Business Design
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Using Real Options to Value Design Concepts
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3 min read
The common way that financial people will judge the potential value of a project, or a design concept representing a potential future concept, is by building a model, usually a discounted cash flow model like Net Present Value (NPV). The calculation essentially asks, if we do this project and gain the profit we think we’ll…
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Google Labs Embedded in Gmail
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1 min read
I think a lot about how organizations and their products evolve quickly rather than remain static, and Google Labs are a prime example of that. By developing many alpha products, releasing several public betas, and getting live feedback they use the market to tell them what works. For many companies the notion of releasing your…
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Design Thinking to Finance Skyscapers
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2 min read
In her comment to my post on the recent HBR article on design thinking, my friend HK writes, “What the article is missing is some concrete examples — what do designers do at strategic phases of projects, when the problems they’re solving aren’t explicit design problems?” She goes on to describe three of her own…
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Dan Hill on the Monocle Site Design
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5 min read
Monocle, as a business, a magazine, and a website, is an interesting story. I’m not sure how well the business fares, but it’s been around long enough and the content is growing in quantity and richness that it seems the affairs are in order. Dan Hill recently posted about his work on the design of…
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HBR Finally Runs Their Design Thinking Article
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2 min read
Those of us following the dissemination of the design thinking meme were wondering if and when the Harvard Business Review would jump on board, and the waiting is over. In the June 2008 issue there’s an overview article courtesy of IDEO’s Tim Brown, a logical choice. He makes some key points while sidestepping unnecessary hype.…
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Lately Twitter’s database crashed. They occasionally have to turn off features for technical reasons. Sometimes they’re down and they don’t even know why (having been a sys admin I feel their pain). It seems they’ve picked a service with a a hard technical problem: scaling a web messaging system. And it’s reached the point of…
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Tool: Business Design Concept Poster
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1 min read
Each semester I tweak my Business & Design class as I learn more about how to teach undergrad design students about business, and help them to blend business and design ideas rather than see them as two separate spheres (while relating cautionary tales, as with Ford bean counters who show up at the end and…
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The Ten Distinguishing Properties of Wicked Problems
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2 min read
You may have heard of Rittel and Webber’s wicked problems (problems that are messy, circular, and aggressive). I was interested to see their original paper (pdf) includes ten distinguishing properties “that planners had better be alert to” because “policy problems cannot be definitively described.” There is no definitive formulation of a wicked problem Wicked problems…
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The Wii’s Blue Ocean Has to Float Partners Too
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2 min read
It seems Wii games aren’t selling as well as competitors’ games. The New York Times article cites two culprits: Audience: “They don’t buy new games with the fervor of a traditional gamer who is constantly seeking new stimulation.“ Marketing: “Part of the problem, analysts say, is that other game makers have yet to embrace unconventional…
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If Da Vinci Blogged the Mona Lisa
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1 min read
Comments Cool! But the background looks all messed up. Is it done yet? — The model looks a little schizo — happy and menacing at the same time. Can you fix the smile? — yo leo, what’s with the green thing jutting out of her head?!?! — Cheap baby furniture. Cheap meepit furniture for neopets.…
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Tyler Brûlé on Starting Up
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1 min read
Some facts about his new start up: No research No focus groups No creative conflict No eating at your desk No PowerPoint presentations to clients No walls No freebies No user generated content Photo, link courtesy John Maeda
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Entrepreneurs: Beware of Big Liabilities
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1 min read
The Zollverein School in Essen, Germany was a great hope for the business design field, starting the first MBA of its kind in Europe. But this newspaper story lays out a tale of caution for anyone starting a venture like this. In short, it seems the gorgeous new building they constructed to house the school…
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The Failure of Failure
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2 min read
Much has been written about the importance of failure in design. To improve things we need to try new approaches which sometimes work and sometimes don’t. Straight forward enough, at least to designers. But business managers won’t go near that. “Yes, I need to fail!” Bull-shit, you ain’t gonna hear that in many management offices.…
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Hamel and the Technology-Driven Future of Management
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1 min read
Here’s some terms from a recent interview with Gary Hamel, management guru… digital device Internet the Web Googlers and bloggers and mashers and podcasters community open source projects PCs, routers, and hubs social network MySpace … I’m fascinated by his view that technology — particularly Internet tools — will change management. This isn’t just the…
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Alex’s Draft Business Model Innovation Manual
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1 min read
This draft from Alex Osterwalder is very very interesting… Yesterday I finished a draft for a simple business model innovation manual… The manual will help business people describe their business model step by step, assess its strengths and weaknesses in order to then improve it. I’ve tried teaching business model creation before, and it’s not…