability and Updateability: Allows continual updates as new information emerges, supporting iterative refinement and scenario testing. Enhances decision-making by clarifying when and where changes could improve outcomes, reduce failures, or adapt to evolving conditions.
- Human and AI Compatibility: Event Condition Timeline is a modern approach, recognizing that work is done by humans, by AI, and by humans working with AI. Event Condition Timeline includes detailed written descriptions and efficient JSON descriptions.
Visual Model
Event Condition Timeline includes both detailed text descriptions and a visual model which can be useful for visualizations.
License
op1digital Suite for Problem Solvers™ components, including
Event Condition Timeline, are licensed under:
CC BY-ND
4.0
Commercial license terms are available for parties unable to accept our standard license terms.
Availability
Event Condition Timeline is available from op1digital.
The latest release of Event Condition Timeline was made on:
Ready to implement? Access the technical guide.
Support
Paid support is available for practitioners implementing op1digital components.
Paid consulting is available if you would like us to help you form solutions to your specific problems.