Ideas-Innovation

Global Service Jam Bangalore

2012-01-26T14:57:00.002+05:30

We are organizing Global Service Jam Bangalore...............woooohooooooooooooo

Join, Like, Share https://www.facebook.com/GlobalServiceJam2012.Bangalore
Twitter - @GSJ12_Bangalore
Global Site - http://www.globalservicejam.org/

An App that is Changing Behavior for Safe Sex

2011-12-14T19:19:00.000+05:30

The Sex Profile from ESTER on Vimeo.

Amazing Idea........how can we change similar behaviors towards Smoking, Drinking, Wearing seatbelts, Using low beam at night.

Neeraj

I love thissssssssss

2011-11-30T00:45:00.001+05:30

Love this talk.
I guess we should do more stuff similar projects here. Make people around you loosen up, laugh at themselves, meet each other, participate, have fun.
Being weird is good. Is that spelling correct?

Neeraj

Observing Spaces

2011-10-17T12:57:00.004+05:30

We all shift from one space to the other during the entire day. By space i mean My room, My Bathroom, My breakfast table, My car, My office, My cabin, In the Atm, At the shop, In the elevator, At restaurant, At Canteen, In the bus, My Bedroom, At the Cafeteria, My study room,.........etc.
In each of these spaces we perform various tasks, interact with with various things,
...........how we interact changes, our behavior changes, expectation changes, goals & needs changes.

Good starting point to understand what all spaces people shift during their day. What activities they perform, goals & what all interactions takes place.
For eg: Commuting daily to office in a driver driven car for 40-60 mins.......what interactions takes place there, what are the needs, goals.

Thank You Steve

2011-10-06T17:17:00.000+05:30

Sources : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHineBZTpNw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

By the People

2011-08-27T23:34:00.000+05:30

Policies of the people, for the people & BY the people.
In a remarkable victory of Anna Hazare & millions of us there is one point which come across.
Its the participation of people in forming policies.........totally reversing the entire model.

May be in the future consumers will tell companies what to make instead of viceversa.
How would that happen? What Business model we will have?

Just some thoughts

Neeraj
Image source - msnbc.msn.com http://tinyurl.com/3gzenk5

Searching for Meaning

2011-08-08T16:53:00.000+05:30

Why is that people who stay & serve at a Holy place like Golden Temple have found a meaning to what they are doing............found a couple of them with interesting stories on a recent visit to Golden Temple.
Met this guy over there.........a B.Tech who worked at a Top Indian IT firm...........left it & now stays over there...........said over here i have found meaning & peace.
I sometime wonder

How can Education & Work Environment provide Meaning to people?

Neeraj

Upcoming Documentary on Design Thinking

2011-07-06T13:28:00.000+05:30

Hey everybody
check out the trailer of Design & Thinking .....an upcoming documentary on Design Thinking.
Its still in the making & the unit is looking for donations to complete this project. Help them if you can..........http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1472557232/design-and-thinking-a-documentary

here's the trailer

Neeraj

Standup comedians

2011-06-26T23:26:00.001+05:30

Hey Everybody
Just rewatched Jaspal Bhatti's Flop Show (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flop_Show) ..........was watching Russel Peters the other day..........wow........comedians are amazing observers.....their great talent lies in picking up great insights of the society they are part of. Look at Russel Peters ..........how he picks up insights of different culture........after watching his show u think like wow man....we are like that.......
Too much to learn from these guys.........need to spend more time understanding how they notice behavior & pick up insights.
Was also wondering how can Comedy as a tool be used in organisations............ How can HR people in organisations use comedy to create an environment within organisation wherein an employee is Destressed, Feels Connected to each other & is more imaginative (enhanced creativity).

Too much to learn from these guys.

Tc
Neeraj

Mhealth - Role & Opportunities in India

2011-06-23T02:14:00.001+05:30

Hi everybody
So here are some questions

- How can we extend the reach of our basic healthcare facilities? – Considering India has less than 7lakh functional hospital beds of which more than 40% are located in top 20 cities & we have less than 6.5 lakh qualified doctors.

- How can we detect & control the availability of adulterated medicines? - Considering we have high incidence of adulterated & expired medicines in the market estimated approx 20%

- How can people be empowered with information to stay healthy? – Considering a rise in Lifestyle diseases in urban cities (diabetes, depression, etc)

- Can being healthy be made sexy, aspirational & be incentivized?

- How to change behavior of people to be more health conscious? & above all
What role Mobile devices play in addressing all of the above

Barcamp is always a great place to gather & discuss ideas. Recently me & my friend Bhavya (check her blog - http://bhavyavoice.blogspot.com/) presented about Mhealth at Barcamp Bangalore.

We spoke on Mhealth - Role, Challenges & Opportunities in India

A lot is being said about Mhealth. It is being described as the next big thing after Mobile entertainment & Mobile Finance. So what exactly is Mhealth. Well, according to UN foundation Mhealth stands for Provision of health related services via mobile communications.
A lot is being done in the field of medicine.

Check out Daniel Kraft TEDx talk about upcoming Innovations in the field of healthcare. Includes lot of examples on how Mobile Devices are also being used.

As we searched around, we found a plethora of applications on the app store. However as we prepared our talk ....focused on Indian context, some questions remained –

Do Mobile Devices have a significant role to play in India & more importantly what role considering low awareness & attention being paid to health. Also low use of smartphones if we take the entire 750 million phones or so. Majority of people still have the basic mobile phones……so apps are out of question.

Some what are the possible roles that mobile devices can play in India in health domain:
Mobile devices can play the following roles in Indian context.

Extend reach - Considering India has less than 7 lakh functional hospital beds of which more than 40% are located in top 20 cities & we have less than 6.5 lakh qualified doctors, mobile devices can be used extend reach of basic health related information.
Mobile devices can play two important roles to address a issue like this. First how to enable people to prevent diseases instead of fighting diseases. If people are able to prevent diseases then the burden of patients on the health infrastructure will be a lot lesser. Can SMS be a method .Can the devices be used to make people aware on how to stay healthy.
The second role could be to extend the reach of already available healthcare professionals & facilities. ……Imagine the role that mobile devices can play in helping Asha & Anganwadi workers to update their skills regularly & learn about how to treat… Can there be possibility to empower people in villages to have the knowledge of a doctor in the city …Can upcoming technologies like 3D be used to help in simulating the treatment process.
Can there be a new business opportunity for Mobile Service Networks to link a doctor & patient who are at different places.

