innovation playground Idris Mootee

Random Thoughts On Industrial Design, Busness Model Design And Design For Change

I was chatting with some members of our design research team just yesterday next to the cooler the other day, we were talking about how iPhone is such a bad phone and a great media player, and the Backberry is such a great email gadget but terrible browser. The conclusion was phones were not designed to handle the “social” functions and they are just add-ons. What does a true “social” gadget looks like? I will ask our design team to come up with some crazy ideas and sure clients love to see them

As more and more people use Twiiter or Facebook as their core communications. What are the best gadgets designed for that? The gadget lets them tweet, reply, retweet, send direct messages, and connect with followers. Here comes the TwitterPeek which sells for $99 or $199 (with plan) which included a service plan. It can only support one account at a time. Users can also view TwitPics by clicking the "view content" option from the TwitterPeek menu. If users choose to pay $99 at the time of purchase, they will get the TwitterPeek device and six months of Peek service. After that, they need to pay $7.95 per month for network access. If customers plunk down $199, they'll get the device and service for the life of the product. In either case, TwitterPeek allows for unlimited tweeting.

It is always an important industrial design discipline that they teach in school, do we design something for a singular or more important function or something that does everything. The preference is design something with a purpose in mind. Is the TwitterPeek really necessary in the marketplace. Or we need a Facebook Device? The deep satisfaction of design is when you find an elegant solution to a problem that has, until now, had a hindering effect on our p quality of life or experience or the environment. And the function should be super obvious - developing a straightforward solution to a meaningful problem. But it is not that simple. Industrial design is understood as a part of engineering design, or as running parallel to engineering design and increasingly interface design.

However, when industrial design activity is engaged in the more aesthetic or style concerns of a product it can be understood as running parallel with marketing and brand activity. And when industrial design is engage running parallel with business strategy activity, that becomes a very different game. There is not a right or wrong or simple answer here, there is a lot of room for ambiguity and misunderstanding and many designers are confused about design themselves.

Many designers love to talk Business Model design, not sure how many are qualify to discuss this subject. My experience is even among the MBAs that I hired, anyone with less than 10 years of solid experience don’t understand the real implications of these Business Models discussion. My response to them is "How exactly do you change a business model without understanding the industrial and distribution economics plus the individual players' competitive dynamics. There are always game theory in play in these moves.

One interesting thought is traditional industrial designers came into being as mass production raised output and wanted to match those to market demand, this is still true but not entirely the case. If industrial design comes within a marketing function and marketers buy the creative services of industrial design consultant on an occasional basis for a special project, this quite is different if industrial design is a part of the manufacturing function. And if industrial design comes within a strategy firm and executives buy the innovative services of a firm that has strategy + design capabilities (like Idea Couture), then it is part of corporate strategy undertaking. That’s design thinking in action, not design talking. Am I confusing you?

When Wal-Mart Enters The Funeral Industry, The Business Is About To Change. Will Amazon.com Follow? What's The Latest Innovation In The Funeral Busines?

Some survey stated that the average person's greatest fear is having to give a speech in public. That’s not for me but I am sure for many. I remember one guy told he when he was put on stage in front of 800 people, the dead silence was like death. Giving a speech in public ranked even higher than death which was third on the list. So, you're telling me that at a funeral, most people would rather be the guy in the coffin than have to stand up and give a eulogy.

The first baby boomers are entering their mid-60s, and the death rate in the U.S. is expected to rise from 8.1 people per thousand in 2006 to 9.3 in 2020 (according to the National Center for Health Statistics). Yet the traditional funeral industry is hardly healthy: The Federated Funeral Directors of America, an accounting firm for independently owned funeral homes, found that in the past 20 years, its clients' profit margins have been cut nearly in half. Some 44% of funeral home directors, up from 28% in 2006, blame the increasing popularity of cremations and alternative burials for sinking profits. Some funeral homes have responded by more innovation such as themed funerals, from backyard barbecues to mini concerts.

The 11 billion industry is forced to innovate when Wal-mart enters the business. Wal-mart has started selling coffins online at prices that undercut many funeral homes. People can choose from 14 different ones, from the $895 "Dad Remembered" steel model, to the exclusive "Sienna Bronze" one for $2,899. Why did Wal-mart decide to enter the coffin market? Well, in fact this is a response to Costco’s move to sell coffin online (not in bulk thank God) with delivery within 24 hours. I guess people don’t want to wait for this category. I think it is a good idea. Funeral homes industry is overcharging and often people don’t know what these things should cost. With Wal-mart you need only to pay $1,000 versus 3 or 4 times more through a funeral home.

