Einstein quote: "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
Dec 23, 2009
Dec 3, 2009
Study: Computers Don't Save Hospitals Money
Dr. Himmelstein is right about his findings that IT projects in general failed the healthcare system. Many studies have shown that 70% of IT projects fail due to lack of end users participation is designing the system from ground up. Most IT projects are designed by Information Architects (whatever that means) who have no hands-on experience as a doctor, nurse or patient so from the start it is due to failure. Bruce Nussbaum, editor of Businessweek Innovation has a lot to say about this since he understand how we need a human centered design strategy to solve day to day problems including our health care system. As a summary, IT is just a tool like a hammer and our goal is to make healthcare system efficient and provide quality care to patients. There are a number of ways to accomplish this goal and IT is just one tool that can help solve the problem if design properly.
Nov 17, 2009
Dressing Like Your Customer
Companies have tremendous potential to gain more market share in the US by connecting more with their North American customers. It is not by market research or focus groups that we get to know our customers. It is by....
Dressing Like Your Customer
If you would like to know what your customer wants, we need to dress like them. If we continue to dress with our business suit, how do we design products and services for mountain climbers, basketball players, single working moms with 2-3 kids...... So look and think like your customer by dressing like them and you will know what your customer needs.
Sep 21, 2009
Smart Design/Femme Den holistic design
Smart Design/Femme Den 's holistic design From their blog: Warmer Values represent a more holistic design approach that views tech products (or any product for that matter) through the lens of:
Aug 28, 2009
Zen quotes
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few"
"The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction. "
Jul 16, 2009
Sustainable and Cheap Housing
Instead of spending millions for rain screen projects costing millions in North American cities, here's an example of earth quake proof, sustainable, cheap housing made of bale straws.
An example of great innovation by Civil engineer Darcey Donovan.
Jul 6, 2009
Design for the Masses
It has always intrigue me that designing for people with disabilities can be beneficial for the masses. Take this example of a concept phone designed a person with MS (multiple scirosis), the phone is a touch screen panel that has LARGE buttons of people's photos to call.
A great comment from Jenn of Kicker Studio "Projects like these remind us that while it's important to do what you're good at, it's equally important to do what moves you." Her phone concept is quite intriging indeed and if people in the industry are doing primary research based on user centered approached then they should be able to come up with a similar prototype.
Jun 30, 2009
Getting the Job Done
As the words of marketing guru Ted Levitt "People don't want a quarter-inch drill; they want a quarter-inch hole."
We should keep this in mind when we deliver products and services to our clients/customers.
Give examples on how you provide the following actions to your customers:
Solving a Problem
Filling a Need
Jun 22, 2009
Samsung or LG should Buy Palm WebOS
Palm, the maker of much heralded Palm Pre but lack the marketing
splash when it debut last week is in financial crisis. They were only
able to sell 50,000 phones during the opening weekend. The market cap
for this company is about 1.9 Billion US but this can be had for less.
Besides a nice hardware, the new OS called WebOS is considered on par
with the iPhone in user interface and technical sophistication. In
order for Samsung or LG to penetrate the smartphone market in Europe
and North America they need a software platform that can match that of
the iPhone.
BTW. Palm is now mostly run by ex-Apple employees including their
current CEO Jon Rubinstein (ex VP of Hardware Engineering at Apple)
Jun 17, 2009
Less is Better
In this world of full of information, it is imperative that we get to
the point when we speak to others.
Google's elevator pitch:
"access to the world's information in one click" (eight words).
Jun 15, 2009
Car Dashboard as an Open Platform for Korean Automakers
Korean car companies should start partnering with companies outside
their fields to create a truly amazing product (Hint: Samsung and LG)
or risk being replaced by brands from China and India. Today's
competitive market calls for innovative thinking similar to what Ford
and Mirrosoft did with the Sync System. That system is a good start as
a platform. Today's car is no longer just a car as we know it but
needs to cater people's lifestyle.
Think about the service model in iPhone. The car dashboard can be a
platform for developers to develop applications to meet the customer
varying needs.