Check & Control - How can every person purchasing a medicine know that he his not purchasing an adulterated medicine. What role mobile devices can play to address these issues. What kind of services are we talking about. Which technology can be used.

Detection – Can we detect epidemics early & restrict their spread. How can mobile devices play a role here.

Change Behavior – How to change behavior of people to being aware & knowledgeable about being healthy. Can being healthy be made inspirational & incentivized. Can people share how healthy they are. How to empower people with the knowledge of what is good health. Can metrics be made available for them to keep a track of how they are doing. Can we take some inspirations from gamefication trend & incentivize people.

I think although mobile devices can play a very important role, still I think we will face some issues like Authenticity of information being provided (Can we trust the information), Accountability on the information being shared (Who will be accountable – will mobile service providers be accountable for information they provide) & Affordability. Going ahead this area promises to offer a huge market & a lot of Business opportunities. However there has be a collaboration between Hospitals (for Authentic Information), Service Providers (for building the platform) & Government (for making it affordable).

I guess there is enough reasons to believe that Mobile devices can play an important role in addressing healthcare issues.

Check out the recent Coca Cola commercial reasons to believe – pretty cool

Tc
Neeraj

Statistics Sources – Business Standard - http://tinyurl.com/62jf52d
PWC - http://tinyurl.com/62klff3
mHealth for Development, UN Foundation - http://tinyurl.com/aptf7m
Coca Cola ad - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vKDOWAf5M8

Future of Design & Design thinking

2011-04-04T18:54:00.004+05:30

Hey everybody
chk out this video of Tim Brown discussing Future of design & design thinking with Bruce Nussbaum. Interesting points there (particularly from 42 min).

Neeraj
video source : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D18Jyl-aWIY

Airports for Frequent flyers

2010-12-19T16:47:00.001+05:30

hey Everybody

Recently got shifted to new city.
Also Recently saw the amazing Up in the Air movie.

While I was at the Airport, I wondered how would people who fly atleast 150 days or more in a year (in the movie the character played by George Clooney spend most of the year flying) would feel everytime they visit airports.
What is an Airport to them - a pit stop to relax & rewind or an unnecessary & tiring stopover? How can the experience of airport be defined by them.
Do they look forward to visit the same airport multiple times in a year?.........How can airports be designed to provide new experiences to frequent travelers visiting same airport multiple times in a year?
Do these guys value time & speed to leisure & experience?........
Can there be quick airports with entry into airport & boarding into plane in 15 min flat & with no shop/food courts - taking inspiration from low cost airlines model.

just some thoughts
Neeraj

picture source: http://tinyurl.com/34r2g8b

Rethinking Waste Management

2010-09-02T06:17:00.002+05:30

http://tinyurl.com/25amwxf

Hi Everybody
Not been writing actively for a while. Need to read more i guess.....

Recently a business channel had a program on waste & waste management activities in India. The program was quite informative & it showcased activities being undertaken to manage various types of waste by government & private players.
It also highlighted how a urgent attention is needed by both government & private players to manage & recycle waste.

The program got me thinking.
Is managing & recycling waste, only way to solve the problem.
How about before managing & recycling, let's step back & look at why do we have waste in the first place, its proper disposal & collection activities.

Government & Private players, no doubt should make efforts to manage & recycle waste but i think this problem should also be looked at from the front end :

Why have waste - I want to understand - Why waste is waste - is it because it has lost its economic value or life.
Is there a way to develop items (bottles, bags, packaging, material, etc) which can be used again or have multiple uses......to extend their life.........with one usage motive complete they can transform into another.
Is their a business opportunity to use waste/unused products.........
-- Can a business be created which uses scrap or waste material so that these items are used again. Check out Delhi based Green the Gap (http://greenthegap.com) which utilizes cartons, leather, etc to create beautiful lifestyle products as well as generate employment locally.
--Can there be ebay kind of platform for swapping old & unused items with a charitable angle to it so that people feel good when they donate/give away their old & unused items.
-- Can there be a business which actually takes your old & unused items & provides you with incentives on new ones. Check out Future Group's effort on swapping old items with new http://www.hindustantimes.com/Big-Bazaar-s-offer-to-swap-old-goods-for-new/Article1-59460.aspx
-- What's the diff between people who take care of environment & those who not. Can companies appreciate their effort. How about making them role models.

Managing Disposal - Without proper segregation from the customer end what happens is that huge time is wasted in waste segregation of diff type later.
What measures can be taken to instill a behavior of proper segregation right at the customer/home end so that it reduces unnecessary effort by government personnel.
Can we make sorting & segregation fun. have a look at the following video from the Fun Theory & check out their effort to make returning plastic bottle a fun experience.

Apart from ongoing government efforts, I think the problem of waste management should also be dealt with instilling a proper behavior among individuals to minimize their wastage, proper segregation & having products which have multiple usages. Lots more can be done & i think this problem should be seen as an opportunity for business & government.

Neeraj
Video Source - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSiHjMU-MUo
Photo source - http://tinyurl.com/25amwxf

Inception

2010-07-27T00:57:00.003+05:30

Hey everyone

Recently saw Inception. A must watch.
It got me thinking.
From where ideas come from?
What is Inspiration?
How to alter/influence others?

Do catch the movie. Great one

Also noticed that film is difficult to understand & require repetitive viewing. Is that by coincidence or by Design?
A strategy to ensure repetitive viewing by having difficult to understand concept.
Give it a thought.

Neeraj

Photo Source: http://thezaz.nationallampoon.com/files/2010/05/inception-poster.jpeg

Changing role of Design professionals

2010-06-03T00:42:00.000+05:30

Hey Everybody
Loved this talk by Don Norman. He Hints a lot of things on how the role of Design professionals/ Design agencies will be changing in the coming years.

Don Norman at IIT Design Research Conference 2010 from IIT Institute of Design on Vimeo.

Neeraj
Video Source : http://vimeo.com/12022651

Design & Innovation resources- April 2010

2010-05-07T02:09:00.002+05:30

http://tinyurl.com/2f8f6ao

Hey Everybody........
Here are some articles that I found interesting in the month of April.