The funeral homes industry has reason to be concerned. I am sure their argument is these funeral homes can provide full service (like gas station) and ability to provide comfort and empathy, but it comes at a price. If it works for Wal-mart, the next one to join would be Target. They would invite Stella McCartney or Phillipe Starke to design caskets that costs just a little more, but with a lot more style. Amazon.com will follow with online customization that you can pick your favorite patterns or engraved your family crest on it. And for those creative types who are big thing art lovers, forget the traditional wooden box, you want something very special. A company called Crazy Coffins can pretty much order any design you want. There isn't a lot they can’t make. The bespoke coffins are made by two carpenters and costs between $3,00 to $10,000 (£2,000 and £6,000).

And when you decide to spend more on a coffin, may be you should consider an upgrade to Louis Vuitton or Karl Lagerfeld. And for those die hard rock fans , they used to sell a KISS goodbye with the "Kiss Kasket". It is decorated with the logo and pictures of the band members; plus: it is waterproof. The Kiss Kasket went on sale in 2001 until 2006 and now it's no longer available from Kiss' website. I’d like to see a Beatles one.

Your Next Electric BMW May Not Come With Any Sound. Need To Pay For Separately Dowloadable "Autotone".

Many years ago people did not realize the power of the ringtone. Not only they can make money selling them but it is a powerful political tool. I think the Philippines was the first country in the world to use text messaging to topple a former president, they may soon be the first country to overturn a government with a ringtone. Imagine the power of the voice on poll tape and ringtone. What about the Obama ringtone?

The BBC World Service Trust understands the power of the ringtone to achieve development goals. When they were tasked with the tough task to make condoms more acceptable, and free from negative judgment, they came up with a wacky idea to get people talking about condoms -- a condom-themed ringtone. World Service Trust Condom Ringtone was the solution. They hope that this will stimulate conversation, which is desirable as - according to research - those who talk about sex and condoms are more likely to have safer behaviors

Or do you know about the mosquito ringtone for teenager that allows teenagers to receive text messages and phone calls in class without the teachers hearing them. In case you didn’t know, it’s a tone outside the audible range of hearing for most people over the age of 30. You probably don’t know this, the history of the mosquito ring tone dates back to 2005 when a British inventor by the name of Howard Stapleton came up with an ingenious idea to drive away teens through ultra high frequency sounds much like how a dog whistle would affect dogs. It was an idea to make the storefront very uncomfortable for the loitering teens while leaving the money spending adult customers unaffected.

So what’s next for ringtone? Here another innovation for the auto makers to make money. How about “autotones” for your car? If you live in New York City or Toronto you will often encounter bike messengers speeding pass you just a few inches away. The problem is you don’t know they are coming because there aren’t making any sound. When electric cars eventually get popular, the same problem will arise. Because they are so quiet, it can be dangerous if you are crossing the street and couldn’t hear them. Those hyrids need to figure out how to make the cars nosier.

Many have started working with sound engineers to design sound effects to simulate engine noises. The Fisker Karma, an $87,900 plug-in hybrid expected to be in the market soon, will emit a sound -- pumped out of power sub-woofers in the bumpers -- that the company founder, Henrik Fisker, describes as "a cross between a starship and a Formula One car. I believe at one point they will get creative and designing unique noises to differentiate their brands. There will be Mercedes, Porsche and BMW noises.

Buying an electric car in 2012 you will need to pick from the price list what “Vroomtone” or “autotone” package that you may want to include (for a price). Or you can buy a subscription package that you can have unlimited download of all “autotone” for your car for a year. Pick something for the locking of the cars, or another for engine noises or when the charge is ready etc. May be the automakers end up making more money from these “autotone” that the car itself.

Have a great weekend and off to Boston.

What Features Should Twitter Add Next? Twitter Muisc? Twitter Chat Or Twitter Sex?

They need to figure a way to make money. What’s their business model? Is their one? Probably not, there isn’t one. But think about a suite of features and services that can be built around Twitter. Use a little creativity I can come up with a few good ideas. How about special interest Twitter? How about voice-enable Twitter? How about Twitter comedy? Twitter Ask-a question? How about Twitter jam? How about Twitter music? How about Twitter sex? Ok Let's not go there.  I can develop interesting customer value propositions from each of the above.  Sure it will inspires you too.

Someone is working on one. A new third-party offering from Jajah (Jajah@call) is going into beta this week and allow Twitter users to initiate a two-way voice chat with other users by typing "@call @username"--where "username" is someone's Twitter ID--into any Twitter client.

Currently the calls are limited to two minutes, but the company will revisit this and see what makes sense. I think they should stick to the magic number 14, so make it 1 minute 40 seconds. It is kinds like a verbal tweet.

