A man after my own heart :-)
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A man after my own heart :-)
]]>my wife has some difficulties with vi
I just love that, not a sentence you hear everyday ;-)
]]>The article lists (and goes into detail on) 12 characteristics of business as usual for Gen Y:
- All ideas compete on an equal footing.
- Contribution counts for more than credentials.
- Hierarchies are natural, not prescribed.
- Leaders serve rather than preside.
- …
I’m finding it interesting because we have several schools of thought in the team I work in. Some align quite strongly with these values while others make the point Patrick makes about doctors
I do not want to go to a hospital that’s operated along the lines of propositions #1 and #2. It’s a shame if you think this attitude describes an elite snobism, but the simple fact is that the janitor’s opinion of how to treat kidney failure is not on an equal footing with a nephrologist’s.
I would have to agree re healthcare, but how would this apply to design?
]]>Have been uploading stuff to YouTube in prep for a work thing and came across the above which kinda cheered me up. Interesting times:-)
]]>the “Simple Sabotage field manual” from the US Office of Strategic Services from 1944 which has recently been declassified. It’s amazing to see how many of the techniques for sabotaging organisations have almost become institutionalised. Recognise any saboteurs in your organisation?!
Not naming any names but yes, I do;-)
]]>I’m still running my “notice more, change less” mantra, I’m reminded of the simple power that come from taking time to see the subtle ways our lives are connected… something that eludes those who, for instance, still like to dismiss things like twitter as irrelevant chit-chat.
Check out his Day of Noticing next Monday
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Kyle Bean has this wonderful post-industrial aesthetic and does beautiful things with brown packing cardboard. Check out Kyle’s Blog and portfolio and check out his amazing stacking mobile phones :-)
]]>Tinkering is about seizing the moment: it is about ad-hoc learning, getting things done, innovation and novelty, all in a highly social, networked environment.
What I like about the idea of tinkering is that it can start small and almost by accident. You could be tinkering away at solving a problem and could quite easily join forces with others you meet by chance online. Who knows where it goes from there ;-)
]]>But the boldest part of the Mindstorms overhaul is Lego’s decision to outsource its innovation to a panel of citizen developers. Relying on the MUP is a gamble that Lego hopes will lead not only to a better product but also to a tighter, more trusting bond between corporation and customer.
He’s a super nice chap and at the end of our hour he stuck around for more questions (Mark and I had about a jillion each so no worries there…).
It’s kinda weird, I’ve spent so much time talking about Mindstorm with clients the project feels so familiar. I guess it would be like an architecture student getting to spend an hour discussing the the relative merits and design strategies that went into Falling Waters with Frank Lloyd-Wright…
Mmmmm buzzing :-)
]]>]]>Open innovation is a phrase in danger of being misused. It’s a catch-all sometimes for “we don’t know why our systems aren’t working and what we need to do” - you can just say “we need open innovation” and hide behind it. But this meeting gave me hope that the systematic efforts needed to enable Chesbrough’s vision of open innovation may be possible.
If we’re going to achieve that particular vision of innovation, it’s important to remember its tenets. Knowledge must move - “purposively” - in and out of organizations. There must be investment in the external capacity of the market itself to generate useful knowledge. And we need business models that are capable of surviving in an open environment.
The old theory of doing business as a hermetically sealed entity was never really true. Knowledge leaked, at conferences and in bars, in phone calls and in passing. And the pharma industry essentially practices a form of open innovation already, through its constant forming and reforming of alliances and mergers and restructuring. But it’s not practicing open innovation at scale, with efficiency, or with purpose.
There is very little value in using digital as a promotional tool compared to using the aesthetics of networks, manufacturing and communications for devising new markets. I’m particularly interested in temporary markets as the frailness of this form of economics creates a stronger network of merchants, which in turn pushes invention, rather than innovation. This is what sustainability demands - frailness.
Even more so as I am currently investigating temporary markets :-)
]]>Your system is simply diabolical. I have now been locked out twice and cannot access the 400 pounds in my account.
Your password reset and security questions are designed to FAIL. Quite simply, both my bank accounts (Lloyds and Barclays) have online security systems which are safe (enough) and (largely) usable.
I am desperate to transact with you and your systems but ever since my first unfortunate encounter with your registration process (see donkeyontheedge.com/2007/05/post-1.html for details of the first fiasco) through the support email loop that FAILed to resolve my simple issues right through to your current password reset mechanism I have been thwarted by your hostile, ham-fisted and incompetent user experience design.
Please, please, please. Let me set the security questions or at least choose from a list of options (I have no idea what my first school is, and if I put dummy data in the field it is unlikely I will remember it come the time to reset my password) and reduce the case-sensitivy of non-evident or non-mnemonic security phrases. I mean is my town of birth “sanfrancisco, san Fransisco, Sanfrancisco, San Francisco and why not San francisco or San-Francisco?!?
Your systems need way more flexibility and much, much greater intelligence.
And plllllllease reset my frigging account so I can get my mits on my cash NOW. OK?!?
All the best
Dug
Here’s their youtube channel
]]>What is Hunch?
Look. Decision-making is difficult, and decisions have to be made constantly. What should I be for Halloween? Do I need a Porsche? Does my hipster facial hair make me look stupid? Is Phoenix a good place to retire? Whom should I vote for? What toe ring should I buy?It’s dark and lonely work. Coin-flipping, I Ching consultation, closing your eyes and jumping, postponing the inevitable, Rock-Paper-Scissors, and asking your sister are all time-honored means of coming to a decision — and yet we think there’s room for one more: Hunch.
Hunch is a decision-making site, customized for you. Which means Hunch gets to know you, then asks you 10 questions about a topic (usually fewer!), and provides a result — a Hunch, if you will. It gives you results it wouldn’t give other people.
From http://www.caterina.net/archive/001169.html
Hunch is: http://www.hunch.com
“Firetruck!” yelled 5 year old Billy. His Mom had told him his Dad was a fireman. When he got older he set fires, hoping to meet Dad.
Beautiful:-) I you want to join in, post your very short story and tag it #vss
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