1. An Article about GO JIYO (India's first 3D virtual reality world by Godrej). Check Article
2. Economist came out with a special report on innovation in emerging markets. Check Article
3. Accenture's group COO talks about key issues companies are facing post recession, growth opportunities for businesses in emerging markets and how business of consulting is changing. Check Article
4. Check out this amazing article by IIMB faculty about competition. Check Article
5. Check out Ideaken.......(Inspired from Innocentive?). Link
6. Check out the great talk by Prof. Anil Gupta (Honey Bee Network) at TED India. Link

Was wondering what type of Design & Business Model will be needed for these grassroot innovations inorder to make them commercially successful.

7. Micromax has become India's 3rd largest mobile phone vendor. check out its story & what approach they undertook to compete. Check Article'
8. Blackberry is facing intense competition from other Smart phones. Check out how they plan to compete. Check Article
9. Check out how IBM's virtual supercomputer is tapping unused processors of half a million people like you & me for scientific research. Check Article
10. Is Innovation Overrated. Is Imitation better for fast paced & successful growth. Check out an article on Imitation economy. Check Article
11. Check out a product design company with a different approach & business model. Check Article
12. Great Article on How Designers Think.......Check Article
13. Is Geo Location the next big thing in social media. Check Article
14. Talking about Geo Location.....Here's an article discussing whether opportunities & relevance that Foursquare offers for Business. Check Article
15. Will Smart Lenses be the Bluetooth headsets for future? Check out
16. How to Design for China. Jan Chipchase & Mark Rolston of Frog Design discusses. Check Article
17. Post It turns 30. Check Article

Thanks
Neeraj

Rethinking Match Box Category

2010-05-03T19:38:00.001+05:30

Photo Source: http://tinyurl.com/2vh4dr2

http://ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

While looking for a matchbox during a powercut a thought came to my mind.
When was the last time we heard of some Innovation in the Inexpensive Matchbox (per unit cost around 50 paisa) category.
What are the possibilities of re-thinking how a matchbox is used, bought, distributed, perceived & manufactured. What if we were to change the meaning that Matchbox as a product offers - from a functional product used by the masses to light to being a fashionable item collected by the classes.
What will be the Business implications...........will it open new market space for the Industry, Improve Margins, Boost Demand.
What design elements we can use to achieve this objective. What Business Model changes will likely to be Implemented.

Thanks

Neeraj

Design & Innovation resources- March 2010

2010-03-31T11:04:00.002+05:30

Hey Everybody
Here are some of the links I found both Interesting & Useful being posted in the month of March. I have divided them into the categories of Innovation & Design Thinking, Basics, Reframing/Rethinking, Competition & Resources.

Innovation & Design Thinking

1. Check out the Ten Innovations that will Transform Medicine in an article on HBR (Check Link)
2. Jocelyn Bailey posted 4 visions on the world tomorrow & how to shape your company around them (Check Link)
3. Here is the list of 15 design tips you can learn from Apple (Check Link) Nice read.
4. Learn about how mobile phones are transforming economy, society & lives of people in Africa (Check Link)
5. Jane Fulton Suri of Ideo authored an interesting paper titled - Informing Our Intuition: Design Research for Radical Innovation. (Check Link)
6. Paula Thornton takes a critical look at the books by Tim Brown & Roger Martin. Check the review. (Check Link)
7. Now, What do U.S. President Jack Kennedy, snowboarder Shaun White, and Indian tycoon Ratan Tata have in common? Check out the article by Vijay Govindarajan on BusinessWeek (Check Link)
8. What does it takes to come out with a winning mobile phone. Check out as Izwan Ismail talks to Nokia designers & finds out. (Check Link)
9. Do Improv comedians make the best design thinkers. One professors beleives so. Check it out. (Check link)
10. How banks can do better. Here is a post by Ideo's Ryan Jacoby. (Check Link)
11. Learn how to get noticed in a crowded market in this FastCompany Article. (Check link)
12. Bhagwan Chowdhry's FAB Campaign Aims to Put $100 in Bank Account for Every Baby. Learn How. (Check Link)
13. How Web 2.0 might foster & enable an Innovation revolution. Check it out. (Check Link)
14. Roger Martin and Jennifer Riel wrote about the decline of Miramax films & what we can learn. (Check Link)
15. Materials driving product Innovation in 2010. (check link)

Basics
1. Paul Thurston & Nick Marsh posted a brief guide to Service Design. (Check Link)
2. I found a special report by MIT Sloan on Design Thinking which includes couple of articles. (Check Link)
3. Although it has been posted in Oct 08, still like this video of Roger Martin explaining what is Design Thinking & Integrative Thinking. (Check Link)
4. Thinking & doing Ethnography in Service Design. (Check Link)
5. Here's ten steps of becoming the designer you want to be. (Check Link)

Reframing/ Rethinking
1. Check out the article on Redesigning the Concept and Role of the Automobile. (Check Link)
2. Check out the article by Dr. Jay Parkinson on How to redesign healthcare. (Check Link)
3. Rethinking washing machine. (Check link)
4. Rethinking the C-Suite. (Check Link)

Competition
1. IIT- Kanpur is holding the NEXT50 Innovation Challenge. (Check Link)

Resources
1. Lots of papers from the DMI conference 2008 - Design thinking : New Challenges for Designers, managers & organisations. (Check Link)
2. Check out the 10 essential design tools for Social Media pros (Check Link)
3. A dedicated channel on service design on Guardian. (Check Link)
4. Free Design eBooks. (Check Link)
5. Love This talk by Gary Vaynerchuk. (Check Link)
6. Check out the cool Infographics. (Check Link)
7. Experientia Design is on Vimeo. check out their channel. (Check Link)

Thanks
Neeraj

Picture Source: Check Link

Who cares about Brands?

2010-03-14T19:03:00.003+05:30

ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

Have a look at above video posted by Trendwatching.com (part of their latest breifing) showcasing what do people think of Brands.

Does brands mean anything to consumers.........

What approach brands should follow to stay relevant.

Thanks

Neeraj

Video Source : Trendwatching.com

Design & Innovation Resources -Feb 2010

2010-03-04T01:55:00.003+05:30

Hey Everybody

Its been an eventful month with lots of happening in the design world. Here are some of the links that i found interesting from the world of design.