The best thing is that users can keep their phone numbers private, but still be able to have voice chats with just about anyone on Twitter. Since these calls are initiated by one person, the recipient may well not be online on the other end, or just want to ignore the call. No far no one has played with the idea that one can initiate voice communications directly between Twitter users. So this is a first.

Understand The Yin And Yang Of The Truly Creative Mind

My first blog post last year was “Your New Year Resolution-Unlock Your Creative Mind”, so I decided to start this year with another post on the “creative” mind. There are lots of myths around what is the "creative class" and how they are often associated with jobs linked to design which is absolutely not the case. You can be very creative but never trained in any design discipline. My personal experience is that probably the percentage of design school gradates whom I consider creative is not much higher than other non-design graduates. Yeah unless you compare that to B-schools which I think 2 out of 10 versus 3 or 4 out of 10 in design school. And probably 1 out o 10 in accounting school, but that one is dangerous. I have met a lot of fashion designers, visual designers and creative directors that I hardly consider creative at all.

Creativity people are important assets of organizations and societies, the main reason is creativity people provides a good breeding ground for innovative ideas and entrepreneurship and they stimulate the encounter of people with different backgrounds and the combination of their knowledge. This mesh-up knowledge may then constitute an important source of innovation and the formation of new firms, which are important drivers of economic development. That’s why creativity goes hand-in-hand hand with start-ups. For economic growth, starts with attracting the creative people to a city.

Here are the few paradoxes (or yin and yang) of the “creative” mind:

• Creative people tend to be smart and naive at the same time. One way of expressing this dialectic is the opposite poles of wisdom and childishness. Think Mozart, it that ignorance and naive that often comes with creativity. Intuitively creative people know that they have a purpose, a destiny or they realize that they can choose or create one to drive them to reach greater heights of skill, ability, or talent. And they can be a little native sometimes. They need smart people that they trust and are close to them for constant reminder.
• Creative people have no problem comfortably combining fun with professionalism, or playfulness with discipline. They often make work fun and at are workaholic at time when it comes to applying their creative energy to solve a specific problem. Laughter and creativity truly go together. I personally believe that creativity can’t occur without a lot of humor believing that seriousness tends to squelch creativeness or creative thinking. Creative people tell the best jokes, don't we?
• Creative people can use their 'unconscious skills' and at the same time see all the “pieces” available in front of them. Dealing with both is part of their process to unlock one's inner genius by reawakening dormant parts of the brain. Creative people thrive on multiple ways of perceiving: seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting, and sensing things. These different perspectives open up their minds to unlimited possibilities while bringing their imagination back to the present.

And the size and number of tattoos have no indication on the creativity of an individual. Here''s a quote from Theodore Adorno, “A successful work of art is not one which resolves contradictions in a spurious harmony, but one which expresses the idea of harmony negatively by embodying the contradictions, pure and uncompromised, in its innermost structure.”

Learn To Master The Four Patterns Of Thinking To Unleash Your Mind To Perform On The Next Level

Who are you? You probably have some ideas of how your mind works. Do you? A designer with a strategic mind? An artist with a business mind? A strategist with an engineer mind? An cosmetic surgeon with an artist mind? Are you a marketer with ADD?  Are you a designer with a cook's mind?  Are you a politician with the mind of a criminal?  We can extend these combination forever. Do you know how does your mind work? Does your analytical training in business or engineering school changes your way of thinking?  But most people don’t admit sometimes the conflict between the hard-wiring and the training. They think they hit a brick wall when dealing with a particular kind of problems.

We all have different thinking patterns and some of us can switch between different one and some are less flexible. Some can use these styles at will and some are constantly struggling with adapting.  Each of these thinking pattern response differently to how our minds perform in “proactive thinking” mode, “creative thinking”, “reactive thinking”, “passive thinking”  and “dormant thinking” mode. We can learn to effectively by selecting an appropriate thinking pattern, responding to the purposes of thinking if we practice enough to master the skills. I remember many years back I was training a team of my top global directors. We practice business solving by forcing each of them to apply different thinking pattern to get different outcomes. It was transformative for many of these smart people. It is like discovering a new feature within a software program that you’ve been using for years. I will briefly talk about each of the four here.

“Proactive Thinking” can help is to escape from causation, which is applicable only under predictable business situations, by adopting mechanical analysis, which is the typically realized by the Lateral Thinking, the Game Theory, and Econometrics. This was my training as an economist. It is a powerful approach to use to deal with uncertain future situations. It is the most powerful pattern if we apply it in managing unknowns and create a breakthrough in stagnant situation. It is not for managing everyday repetitive tasks.

