In a January 2019 post titled Progress or Perfection – Pick One I speculated that Tesla was simply being expedient when it built the Model 3 out of what reverse engineering firm Munro and Associates described as a crazy patchwork of parts and assembly processes. My claim was that if haste makes waste, then in…
Failure is good We get a lot of mixed messages about failure. “Failure is good.” “Fail early so you can avoid failure later on, because failure is bad.” “If you manage to succeed without failing then you have failed because your reach should exceed your grasp.” We are sometimes told to leap because the net…
It’s all about the user Design Thinking is emphatically focused on the end user of the product or service. Sometimes when I present on the subject of Design Thinking someone will point out that products can fail for lots of reasons, not just a failure to appeal to the end user. It can fail because…
Where does the resistance lie? Design Thinking lists three conditions that must be met for a product to succeed: desirability – developing new, desirable products; feasibility – overcoming internal challenges to produce the product; and viability – engaging customers. Design Thinking relies on iteration – what project managers refer to as progressive elaboration – to…
Spin class is paying to pedal a stationary bike while somebody yells at you Peloton is a company that will sell you a stationary bicycle and yell at you in your home. They recently ran an ad which caused many to bristle. In it, a man gives his wife a Peloton machine for Christmas. Let’s…
Yogi Berra: The myth* I really didn’t say everything I said. Yogi Berra Yogi Berra was a Red Sox player who pitched a dozen no-hitters, was married to Marilyn Monroe and discovered penicillin. His bust appears on the other side of Mount Rushmore. He had a knack for memorable phrases that are just as relevant…
What is a dot vote? Dot voting has been used by meeting facilitators since the 1980s and is a big part of the design sprint method pioneered by Google Ventures. Dot voting is a quick and easy way for groups to settle on a consensus. The method is transparent and gives everybody on the team…
Consulting engineering firms are a rich source of new product ideas This is the conclusion of a 2003 paper by SUNY Geneseo professor Ian Alam (citation below). In the paper, Prof Alam studied the efforts of a manufacturer of iron and steel components and materials. This company, given the fictitious name BILTI sold its products…
Applying Design Thinking Design Thinking can make sense on paper but it can be challenge to adopt it in an environment where it’s never been seen before. This quick 90 minute exercise takes pairs of participants through the steps of empathy and prototyping. What I’ve found is that not only do the participants come away…
How would you improve the tablet desk? In your mind’s eye, think of a tablet desk. Below are a couple of very old examples, but for the most part they don’t look that different today. How would you improve its design? Make it lighter, more durable, more comfortable, ambidextrous? The Node Chair Steelcase is a…