1. Jan end saw the launch of Apple I-Pad. Robert Fabricant provides his views as to why the Ipad is the GAMES changer. check link

2. FastCompany is out with its list of World's Most Innovative Companies. Check Link

3. Design Observer posted an Inspiring interview with Anil Gupta of the National Innovation Foundation highlighting his initiatives to discover & help Grassroot Innovators in India. Check Link

4. Seth Godin posted a good post on 'Random rules for ideas worth spreading'. Check Link

5. BBC website is in the midst of revamping its website. Here is the story of the creation of its new global visual language . Check Link

6. Ideo came out with a new mobile application of their method cards. Check Link

7. Stanford D School uploaded a talk of Prof. Bernie Roth, one of the d.school's founders talking about how design has changed over the years from design of objects to design of almost everything. Check link

8. FastCompany in its latest magazine has couple of great articles. Check out this one 'Business advice from Van Halen' (Can we set up systems wherein problems would surface automatically before they actually occur. Reminds me of Poka Yoke system in my Kaizen Class). Check link

9. The Finance Minister of India recently presented his budget. Here is a Infographic of the budget. Check link.

10. I found this useful article about Ten ways to measure Design Success by DMI. Check link

Thanks

Neeraj

Image Source: check Link

Design & Innovation Resources

2010-01-21T11:14:00.004+05:30

Hey Everybody

A lot has been going lately in the design thinking & Innovation fields.

Following are the sources which I found to be extremely useful.

Don Norman's post questioning the importance & relevance of design research for breakthrough Innovation has caused quite a spur.

Here is the link to Don Norman's Article (Check here)

Some replies to Don Norman can be read at

1. Adam Richardso (Check here)

2. Bruce Nussbaum's reply (Check here)

In addition there were very interesting articles explaining design thinking & its role.

1. Check this amazing post by Brian Collins explaining the role of a design through a tale of a donkey & a banjo (Check here)

2. Venessa Miemis wrote about what is design thinking. check her article here (Check here)

3. Bruce MacGregor (managing partner IDEO) wrote an amazing article on how does design thinking give companies a competitive advantage? (Check here)

4. Darrel Rhea at Cheskin wrote about the Backlash - Designers vs Design thinking (Check here)

5. Tim Brown talked about Why we all need Design thinking in an interview with Forbes Magazine (Check here)

6. AIGA posted videos from The AIGA Design Conference 2009. (Check here)

7. Business week listed best design/Innovation books of 2009. (Check here)

Apart from these there were couple of Interesting posts & articles highlighting trends & events going on.

1. JWT Intelligence posted a list of 100 things to watch in 2010 (Check here)

2. Interesting talk by Kiran Bir Sethi on Ted about the Riverside School in India explaining how the school is teaching kids to believe in themselves & take initiative.(Check here)

3. CES just got over. Here is a link highlighting some of the main features at this year's CES (Check here)

Neeraj

Photo source : JWT 100 things to watch in 2010 (link)

What's common between Aravind Eye Care & Rocket Singh movie

2009-12-13T22:05:00.003+05:30

Hi there everybody...

Now what is common between Aravind Eye Care & a new Hindi feature film Rocket Singh.

I recently saw the talk of Thulasiraj Ravilla from Aravind & also happen to catch Rocket Singh.

Happen to notice things which were very similar in both of them.

Here are the common points :

Having a Sense of Purpose
Being User Centric
Having a Passion to excel
Persistence to face challenges & Innovate
Challenging the current industry mindset

I believe both of these are unique case studies in Design Thinking. Below is the talk Thulasiraj Ravilla from Aravind eye care recently being posted on TED. For Rocket Singh you can catch the movie at a theatre near you.

Thanks

Neeraj

Video source: http://www.ted.com/talks/thulasiraj_ravilla_how_low_cost_eye_care_can_be_world_class.html

Photo source: http://images.google.co.in

Opportunity amidst underperformers

2009-11-28T23:56:00.003+05:30

ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

"Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful."—Warren Buffett

I guess the quote by the great man says it all. Mtv & Ipod, both were born during recessions. What is it that make some people view a difficult situation as an opportunity while to others it’s a dead end. We all have heard of the glass half full & half empty expression signifying optimism to some while others being pessimist by it.

So where am I heading:

Check this out. If you look at it, the general tendency of most business channels, newspapers, magazines is to discuss sectors & companies which are growing & promise to offer better returns. In short, such sectors/ companies offer returns which can be reaped.

Hang on…. but what about the companies which are in declining sectors & are being looked as unattractive. Do they offer any opportunity.

Let s take an example of Circus Du Soleil. In a time when the circus industry was being looked as an unattractive industry with a wide variety of alternative entertainment options (TV, playstation, multiplexes) available, Circus Du Soleil re-wrote the rules of the game. Inshort it made circus cool again.

So whats the point.

I think Industries/sectors/companies which are not performing well or are being written off offer a greater incentive & opportunity to Innovate & re write the rules. I think the problem is not that people don’t need goods & services of companies which are not doing well but in most case it’s the conflict in the alignment of whats the company is offering & what people wants. Through Integrative & Design thinking one can relook the value that is being desired & what the company can offer & thus think of models which satisfy human needs &rewrite the rules.

Thanks

Neeraj

PhotoSource: http://www.corbisimages.com/Enlargement/Enlargement.aspx?id=42-20908001&caller=search

Cultures

2009-11-03T12:29:00.004+05:30

Hi everybody

Writing in after a long time..........

So what i have been upto.......

Well been to my hometown in Delhi. Its been around 4 years since I have been staying away (Mumbai & Pune) from my hometown. In past couple of years, I have had the privilege to experience different cultures of these two cities (Mumbai & Pune) which I find are quite distinct as compared to Delhi.

Immediately after landing on Delhi airport, I felt a change in culture. Although it wasn't alien to me as Delhi is my hometown, but somehow I felt certain change in the environment, sounds, behavior.

I started thinking about culture & began to ponder over questions like

- What constitutes a culture of a city/company.

- Can we define culture of a city/company.

- Is it possible to recreate the culture of the city/company.