“Reactive Thinking” focuses a lot around causation, is the most efficient business thinking method under a predictable condition. This is often found in a lawyer’s mind. This is also largely the pattern of people who work in larger organizations. Reactive Thinking is powerful when we target continuous improvement I remembered when I first study the concept of “causation” in law school, I was fascinated by the application of the legal concept. In everyday business, it is about clarification of cause and effect relations of an action. It is very useful when you are dealing with marketing and operational improvement on a on going basis. Lawyers and accountants are always on this mode when they are at work.

“Passive Thinking” is the most used in our daily lives.  It is a way of organizing things and we use it to only arrange information on formats passively. It is most helpful when we are dealing with massive data, Passive Thinking is very efficient in recognizing patterns and situations.  It also involves intuition and framing which are key characteristics when we try to make sense of data as a designer, engineer, market researcher, engineer or business strategist. You don’t need to look for causal relations and rely on your sensing abilities.

“Dormant Thinking” is not known within the science-based western world. Dormant means lacking activity and it means thinking without the activity of thinking. So how can one be thinking without thinking? It is used when there are over thinking. Imagine situations when the emotion overpower the mind and we sometimes forced into reactionary mode. This is when domant thinking is useful. Sometimes people need to meditate or in a quasi-meditation status to activate this mode. The word meditation is a very poor substitute for the original term bhavana, which means 'culture' or 'development', i.e., mental culture or mental development. The Buddhist bhavana, properly speaking, is mental culture in the full sense of the term. It aims at cleansing the mind of impurities and disturbances, hatred, ill-will, indolence, worries and restlessness, skeptical doubts, and cultivating such qualities as concentration, awareness, intelligence, will, energy, the analytical faculty, confidence, joy, tranquility, leading finally to the attainment of highest wisdom which sees the nature of things as they are. It is about bringing beauty and peace to a situation. This form of meditation, called vipassana or vipashyana, which means "insight."  Dormant thinking is an analytical method based on mindfulness, awareness, vigilance, observation. It is very effective. Thinking without thinking.

If you can master all of these thinking styles, you will elevate your analytical and creative power to the next level. Start pracitcing tomorrow and share with us your thinking pattern and experiences.

Need to get back to work. Very busy week.

What's The Difference Between A "Strategic Designer" And A "Creative Designer"?

I received over 50 emails on this controversial blog post "The Death of Creative Director" and thanks for those who expressed their views here. Here's one from a friend of mine Barry Robinson (a CD) which I want to share with you. It. It is good to see a digital agency Creative Director's view of this topic.

Interesting take. Funny enough, I buy this hook, line and sinker. But I feel it is less about death of the Creative Director and more about death of self interest. And in corporate North America, that isn't an easy change to achieve. But it should be something that corporations strive to achieve.

I was asked to help define Agency.com's process. One of the key aspects of that was to level the playing field. We'd have a lead for each small group of 'creatives' (group being a designer, copywriter, IA, strategist, interface developer, technologist, depending on the project). Anyone could be the lead, and this was tied to deliverable responsibility than the 'say so' person. That lead could be a copywriter, an IA, a strategist, or for that matter anyone who had relevant experience to that project. But from a creativity standpoint, everyone was on an even footing.

In this set up a CD isn't defining those ideas, but is there, when requested, as a catalyst. A CD is less to do with being the sole idea machine, and more to be there in support when needed. The question being... is this needed?

It depends on the team. A core team should always be capable. Some rely on the CD's to support teams that are not as capable as they should be. Or to save the day because due to poor planning the team simply doesn't have the time required to develop solutions that are good enough.

To me, the sense of self interest, career growth and territory is something that has seemed far more prolific in North America. But it was a growing phenomenon in Europe. Change is the responsibility of the corporation. Reward mechanisms need to be rethought. Recruitment strategies reassessed. The way projects are approached and project teams are built needs some serious thinking.

I mean, how do you know who you need until you know what it is that is needed? And if we're truly offering a bespoke creative solution to our clients, then wouldn't the point at which you know be some way into the project?

I could easily switch the titles in you argument and it would be just as relevant. If I was to list the most 'creative' people I have known, the top 10 would be a mixed bag of PMs, an MD, an accountant friend of mine, a handful of strategists, two copywriters, a guy I know who runs a battery firm in the UK, and a couple of designers. Point being that even though I know many many designers who can craft a beautiful mock, book, poster, logo, it takes a different sort of capability to deliver solutions. True creativity. An effective creative is a masterful thinker and craftsman - thinker+graphic design, thinker+branding, thinker+copy, thinker+coding. Ignoring one or the other is going to get you in trouble.

A successful initiative needs faultless multi-disciplinary thinkers with unique skill-sets at it's core, it also needs supporting skill-sets at hand. As the initiative progresses, needs get defined, the supporting skill-sets change. The core team stays connected for reviews, but if their specific skill set is less required, there involvement becomes less.

