Author Archives: Rick Chin
Now available: eDrawings for iOS with Augmented Reality
We've all been there. Your manager or customer has been looking at 3D images of your latest product design for months on your computer. But when the first prototype is put on the table in front of them, they say
... ContinuedDo You Participate in Design Review Meetings?
We need your help. We are currently working with some technology that we feel would make design review meetings more effective. Before we go too far with our work, we want to ensure we are solving problems that our customers
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Strategic Retreats: Transforming Technology into Product
Let’s start by assuming that your goal is to come up with products that your customers are compelled to buy and use to extract some important value to them.
In general, the best way to pursue this is to:
- Identify your target customer
- Identify an important need or frustration that they have
- Find, invent, or tweak technology to craft an effective product for these customers
The Problem – Starting with a specific technology overly influences the product we deliver
In many cases, companies start with a “great” technology they intend to productize and make millions. But “Great” depends a lot on whose perspective is being considered, and what their most important priorities are. Even if you were once one of these customers in a previous life, how similar are your current priorities to that of your current customers? There may be some similarities in priorities, but also many differences. It’s this common disconnect that can result in the development of products that customers find “useful”. But rarely produces products that customers absolutely love.
... ContinuedBrainstorming … Fast & Fun
How many times have you come out of a brainstorming session feeling unsatisfied with the results? The team never felt like it got into a rhythm. The idea flow felt like a drizzle versus a storm. None of the ideas that the team spent much time on seemed especially good (BTW, you should never spend a lot of time on any one idea in a brainstorming session). There was one or two people that insisted on dominating the conversation and ended up speaking way too much. This to the frustration of the rest of the group. The good news is that there are just a handful of things you need to do to run a productive and fun brainstorming session.
... ContinuedUncork Your Brain with Mind Maps
That great idea you are looking for is already somewhere in your mind or in the collective mind of your team. The real effort in coming up with a great idea, is all about getting out of your own way so that your great idea can reveal itself. I want to refer to this as the “idea release” process, rather than the idea generation process.
A very useful tool in the idea release process is mind mapping. In this post, I will discuss how we inadvertently trap our great ideas in our mind; strategies for getting out of our own way; and finally how mind maps can help.
... ContinuedFrustration―Not All Pain Is Created Equal
An Actionable Definition for “Frustration”
Frustration is when …
Someone has a very important goal that needs to be achieved, or task that needs to be accomplished. But there is one or more barrier(s) to them achieving their goal which they feel is out of their control. This results in a combination of helplessness and anger, which we recognize as frustration.
So how do you act on this? You should set out to understand your customers’ specific goals. You also want to find out what they see as barriers to achieving those goals. Eventually, you want to provide a solution that eliminates any feelings of helplessness and instead makes them feel empowered. We will touch on learning about goals and barriers in this blog post, and save empowerment (and it’s actionable definition) for a later post.
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