Jun 13, 2009
Korea as a Role Model for Sustainable Living
South Korea has a lot to offer to the world as a role model for sustainable living. The government is willing to adopt new changes that can better the life of her citizens. Not only are urban planning first class but the standard of living is one of the highest in the world (if not the best in the world).
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Where Creative People Work
I found these images of offices where creative people work. You can see that the office is mainly setup for COLLABORATION. Also, the walls and furniture are full of visual representations to help generate ideas.
In any business field whether in accounting, engineering, health care we should be inspired to solve problems.
http://www.officedesigngallery.com/template_archives.asp?chosenYear=2008&chosenMonth=12
Innovation is Solving Problem
Here are some topics that need expansion in uthe pcoming blogs.
Spontaneous, experimentation, risk taking, flexibility and openness
empathy, prototyping, sketching, collaboration, synergies between silos.
In addition there are a lot of topics in this blog related to collaboration and innovation.
The Legacy of Lafley as a CEO with a Clear Vision
He is the first well known CEO that engages the customers in creating new products that truly use innovative thinking and customer experience as his company's basis and not just focus groups. For example, the Swiffer and all its related products.
Edward Tufte in Beautiful Evidence
BEFORE (Using Typical PPT slides)
AFTER (Tufte's Interpretation)
The vision of Edward Tufte is to create clarity from data confusion.
Jun 12, 2009
Better Place has Clear Vision
We need a clear vision now that is big and bold such as Shai Agaissi's reference on JFK to put a man in the moon and bring him back safely in a decade. See his talk at TED.
I can see a nation has the potential to accomplish this idea when the central government has a clear vision that uses its key resources to accomplish her goal. Having been to South Korea many times, I can see the potential for this country to lead and accomplish this vision because of a strong central government with leading edge industry in automotive, electronic and battery systems.
Clear Idea in 3 minutes
The following visual representation using text and pictures give us a clear and concise idea within 3 minutes:
Jun 8, 2009
Make something people want
Each new member of Y Combinator gets a Tshirt called "Make something people want" since this is the only way to make your business relevant.
Apr 23, 2009
Lessons Learned
As I contemplate last year's work and think about lessons learned, I can sum them up in the following three items:
USER INTERACTION
================
More visits and shadowing
e.g. It's good to have a face to face relationship to gain trust but more importantly to put myself in the user's perspective and position while performing his/her task so I can design a better system.
BACK TO BASICS
==============
What the project NEED as opposed to WANTS
e.g. putting a bunch of engineers in a room will end up with more features that are nice to have but difficult to implement making the project complex instead of providing a simple and elegant solution that can meet the project's NEED. But mixing the different stakeholders in one room will balance out the requirement vs feature sets making the project cost effective timewise and moneywise.
PROBLEM SOLVER
==============
-Connect information seekers with information.
-Not just a technology adviser but I'm here to provide solutions to broken models.
Apr 22, 2009
Be Fluid
"Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend." Bruce Lee.
Career Interest
· Connecting the dots.
· Connect information seekers with information.
· Connect projects spending money with ways to save money.
· Connect broken models with best of industry standard practices
· Connect different stakeholders to become a team and solve problems.
Apr 3, 2009
Innovation Ecosystem
This is a must read book for anyone interested in managing his/her company's idea creation and implementation...
Mar 11, 2009
Awesome web app
Finished prototyping an awesome, fast, simple user interface web app that integrates clinical and research database into one incredible web form.
Paradox of Choice
I've recently viewed an interesting topic on paradox of choice. The well known speaker, Barry Schwartz, argues that the more choices we have the more undecided we become because of the complexity of our situation then less things get done.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html
I always try to apply this principle when we find solutions to solve problems in our tissue banking processes. Every process is relative to our current needs so I try to balance things out.
Jan 26, 2009
Examples of Connecting the Dots
Seth Godin has some great examples on how we connect the dots using the web as a tool.
Connect the disconnected to each other and you create value.
- Connect advertisers to people who want to be advertised to.
- Connect job hunters with jobs.
- Connect information seekers with information.
- Connect teams to each other.
- Connect those seeking similar.
- Connect to partners and those that can leverage your work.
- Connect people who are proximate geographically.
- Connect organizations spending money with ways to save money.
- Connect like-minded people into a movement.
- Connect people buying with people who are selling.
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