Although I am still finding answers to the above, but I truly believe that culture of a company/city play an important role in deciding its success. While on a visit to Toyota's factory in Japan, I noticed their culture embracing user centricity & continuous improvement. One of the senior manager of Mattel once told me that it is culture that differentiates the good & great companies.

But how cultures are created & for that matter what constitutes a culture.

I think culture of city/company originates from a Purpose. Some call it vision but i think its the purpose which clearly shapes the culture of the company/city.

A company whose purpose will be to Innovate & bring new products/services will have a very different culture from the one focused on efficiency.

I guess HR managers pay a lot of attention in developing & harnessing a culture of their company which is aligned to their company's purpose.

But can we analyse a culture of a city/company.

Ethnographic research provide excellent tools for analyzing culture of a city/company & determining whether it is aligned to the purpose.

Some of the areas in which I think one would want to analyze a culture :

- Post merger/acquisition inorder to align cultures of two companies

- Company undertaking a new vision

- City, wanting to bring social change & improve image

I think culture is an important aspect of city/company & the right culture can channelize the energies of people to fulfill the higher purpose.

Got this ad of HSBC describing importance of understanding different cultures. Check it out.

Thanks

Neeraj

Video Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK_NinOmFWw

Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rzs/1452117214/

Competing in Commoditized Market- Learnings from Indian Fruit & Vegetable Market

2009-09-27T12:21:00.009+05:30

ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

Hi Everybody

Recently couple of my friends & I visited the local fruits & vegetable market (picture above).

One of the Interesting thing I noted there was that the fruits & vegetable market (pic above) somewhat reflected the same condition prevalent in any other sector (Aviation, Retail etc) with many sellers selling homogenous products which are commoditized. Now of course the scenario of a Perfect Competition in the fruits & vegetable market is slightly more as compared to being present in other sectors due to advertising & branding efforts being used in other sectors to differentiate.

But this got me thinking..............

If you look at it, as a customer when I visit to the fruits & vegetable market, I am not dedicated to one vendor (as there are many sellers & everybody is selling the same thing). Since there are many vendor, as a buyer I can negotiate the price to a very large extent. I look for quality, but almost all sellers have quality fruits & vegetables.

Then the big question is:

How does vendors in the fruits & vegetable market differentiate themselves (remember everybody is selling the same thing with no branding/packaging)

I spent couple of hours trying to understand how do these vendors differentiate themselves & attract customers.

Here are some of the observations:

Being Different ('stall design')- As people passed from one fruit stall to another, I noticed that they tend to stop at stalls which were designed differently from others. It may be product placement/ certain items being kept. Notice in the below picture a stall is designed using decorative bulbs & shiny disco balls!!!. Notice how the products are cut & displayed.

At Vendor's cost- Haggling is a way of life in India. I guess in India we tend to be satisfied when we have gained something at vendor's cost. I think vendors understand this & they are pretty smart at it.....so instead of keeping a fixed price policy, they offer high prices & let the buyer negotiate. After some hard bargaining they finally sell items generating a profit at the same time providing a feeling to the buyer of having gained something at vendor's cost.

Reflecting Freshness- People look for freshness & quality when buying fruits & vegetables. In order to ensure the items on display reflect these, the vendors sprinkled water on them to generate a feeling of freshness. Water also ensured removal of dust from the items.

Generating a feeling of limited time availability- I get a feeling that the fear of loosing out on good deal adds a reason for the buyer to buy something. Similar thing was observed in the fruits & vegetable market. Vendors told buyers of the limited time availability, seasonal effect, limited stock. The idea was to generate a feeling of limited availability so that buyers fear of loosing out on good deals & can buy.

Now if you look at it, the Fruits & Vegetable market is not a scenario that any company would like to be in (as it is a highly commoditized market, a state of Perfect competition, no investment on branding & advertising methods to differentiate). Still the vendors who are operating in this market understands nitties gritties of Indians & Indian Culture so well that they have successfully integrated their understanding into their business to earn a profit. I believe companies/industry sectors (OEM's, FMCG etc) can learn so much from these sellers about India, Indian consumer & how to compete in commoditized market.

Thanks

Neeraj

Photo Source: Girish

Age of Innovation

2009-09-14T18:32:00.003+05:30

Hi Everyone

Recently I wrote an article as a guest blogger on the Importance of Innovation in Indian context for Trak.in (among Top Ten Indian Business Blogs).

Here is a link to the same. Check it out.

http://trak.in/tags/business/2009/09/14/age-of-innovation/

Thanks

Neeraj

Photo Source: http://trak.in/

Problem Framing

2009-09-10T09:33:00.006+05:30

Hi everyone

Now, Problem Framing is one of the core tools of design thinking.

But I wanted to know more about the same.

I got these two videos by Institute of Design explaining the concept of Problem framing in design by giving examples.

Check them out.

Also you may want to check out my previous article on Framing. (http://ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/2009/07/httpideas-innovation.html)

Thanks

Neeraj

Source: http://vimeo.com/5750600

http://vimeo.com/6180364

Design Challenge for India

2009-09-04T12:59:00.006+05:30

ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

Hi Everyone.

Recently I visited Mumbai. While we crossed the bridge, admiring the engineering marvel, couple of us started discussing that the transition from being a developing country to a developed country has finally happened for India. As we went ahead, we noticed lot of people standing in the middle of the road & amidst a huge traffic Jam.

An accident had taken place a while back of a motorcyclist. The rider was lying unconscious in the middle of the road with many people surrounding him. Apprantley it turned out that people were ready to help but did'nt know what to do. Luckily after a while a lady doctor who was crossing the scene, stopped by & helped. It turned out that the motorcyclist had a fracture too. After a while he was taken to the hospital.

Healthcare it seems is one of the biggest design challenge that India faces at present. 'What to do' when a person is faced with an accident/ medical emergencies. How can every Indian be educated in basic first aid knowledge of handling emergencies. How can we turn Ignorance into Empowerment that can save someone else life when every seconds count. What businesses can emerge in this field.

I think everyone (especially Design thinkers) should take notice of this problem & provide ways to turn Ignorance into empowerment.

Thanks

Neeraj

Photosource: Self

Learning from being a DJ

2009-08-18T03:43:00.003+05:30

http://ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

Hi Everyone,

Just started a small course in learning how to be a DJ.

It’s been a while since I first started listening to Trance, house & other similar kind of music.

