Mental modelling is first and foremost a team-building and trust-building method. Before we can create something extraordinary, we need to ensure we see the same thing; or at least, that we understand how each of us sees it differently.
Mental modelling is thus the process of surfacing, sharing, and aligning the internal maps that founders, developers, designers, and domain experts hold about the product, the users, the problem, and even about each other.
But mental modelling doesn’t stop with the team or internal processes.
In user research, mental modelling becomes something different; more empirical, more analytical, and grounded in data. Most user research asks what users do or how they feel about a product. Mental modelling asks why they see the system the way they do. It is a psychological assessment, not just a consumer evaluation.
Thus, my method of mental modelling not only shows how users think in the present, but, through its depth and structure, also predicts how they’re likely to think, feel, and behave in the future. This is crazy advantage in the long run.