Notes
Outline
"“not everything that counts..."
“not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts”
[-Albert Einstein-]
"iDLab"
iDLab
I like it… I’ll buy it.
       Why?  Can we really know?
Research indicates that…
We rationalize after the decision
Decisions are not transitive
We violate sorting, and
We do it inconsistently.
So how can we design anything?
Let’s think about the design problem.
What is ‘good’ design?
A balance of
technical,
marketing, and
economic issues.
How do we achieve this balance?
Ask, ask, ask questions…
define the issues…and
acquire the mindset to…
seek failure!
Find the project killers!
ANYTHING…
that can affect your project is a potential project killer.
Value of Good Design
Successful products must “carry” unsuccessful ones.
Development & launch costs are incurred for both.
Production and selling costs scale with sales.
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Company excellence:
Engineering design
Business design
Industrial design
Graphic design
Branding/positioning
Cost of design decisions...
Products and poker:
Both should be exercises in risk management.
What are the questions?

What are the issues?
Formal design methods can help.
Stage Gates
Provide a
formal, staged process to
identify project killers and
manage risk.
tech Idea Concept         Detailed         Proto
          Generation Design    Design
- problem defined - ‘flesh out’ - full documents - beta tests
- attributes - POC testing - materials specs - finalize prod. plan
              - functions - concept comb. - full specs - tooling design
               - requirements - scoring - regulatory tests
               - characteristics - prelim prod. plan
               - constraints
               - concepts
                      proposed
                      screened
business
          - project planning - patent search - sales plan - final launch plan
               - prelim mkt srvy - detailed mkt srvy - launch plan - locate personnel
               - prelim regulatory - prelim sales plan - budget - start training
               - prelim financial - IP protection - initiate sales plan
                 - company - mkt testing
                      constraints
                      needs
Attributes of a good designer:
Keeps ego out
Profound understanding of problem space
Expresses in first principles
Crystalizes the concepts
Looks for “project killers”
Good designers have attitude
It isn’t my problem…
"…but it’s my problem"
…but it’s my problem!
because the project will fail, and that’s my problem.
So the stupid user can’t read the manual?
That’s my problem.
Why?
..and the operating system crashes…
Yep.  My problem.
Why?
…the user plugged in the wrong cable…
Right again.  My problem.
Why?
Attitude:
If it affects product/project success, it is my problem.
Attitude:
Every time it is touched, quality is lost.
It must work in spite of the parts, not because of them.
Fast, good, cheap; pick two.
It will fail; we’re discussing when.
Software must not kill hardware, ever.
Raise the bar, always.
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Murphy was a dewey-eyed optimist!
Even stuff that CANNOT go wrong, will.
An example:
Once upon a time there was a man in a far country presented his findings on human visual perception to a conference.  The audience had a clear, practical demonstration of his work.  Unfortunately, he made his message all too clear due to its illegibility.  What was the message?  “You must understand perception in all user interfaces.”
Another example:
The rivalrous stimuli of text and texture make interfaces impossible to use.  Don’t do it.
Another example:
The rivalrous stimuli of text and texture make interfaces impossible to use.  Don’t do it.
Design in High Tech:
Constructive destruction
Bringing chaos to order
Herding cats
…and the best game going!
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