While playing at the class, a thought came to my mind……what can managers learn from a DJ?

Have made couple of observations on what we can learn from a DJ:

1. Always look from your audience perspective - Great DJs seem to be masters in knowing what kind of audience they are facing & what type of music they will prefer (although the audience may not be able to express what they want). Great DJs s seems to know that it may not be what they like but what music their audience prefers that matters. They always seem to think in terms of what their audience want & seem to use their talent to play accordingly. (Lesson to be learnt- Understand latent needs of your customer & mould your capabilities in offering the same).

2. Give your audience a reason- A reason to party, a reason to come together & meet friends, a reason to listen to good music & leave worries. (Lesson to be learnt- what reason you are giving your customer to pick your product/service)

3. Being a Performer- I have noticed that great DJ's don't just play music but they perform . Also, they seem to become part of their audience. (Lesson to be learnt- How can your Target audience may welcome you/your product to be a part of their lifestyle, what type of emotional elements you need to infuse in your brand/product/service to be welcomed by your target group into their lives).

4. Another point I have noticed is that after every event the audience feels ecstatic & also asks that the DJ should carry on playing for hours. (lesson to be learnt-How can your product/service generate that kind happiness among its Target Audience in a way that they ask more of your product/service. Imagine customer happiness leading to Pull sales which means no advertising effort required)

5. Having Followers & building a community- Great Dj’s have huge number of followers who many times promote their events, albums, etc. They set up platform where Fans form communities linking like minded people & giving them a purpose to enjoy & educate about great music. (Lesson to be learnt- Is your brand/product/service having followers who buy, adore & promote your brand/product/service without being asked for. Are you giving them a purpose that they can relate to & start a movement)

6. And just one more point -they always seems to experiment, Innovate & thus Create.

Think about it while enjoying some great music.

Thanks

Neeraj

Photo Source: Taken by my friend Girish

Cross Pollinators

2009-08-10T06:38:00.004+05:30

Hi everybody

One of the key skills of design thinkers is to Cross Pollinate/ draw insights from various disciplines & comeup with Innovative ideas. Ideo calls its people to be T shaped people, who enjoy a breadth of knowledge in many fields but also have depth in atleast one area of expertise. One of the benefits what I have felt working with these kind of people is that they seem to look at a problem from various perpectives at the same time draw insights from various unrelated fields. They think in metaphors & see relationships across disciplines.

Janine Benyus recently gave a talk at TED Global about Biomimicry in action by highlighting various examples about what we can learn from nature in solving design problems.

Have a look at this amazing talk.

Thanks

Neeraj

Source: http://www.trentgillaspie.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/t-300x199.jpg

http://www.ted.com/talks/janine_benyus_biomimicry_in_action.html

Hate Something...Think Different....Change something

2009-08-05T09:49:00.004+05:30

http://ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

Think Different- That's what all of them in the picture above did & were featured in the Apple's famous campaign. What difference does it make when you think different? I guess the only difference is that you will in your own way change the world by contributing something.

From Tata nano to the Supply chain model of Dabbawalla all of them have thought differently & thus are recognized globally.

But from where does the Inspiration to think differently comes from. I guess it comes from a Purpose & from where does the purpose comes from. Your purpose may come from when you Hate something so bad that it becomes your purpose to change something.

Have a look at the following ad of Honda talking about the same philosophy of Hating something & changing something.

Many companies are trying to make a change by thinking Different. D light is a solar powered lighting company that came out of Stanford D School. The company adopts design thinking philosophy & has the purpose of providing light for 100 million products by 2020. The company operates in India, China & East Africa.

Dr. Venkataswamy had a purpose to eliminate needless blindness & thus he set up Aravind which today is the largest & most productive eye care facility in the world. Have a look at his story. Also note how he drew example from Mc Donald's & wanted to set up franchisee based system for eye hospital (Cross Disciplinary learning- one of the key skills of a Design Thinker).

TV commercials by Idea Mobile (cellular service in India) also talks about thinking different & briniging a change. check out the following commercial highlighting the power of Mobile telephony to address the socially relevant theme of education in India & how we can teach more students with the same number of teachers available.

Recently Michael Pritchard gave a talk at TED GLOBAL about his Lifesaver filter which he created with a purpose of providing filthy water drinkable to everyone, anytime, anywhere. Have a look at his talk in which he highlight that by having a purpose & thinking different he was able to create lifesaver filter. Have a look.

So in short Hate something, have a Purpose, Think Different & Change something

Thanks

Neeraj

Sources: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bh3HP51rJs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cjnNPua7Ag

http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_pritchard_invents_a_water_filter.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwRCBHhyrAA

http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/commercials/2005/10/Apple-think-different.jpg

Empathy & being User Centric

2009-08-02T03:34:00.006+05:30

http://ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

Hi all

Below is a diagram featuring two kinds of business systems. Have a look and before reading any further determine which kind of system you prefer.

Ok... the first system starts from the User- his/her needs, desires, emotions, wants being converted into products/services& business created around it. In the second, the business assess its capability, produces something & then finds a way to fit into users life.

In the first system, the focus is always the User & the objective of business is to find his/her latent need which can be fulfilled. The approach of this kind of system is being EMPATHETIC. Each & every employee in this system is empathetic towards the needs & wants of user.

The second system starts with the focus on Business capabilities giving rise to products & then it start looking for a consumer. The approach followed here is to hard sell to POTENTIAL user.

The first one based on Empathetic approach leads to discovery of Insights which provide new Ideas leading to Products which users actually want & Love.

The second one demands higher marketing costs which inturn increases product/service costs being offered without the guarantee that user will buy it.

DUDE enough of Management Fundas....come to the point ...

Ok….Be EMPATHETIC & User Centric… because it provides ideas for Innovation leading to success & what user wants.

An Eg:

Below is a photo of a restaurant near my place which is operated by Multinational Company. Most of the Sundays are like this with people waiting outside. I myself waited once for One & half hours to get in. Many people do not wait & after some time leave & the staff seems to not care because the place is already full.

By being Empathetic towards these potential customers (they want to have food from this place & enjoy the evening)...the restaurant can sure think of ideas wherein these customers can also be served.

Consider this from a business point of view, each time a person leaves after waiting for sometime, there is loss of a Potential sale.

