Desire paths – mining for ‘truth and delusion’ in system design

Dick Parry, Pink Floyd’s unofficial saxophonist, died recently. He was a long-time collaborator with the band, though never strictly a member. Indeed, he gave up playing for a while to become, of all things, a farrier. But he did return to music, and then still sounded as distinctive and imaginative as before.

Inevitably, the news had me listening again to some of Parry’s work. I’m most drawn to his contributions to Wish You Were Here. The switch from baritone to tenor sax is unusual, both for the use of the baritone at all and for the change of instruments by the same player, as saxophonists tend to favour instruments in the same pitch (that’s one for the music nerds!).

Listening also reminded me of one of the band’s lyrics – specifically the description of Syd Barrett in Shine On You Crazy Diamond as a “miner for truth and delusion”. That’s a rare pairing of antonyms. Truth would seem better contrasted with lies, while delusion would compare most obviously with reality.

Oddly, the phrase often comes to mind when I spot a ‘desire path’ across a field or park. These routes are created by people sidestepping an official path in favour of something more practical. They’re marked not by formal signs or surfacing but by simple wear and tear. They always make me smile as they’re almost defiant symbols of personal truths triumphing over the stuffy delusions of faceless bureaucrats.

‘Desire paths’ in system design

But desire paths are also symbols of after-the-fact improvements. Being generous, the creators of the unpopular official routes didn’t choose them just to be awkward. What they proposed presumably made a lot of sense at the time; it’s just they couldn’t necessarily see the better options when they made those initial decisions. So, it was only when the planners came up against the truths of reality that the delusions were exposed.

But it’s not just footpaths that exhibit this behaviour. If sufficiently flexible – and even if not – all systems will show something of the ‘desire path’ phenomenon. Think of the workarounds that people use to overcome computer system limitations or how you can prop up a device to a more suitable height with a few books.

That doesn’t mean that in terms of system design the metaphorical field should be left bare and paths only made once footprints have become visible. Just in the same way that some first tracks must inevitably be laid down for people to consider moving about at all, so it is that some early system paths must be created to give an idea of what’s possible.

Why monitoring matters

But having created those first routes, it’s critical to monitor how they’re used. You need to understand which routes are actually used, and if variations develop, where they diverge and reconnect with the official ones.

That monitoring should take place at the intersections – where one path finishes and others begin. It’s only at those points that travellers choose where to go next. Very few desire paths start midway across a field because once moving, travellers continue until they need to make the next decision, i.e. at the next fork in the road.

It’s the same with your organisation’s systems, whether IT or human. Once an activity has started, it tends to be continued until it’s complete. Only at the end of the activity are variations in later processing considered, including some not initially envisaged. In other words, they show exactly those desire path characteristics.

It’s therefore at those stages – the intersections – that it’s vital to record what was created by the completing activity, what it used, who was involved and, most importantly, what happened next. By recording that information, it’s possible for you to see the paths that are actually taken (the truth) as opposed to the ones that were predicted (uncharitably, the delusions).

This is exactly the approach we take with our NumberWorks method and NumberCloud platform. Rather boringly, we’ve christened the approach ‘intersection-oriented design’. However, on reflection it looks as if we could have called it ‘desire path identification’ or even as a tribute to the ethos behind the phrase ‘mining for truth and delusion’.

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