If you think of corporate structures, where people are brought together to achieve stuff, and collaborative structures, where people choose to come together through common interest to achieve stuff, at a point somewhere between the two is where we should be aiming towards. Supporting infrastructure and hand picked core teams, with collaborative working practices where involvement is not limited to title.

My point being, you can't swap out the role of a CD until you change the way your corporation works. Any CD of worth would welcome this change.

Thank you Barry. Good thoughts. The advertising industry is no question in a state of flux. The big shops are scrambling to buy and build capabilities in desperate attempts. Many of the first generation of interactive agency is carrying their shares of legacies. Customers are bombarded everywhere with advertising, free offers and can't-miss opportunities. Where once there were one or two companies in a particular niche, there are now tons all competing for the buyer's shrinking attention span.

With the need to communicate ever more complex messages to their audience, marketers have begun to seek out creative thinkers for everything from brand development and new product ideas to the development of the company's mission-critical digital infrastructures. More and more, designers are being invited to participate in senior marketing and strategy discussions. As a result, a new breed of strategic designer thinkers has emerged – called them the Strategic Designer or Design Thinking Strategist. In fact, if you looked at the most successful creative directors in the advertising world, they were Strategic Designers rather than Creative Designers. They designed the greatest brand of the last few decades.

What qualifies the Strategic Designer (or Design Thinking Strategist) to sit at the table with senior management, discussing brand innovation and marketing strategies? Very few designers are trained in business or marketing (and even branding), what can these creative individuals offer to the process of developing a company's innovation strategy?

Strategic Designers are "conceptualizers"". They have the ability to create order from chaos by breaking down complex business stories into bite-size chunks. Difficult concepts are reduced to a simple visual element. Complex marketing systems are captured in simple elements.  Suddenly everything makes sense and comes together. They build prototypes both to test the design and to align stakeholders in the process and help clients navigate through the system.

Strategic Designers are creative "metaphor" users. When they start looking at a problem they usually express their ideas as a metaphor.  In design, metaphors are viewed as heuristics that help organize.  Metaphorical reasoning is an iterative process through which designers gradually increase their knowledge of a situation. Basically, the use of metaphors aids in structuring business problems, which by definition are non-routine Thus, when solving non-routine design problems, it is difficult to predict what a solution will look like. In solving a business problem, they use when fuzzy metaphors aid reflection about the essence of a situation. Reflecting on a design situation was seen to have a strong effect on the perception, analysis, and framing of a problem. Not only can metaphors assist in problem reflection but also help to break away from the limitations imposed by initial problem constraints. Many great creative directors I’ve worked with are so good in using metaphors to lead in a strategic solutions.

The Death of Creative Director. The Birth Of The Multi-Disciplinary Design Thinker.

What do we know about creativity? We mistakenly narrowly associate creativity with film director, musician or an egotistic advertising creative director. The very idea of a creative director is so 70’s.  It may be still relevant in the field of performance art as it is more about personal style, but in the world of marketing and design, the title is becoming irrelevant. I’ve seen many account planners who are more creative than the “creative directors” although they don't wear that hat. Having said that, there are also some great creative directors but they are better off with a different title. On another note, most creative people cannot manage, or may be another word better than manage is most cannot lead. They are good at self-glorification.

I think the advertising industry (particular the digital agencies) should stop using this title as it’s so irrelevant. Are we saying that only the creative director is responsible for creative outputs and everyone else are paper pushers? True creativity is not necessarily a product of a single mind.  Although a creative act may be stimulated by dialogues and debates (and often a good bottle of wine), the human brain usually synthesizes all facts or impressions. 

In a world when competition are moving faster than the new 3g iPhones. Creativity has typically been defined by ideas that are both novel and useful. Most research on creativity was person-centered, focusing on the personality traits of highly creative people.  They are saying either you are a creative person or not. How simple. Highly creative individuals were found to have traits such as independence of judgment, autonomy and self-confidence and may be non-conformist too. Because creative ideas are often deviant most people are reluctant to express them out of fear of receiving negative evaluations from other people. If you can create an environment where judgment is encourage and there a high level of trust among the team, then these traits are less relevant.

Let’s talk about the two types of thinking, convergent vs. divergent thinking. Convergent thinking tends to move toward a single solution to a problem, and involves the generation of multiple ideas that are of the same general category. And for divergent thinking, it involves the generation of many ideas that are qualitatively divergent from one another. Divergent thinking is widely considered to be an important antecedent to creativity because creative solutions are defined as unique or original in nature. I don’t think this is the case. You need both to optimize any group creative output.