So what Ideas can we think of……..

-How about making the whole situation in a fun way.....Give free drinks to people waiting for more than 15 minutes. (Show that their time is also Important & we care)

-How about Introducing a Sunday only Meet the stranger concept wherein strangers share a table so that no seat remains empty, making a way to optimize space problem at the same time connect with total strangers. Add some Ice breaker concepts.

- Delete all the non value added activities from the system.....take orders from those while they are waiting to remove ordering time while the person is in. Fasten the bill & taking money process.

- Acknowledge each waiting customer & thank them that they have come to their place & are waiting. A simple & sincere thanks can go a long way ensuring loyalty from customers.

- Give discounts on takeaway on Sunday so that people order for take away’s & don’t have to come at the store itself.

That’s It……..come on…u can think of some more ideas.

I believe this is just a start…..by giving serious consideration to the needs of these people, I m sure we can think of Ideas which can serve the user’s purpose to have food & also serve Business purpose of not loosing any customer coming to the place.

Barry Schwartz gave a TED talk on Practical Wisdom highlighting how Hospital Janitors went out of their way , showed empathy towards patients & relatives to satisfy their unarticulated need. I think it all start & end by being Consumer Centric which I believe is the root of Innovation……have a look at the Inspiring Video.

Thanks

Neeraj

Video Source: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/barry_schwartz_on_our_loss_of_wisdom.html

Indian Grassroot Innovations

2009-07-30T16:31:00.004+05:30

http://ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

A question just came to my mind.

Is 'Necessity the mother of all Innovations!!!'.

I mean we all have heard of Innovation processes of large blue chip companies which hire people from crème de la crème Institutes who work to solve problems with the objective to find the next growth path for company or solve economic & society issues.

But what exactly motivates a common man to come up with an Innovative Idea? What Motivates him/her to create something new with bare minimum resources? What makes them to persevere even after many failures?

Do they have the need to change things which makes them to carry on & Innovate.

Below are some of the many, many examples from India wherein common people have Innovated & changed things at the same time creating a possibility to set up new entrepreneurial Indian Ventures.

This is what I call GRASSROOT INNOVATIONS.

Check out the following Videos of INDIAN INNOVATORS. Also check out the National Innovation Foundation providing institutional support in scouting, spawning, sustaining and scaling up grassroots innovations and helping their transition to self supporting activities.

What can we do to make these unique Ideas into a profitable & sustaining businesses & unlock their massive values?

Some of the colleges like Welingkar Institute of Management have already started this process (of which I was part of, while I was in Welingkar) of providing marketing & business knowledge assistance & are developing business concepts/models.

Here are the Videos

More Videos on Youtube. Type Indian Innovators

Thanks

Neeraj

Source: http://www.youtube.com/ http://www.nif.org.in/

Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/frame_us/3140950401/ by Primus D'Mello

TED GLOBAL: Looking forward for these talks

2009-07-28T10:39:00.005+05:30

http://ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

Hi Everyone

TedGlobal is over. Following are three main talks that I am eagerly waiting to see:

1) DAN Pink: Looking forward for the talk by Dan pink wherein he demonstrates that giving incentives may not necessarily lead to better & quick performance as the nature of problems been faced by employees have changed over the years. Presently people work on problems which are abstract, ambiguous & which have never been solved before. In these kind of problems there can be a possibility of multiple results so it his hard to focus on one particular goal. Can we use Design tools & methods & combine it with Business logic to create something new & beneficial.

Waiting for his talk .

2) The second talk that I am looking forward is from Janine Benyus. Janine Benyus works in the field of bio-mimicry & by looking at the natural world she designs things elegantly. One of the key takeaway from her talk will be to infuse cross-disciplinary learning. For eg: She mentions JR West, makers of high-speed bullet trains, found that when they entered tunnels the train built up pressure and created the equivalent of a sonic boom. Engineers looked at how the kingfisher entered the water and redesigned the train. It solved the problem of the tunnel noise, made the train 10% faster and 15% more efficient.

How we can solve present problems using this cross disciplinary learning. What we can Observe, learn & implement from our surroundings to solve our problems like developing 100% eco friendly plastic, etc. Looking forward for her talk.

3) The third talk that I am waiting for is by Tim Brown where he asks "What happens if you move from design to design-making?". He talks about how the field of design has changed over the years with designers shifted from broader view to narrower view & focused on aesthetics. He mentions that the field of design is once again changing by focusing on human centricity. Designers are now shifting from their sole focus on ergonomics to focusing on human needs & designing products/services/businesses around them. He also points out the importance of prototyping.

Looking forward for this talk.

Incidentally, before going to his talk, Tim had asked people via twitter (#CBDQ) the kinds of questions design thinking might be used to tackle.

I also participated, Here are my list of questions that I sent which I think design thinking might be used to tackle.

1. To measure the carbon footprint

2. To develop solutions that instead of depleting resources, actually create them

3. How to ensure that everyone votes in elections (100% voter turnout) anywhere specially countries like India.

4. Providing MENTAL Insurance to people with depression.

5. When will we get rid of wires & be wireless (remove TV, radio, electrical appliances electric cords)...have power trans wirelessly

6. How can design thinking used to replace plastic (bottles, bags, etc) with viable & sustainable material.

7. How can DT be used so that everyone wants to be fit resulting to healthy nation.

8. Can one be given fitness points for working out & can they redeem it similar to carbon credit in fitness centers, etc.

9. Can DT be used to know what Infants want ?

10. How can we enable people from different disciplines understand each others perspective clearly.

11. How to assess/measure one's skills

12. Ensuring everybody(who is req to pay) pays taxes

13. How to connect B2B together to create a network & helping each other

14. How to help executives multitask

15. How to make school more fun- in a way that students enjoy being there

16. How to make a paint so that no bills/spray paint can stick on them & damage city walls

17. How one can learn foreign language without much effort/ how people from diff countries communicate quickly & efficiently.

