In this talk, Monica Lam critiques the current state of collaborative software and social interactions, arguing that they are plagued by unnecessary human synchronizations that create friction. She introduces the term "AFAP" (as frictionless as possible) and proposes a concrete metric for friction: the number of human synchronizations required to complete a task. Through examples such as sharing a game, taking group photos, and dealing with data‑plan costs, she illustrates how each extra interaction adds up, making simple activities cumbersome. Lam calls for systems that eliminate these extra steps—e.g., automatically delivering a photo the moment it is taken—without demanding users sacrifice privacy or pay excessive fees. The overall message is a call for design that minimizes human coordination, making collaboration seamless and instantaneous.
Chapters
You've heard of collaborative software before, right? But usually it's a pain in the neck. I mean, just talk about WebEx, that's tiny little experience to share. Some slides and it's pain in the neck to set up. And when we talk about collaboration in a social setting, it is much tougher. It has to be totally frictionless. So I coined this term. It's afap, as frictionless as possible. And computer science people, we always have metrics and the metric that we use here is the number of human synchronizations. For me to play a game with you, what do I have to do? Could you please download that game? When am I going to tell you that I. I can't call you to tell you that it's inappropriate. It's just a game. So I have to wait for the time when it is appropriate for me to see you. I don't have anything else to say. I say, oh, why don't you download that game? And then you say, ok, I'll do it later. And then sometime later you download that game and then you say, ok, what is the name that you use in the game? How do I play with you? It goes on because the number of times I have to interact with you add up. So we have to count the number of interactions. So let's talk about friction. Have you done this before? A group of friends go out or you have a reunion, people you don't see too often, could you please take a picture? And then you hand over to the waiter. Five pictures, five cameras, and they take exactly, exactly the same picture. It's like, why you have a phone? I have a phone, I'm going to take a picture of you guys. And you guys, You know, I should be able to just say, I just took a picture and you should get that picture right there. And by the way, don't call. People say to me, it's like, of course you have to give up your data because it is free. I don't know about you, I pay about $100 a month for this data plan. Okay, don't tell me that we have to give up our data for free. The company, I mean, the phone should allow us to be able to say, I just took a picture. You should be able to get this picture.