If you have worked in a group environment, you've probably experienced how it can hamper creativity (or how bad it can get).  Animosities arise, adrenaline starts flowing, and before you know it, group members are thinking about territory instead of constructive creative dialogue. People zealously protect theirs especially they were given glorify titles such as Global Chief Executive Creative Directors.

First thing about productive group creativity is to reduce turf-consciousness and promote a spirit of jamming, the creativity of such a group can be unleashed.  Creative group dynamics is not a popular practice but lots of techniques are available to improve group creative productivity.

The multi-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary nature of a team is a key factor and the team spirit that often develops nourishes imagination and creativity.  Is size an issue? Yes, imagine a group 30 people jamming in a room.  Although the optimum size depends on many things, five or six is often a good one. I personally prefer no more than 8 but I’ve seen it worked even at 10 but suggest avoid it if you can. A few large innovation labs have succeeded at innovation in big teams (aerospace etc), but in terms of creativity per person, I'd bet history has favored the 4-5 person groups.

Although outside stimulation can promote creativity, there's such a thing as too much of a good thing.  Some creative people are often better left alone, immersed in problems for as long as a week at a stretch. I know many very creative people who can only work in a cave.  Although interruptions are not preferred, but I find the value of creative loners are way lower than creative collaborators. The best creative minds not only create ideas but also good at real time remixing ideas from others. That, to me, is the true creative mind

Cubicles Are Anti-Collaboration And Is a Bad Social Design

Not sure you have heard about the concept of “social design”, which generally refers to interactions between the modern knowledge workers can support and stimulate innovation and  productivityl. It is almost universally accepted the linkage between interaction and creativity, research  explains a great deal about why there is a tremendous difference between interacting face to face and all other forms of interaction.  In 1987, Morgan Stanley economist Stephen Roach identifi ed a phenomenon he labeled “the productivity paradox.”. What he discovered was that although American companies spent trillions of dollars on information technology in the 70s and 80s, the productivity of those workers had not improved much. Productivity improvements are the fundamental reason for these IT investment, this research calls into question the IT strategy of nearly every larger organization. I think many of us has come to a point where technology is making us less productive. Think of how many emails coming in your mailbox and how often your browser distract at work. I think people were kind of feeling guilty 5-7 years back when they are browsing at work, today people just open their browsers and IM windws while trying to focus on work.

In late 90s, a team of HP employees were given the assignment of creating their own high
performance work space. Lots of freedom were given to them. All of HP’s engineers, programmers,  business analysts, and project managers were mixed together in the space that had proven tremendously effective at promoting interaction and high productivity. Given the need to reduce time to market and the complexity of the products, these people needed to work together in a different way. The result was a profound change in the way the team worked. Sharing of ideas and information increased dramatically, while the time it took to bring new project team members up to speed was reduced. Put the right people together so they collaborate creatively and intensively, and they can do wonderful things.

Open office has big proven benefits in our business where innovation and collaboration are our everyday work. Cross-disciplinary collaboration is vital and this can only happen in share space. Cubicles is anti-collaboration and so is private offices. We are a big believer in open workspace and it forges a culture of openess. The reasons for people to go to work has changed. It is not about producing a document which you can do that at home, they go to work to meet, to collaborate, to brainstorm, to share, to debate and not doing work in a traditional sense.  Simply put, cubicles are anti-collaboration.

Long before corporations became interested in creativity and collaboration and started learning how to promote it in the workplace--Mother Nature managed creativity through the process of biological evolution. An understanding of evolution won't help companies boosting creativity and collaboration, it does help them manage the unplanned.  The question is what is the best plan to plan for the unplanned?

Five Simple Ways To Boost Creativity In Your Workplace

Meet Adam Rubin (Rothman MBA), he is an experience architect at Idea Couture. He has a typical creative mind and it is hard sometimes for it to slow down from coming up with good; and sometimes great ideas. His brain is hardwired for that and it is designed to break up normal pattern process by constantly seeing sound and motion. There's always a creative rthym working somewhere and that's how his mind can entertain new information, ideas, and concepts and how he likes to see problem solved. He solves problem by loading a rthythm. I will talk more about different types of creative minds next week.

Last week he sent me a link to some very creative business cards. Some of them are really cool and very innovative. I am showing three of my favorite ones here and see if you figure out what their businesses are. Business card is a good starting point to show how serious a company is on creativity. So I came up with five practical things to improve creativity in your workplace, doesn't matter what your business is. Hope you find them helpful.

1/ You have many creative minds in your organization, but they are not applying those to work.  They share great ideas with each other at lunch, over the water cooler and in the pub. Unless you can create a culture of innovation and encourage people to apply their creativity to their work, those creative energy will just be applied elsewhere. Though some individuals are more naturally creative than others, most people are capable of some degree of creativity (yes some rare exception). It doesn’t matter.  An good manager can bring out their people's most creative side and let them contribute fresh ideas. So when you see people in the parking lot in the morning, ask them what's the big idea for today? it works. Remind the it is part of their job.

2/ Create a safe environment for people to show their creative side.  No matter how creative they are, they will not share ideas with management if they do not trust them. The main reason is they don't know what the responses they will get. Sharing a really innovative idea is risky - it may be viewed as this guy/gal is not focused enough on the assigned task or not executing as according to the company's plan. It is always the trust factor. My team comes me crazy ideas all the time,  I listen carefully to each of those crazy ones as I know somewhere there is a gold mine. You must learn to listen no matter how crazy they are. Let them finish and then think about it. Write it down and stick it on the wall for a few days. It shows you are serious about their creative input.

3/ Create a means for people to collaborate on ideas. A good idea can often lead to another bigger idea. By encouraging people to work together particularly cross discipline people to develop ideas, good ideas can be transformed into great ideas and great products or services.  Encourage constructive criticism, as it will people to learn from the creative process. Any destructive criticism will discourage people to share their wild ideas. Wild ideas sometimes have a lot of hidden value if you dig deeper into it. Provide lots of white boards and discourage power points. Ask them to draw. No force them to draw. It is not the drawing, it is the process, do you get it?

4/ Think about creative ways to reward people who give good ideas that are being implemented. It doesn't have to cash. They can be additional off time, unique gifts, and a certificate from the company recognizing the idea such as public acknowledgement from the CEO or senior executive.  Be creative. Please don’t give them those ugly motivational posters with the word ‘creativity’ or ‘winning’. Just be creative. Go to MOMA or other art shops and get some cool stuff. It shows you appreciate ideas. If you give out those posters, it shows you the one who's not bringing creativity to work. 5 / Provide people with lots of tools for creative problem solving, if it means drawing parallels, ideas card and finding connections between processes and events that aren't obviously connected either logically or intuitively, and linking categories that aren't normally associated. Put them on ‘intersections’ of different things. Think "intersections".

Your New Year Resolution-Unlock Your Creative Mind.

This is a warm day and it feels like spring here in Washington DC, unfortunately I’ve spent most of the day in a hotel (I’d love this Park Hyatt that I am staying because they have has a amazing selection of teas ).

I was pondering over a cup of darjeeling our plan for new hires in the next 12 months and how creativity is such an important hiring criteria. There are a lot of common myths and questions about the creative minds? Wonder what makes one a person creative ? Are there certain personality traits? Are there different types of creative people? Can creative people be analytical at the same time? Can creative be separated from art? Can creative people be detailed oriented? I am not giving you answers to all of these questions, at least not today.

Becoming creative is not necessarily about becoming another DaVincci or Steve Jobs. Ordinary people can find their creative side. If you lock into your own creative juices, you can become a better leader. Creativity can be as simple as new ways for old situations. So start the New Year by re-building your creative mind. Let me try to highlight some of most obvious qualities of a creative mind:

They perceive the world differently - Creative people thrive on multi-dimensional of perceiving: sensing, seeing, hearing, touching things. These different perspectives open up their minds to unlimited possibilities. Many people who don’t think that they are creative are those who are fearful of change and prefer to work within limits with limited possibilities (within a box). Creative people enjoy to see many, even infinite possibilities in most situations or challenges. This could be a problem, 80% of creative people have this weakness.

There are sensitive to even tiny little things - Being sensitive helps creativeness in many ways. It helps with awareness of problems in the first place, known & unknown, articulated or unarticulated. Sensitivity usually comes with observant. Creative people constantly are using their senses: consciously, sub-consciously and unconsciously, even non-consciously. Now this one you cannot learn, either you have it or not. Sorry.

They can handle plenty of ambiguity - Creative people needs ambiguity, not simply tolerant of ambiguity. It allows them to flourish, just like a creative person was given with boxes and boxes amount of Lego bricks in all shapes of colors and even material so they can be even molded into other non brick shapes. And there are no instructions booklet so you don’t know what you are building. They actually love to be ambiguous to challenge other people and ideas.

They can synthesize different data intuitively - They have the ability to see the whole picture, seeing emerging patterns, grasp solutions with only just a few pieces. You can be a creative spreasheet reader and that's the quality of a good invesment  banking analyst. Creative knows and good at trusting their intuition, even if theyare right 51% of the time.

They never put money as no. 1 motivator - Money is never the first consideration. As important as money is in today’s world of luxuries and status, it is never a driving force for a creative person. Some say the most creative people generally have an intuitive sense of the amount of money they basically need and once that need is fulfilled then money stops affecting or driving them. This is true most of the time. 95% of creative people are like that. There are the 5% exceptions ( I have one in our company).

Managing The Creative Class Or The Modern Day Working Class "Da Vincis"

People often complain that creative types are difficult to manage if they can be managed at all and many of them are high maintenance in nature. There is some truth here but I don’t necessarily think that is case. My favorite types of creative people are what I called the “Da Vincis”. They are people who can use both sides of the brain. May be this is what Roger Marin refers to as “Integrative Thinker”. I picked up his book The Opposite Mind (while I was stucked in Denver airport for a connecting flight back from Palm Spring where we had a planning session) and I was reading it during this holiday. I buy 10 books a month and I read only one of them. Here is a good one.

“In integrative thinking is such a good idea, why don’t people use their opposite minds all the time? Craig Wynett, head of corporate new ventures at P&G, answers with a great metaphor; he blames our ‘factory setting.’ Like you car’s ignition timing, your computer’s screen brightness, or your washing machine’s spin cycle, your mind emerges from the factory for a specific mode and speed of operations. Few factory settings ever get adjusted, and many of us wouldn’t know how to change them if we wanted to…….your mind setting can be adjusted, if you know how.”

I’ve worked with many super talented and creative people (I don’t mean craft but mental mode) and they can sometimes be idiosyncratic and be careful, as they can become dysfunctional if you don’t provide the right working environment for them. I truly buy into the fact that we are heading into a “creative” economy and these are the people who can provide organizations a competitive edge. If you can inspire, manage and empower these creative classes, it is definitely a sustainable competitive advantage for any organization. Here I provide a few tips to work with the super creative people - level three creative according to my definition, the top in the creative class which people can also apply analytical thinking and reasoning although it is not their operating system. I call them the “Da Vincis”. I have managed and mentor many “Da Vincis” in my long consulting career and it is also something I truly enjoy. Here are four tips and I (you) may come up with a few more:

Let people see and touch creativity:

Creativity is not part of any corporate culture for most organization. Logic overrules creativity 99% of the time. It is important to explicitly inform people that creativity is truly valued and that needs to be reflected in the physical environment. Certain things need to become part of the rituals. Cultivate an environment that induces creativity. Give people the “white space” for them to jam their ideas. Also provide private space for people to work alone (not all creative types are team players). Some people work well when left alone while others find working in a team far more stimulating. Make it a point to identify when people do their best work and treat them accordingly. Do not impose any single formula for all. Spend money on good furniture. Buy Herman Miller (Speaking of which I just ordered a batch of Mirra and Capers chairs for our office today; I am not an Aeron fan)

Creativity and structure can co-exist:

Creative people can be somewhat undisciplined and be reluctant to follow rigid rules. I hate rules too. In real world we have deadlines and milestones, we must make sure that there is “just enough” structure to ensure that they remain on track and follow time lines but not so much as to stifle creativity. Keep reminding them there are more exciting things to do after this otherwise they will drag on and on because they enjoy the journey so much. Just show them more goodies ahead.

Institutionalize “Strategic Time Wasting”:

Any atmosphere of crisis and tension kills creativity. Creative people need downtime to recharge so always give them time to dream. There is nothing called optimized creativity. Exploration requires time and we need to accept the fact they may have “strategic time wasting” mission as part of their job description. . A situation of constant stress does not let new ideas to flourish. We should encourage them to apply their imagination in the workplace and make sure they are appreciated for those efforts.

Have faith in the people that you picked:

Have faith in the process and the people and do not try to micromanage their work. While routine tasks are important, you have to give people the freedom to explore “white spaces” and work out what may seem foolish ideas. Sometimes their ideas need to be shielded from the sharp knives of business constrain, especially when ideas are incomplete or untested. This will create more favorable conditions for innovative ideas to flourish.

Life's Too Short For the Wrong Job

"Life's too short for the wrong job" Here's an ad for jobsintown.de. Nice work by Berlin agency Scholz & Friends. Have a Great Long Weekend!

Five things a company can do to unlock creativity

I received an email from a friend and she asked me what iare the top five things that a company must do to unlock their collective creativity and boost their team innovation productivity. This is my response:

(1) Set up dedicated workspaces for idea storming ( it needs to be colorful, spacious, with modular furnitures that are movable and with plenty of drawing space;

(2) Get rid or boring formal titles. They don't mean much these days. Go for creative titles that help people to become more who they want to be. Creativity over authority.  ( Thanks to Doug Green as I left this one out in the orginal post )

(3) Develop several informal creative communities (hot teams that are formed around special interest) that blurr boundaries between business minds and creative minds;

(4) Develop a language (visual and verbal) for innovation (needs to be invented by the creative class);

(5) Train the larger team about the art of story-telling (prototype drama);