18. How to induce people to use eco friendly bags at the same time make business sense

19. Helping traffic police reduce traffic congestions & streamline traffic

20. Helping anyone to understand how to operate a product/service very easily

21. Providing a simulated & interactive experience of travel, food, language & culture to travelers before visiting a place

22. Helping companies, individuals, etc to reframe their problems & provide multiple possibilities

23. Helping neighbors to start interaction with each other

24. How to engaging people who have retired to create value

25. Helping youngsters find & create their unique identity

26. In what way experience can be STORED shared

27. How can other employees rate their peers Anonymously

28. How can we change the mindset of people in companies

29. For developing solutions so that I dont have to shave for weeks

30. For generating conversations among strangers

31. To connect seekers with offerers of service, products, education. Etc

32. To keep a track of our nutrition intake.

Looking forward for these talks

Thanks

Neeraj

Sources: http://blog.ted.com/2009/07/tim_brown_at_te.php

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/jul/23/nature-technology-energy-buildingmaterials

http://blog.ted.com/2009/07/dan_pink_at_ted.php

Ethnography

2009-07-26T17:20:00.003+05:30

ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

Theodre Levitt said “ The purpose of business is to create & keep a customer”

So how can a company Create & Keep a customer. One way to do is to understand the people its is catering to, inorder to draw insights which can be converted into Business ideas leading to growth & creation of markets.

Now Understanding & capturing insight is done using Quantitative Studies like Focus Group Interviews. Although these methods are fruitful to some extent, some of the limitations of these methods are that they provide limited insights from the user, their inadequacy to provide any information about user’s behavior, emotions, feelings, pain points etc. The tools acted as evaluation tools rather than insight capture tools.

Qualitative Studies like Ethnography are being increasing used to capture Insights from Customers/Users/Staff inorder to understand their satisfactions, limitations, pain points, etc which can be used to determine the next big Idea.

In the last post I had mentioned about the book Ethnography for Marketers. I have been reading on this subject .Through this post, I would like to demystify the Ethnography – what is it, why & where it is Used, How it is used, when it is used

So what is Ethnography

Ethnography is observing customers/ Users in their natural environment to find their frustrations, limitations, satisfactions, pain points etc with the objective to acquire insights into the users needs & wants. The field is drawn from anthropology & sociology.

Why & Where it is Used

Ethnography is used to complement Focus Groups Interviews inorder to gain insights. The main objective of Ethnographic studies is to understand customers in their natural context (home/office/retail store, etc). It is mainly used when little is known about the target market or when fresh insights are desired from a segment. In the present scenario when customer’s taste & preferences are constantly changing, it help companies to maintain an understanding of their customers & keep a track of their constant changing needs, issues & wants. Ethnographic studies can be used to understand the interaction of customer with product /service (for eg: ATM, website, retail). It can be used to assess the corporate cultures. It can also be used to understand how the user interacts with the processes of a product/ service (using a remote/operating a machine). The tools are used for discovering latent needs of customer for new product discovery, new service discovery, etc.

How It is Used

There are various Ethnographic tools which are available. They are used in the natural context of a user/customer/employee. Some of the tools are:

a. Observing the Product/Service Usage

b. Day In life

c. Mystery Shopping

d. Guerrilla Ethnography: Researcher not disclosing that he is researching

How is it Different from Market Research

Ethnography seeks to understand the behavior of people in their natural environment & their interaction with the product/service. The study seek to draw out emotions, perceptions, pain points, aspirations & beliefs that users may have with respect to products/services. It complements Market Research.

Guidelines for Ethnographers

a. Being in the Users Context: The main Objective is to be in the user’s context inorder to view & understand how the product is being used. What are the pain points, limitations of products, what workaround the customer has created, what is the role of product in the life of customer, etc.

b. Being Subject Oriented: The ethnographer has to be subject/user oriented suspending his own assumptions. The focus should be on learning & observing rather than evaluation of concepts.

c. Flexible: The other objective is to be flexible & not restrict to a pre planned questionnaire.

Here is a Video I found on Vimeo explaining what is Ethnography.

What is Ethnography? from Steve Inskeep on Vimeo.

Now ,Jan Chip Chase is a Principal researcher from Nokia who travels around the world and inside our pockets in search of behavioral patterns that will inform the design of products we don't even know. Here is a presentation he made at TED. Following the video is the Slideshow featuring some of the techniques being used.

Insight & Innovation

View more documents from whatidiscover.

But the question remains How we can organise observations to draw insights patterns.

Lets see...will be exploring this week.

Thanks

Neeraj

Sources: Article Inspiration: Ehtnography For Marketers, Hy Mariampolski

Video & Slide Source: TED.com , Slideshare.com

Ethnography for Marketers

2009-07-22T16:31:00.004+05:30

Hi Everyone

One of the questions I keep reading is that what is the difference between Market Research & Enthnographic research.

A lot has been written about Ethnographic Research & how it is different from Market Research but still there was still a need to understand Ethnographic Research Techniques from a Practical Marketers perspective.

Just got this book Titled Ethnography for Marketers: A guide to consumer immersion by Hy Mariampolski.

The book provides a practical guide to what ethnographic research is, how is it different from market research, why marketers should use ethnographic research techniques,etc .

Am presently reading it. One can find a preview of the book at

http://books.google.co.in/books?id=O88vfGNiH_8C&dq=Ethnography+for+Marketers:+A+Guide+to+Consumer+Immersion.&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=v5tlSravEcmIkAXQuqTNDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4

Thanks

Neeraj

Tim Brown- IDEO speaking at TED Global in Oxford

2009-07-18T00:31:00.004+05:30

Tim Brown (CEO IDEO) is speaking at TED Global in Oxford next week on the topic of what happens when we move from design to design thinking. One of the things he his trying to do, is to get the audience to suggest the kinds of questions design thinking might be used to tackle. To facilitate this he is using a Twitter hash tag #CBDQ to allow people to post their suggestions. The latest ones can be seen at IDEO.com or by searching the #CBDQ tag. It would be great to get that underway in advance of his talk. If you have any briefs or problems you think would be interesting then please go ahead and post them.

Thanks

Neeraj

Article Source: http://designthinking.ideo.com/?p=347#content

Design Thinking & Innovation Update

2009-07-11T13:06:00.005+05:30

http://ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

Hi Everyone

It’s been a great Design & Innovation week. Here are couple of Interesting Information from the field of Innovation & Design.

1. A fine line - Hartmut Esslinger's (founder of Frog Design) book a fine line is out. The book offers a step-by-step overview of the innovation process from targeting goals to shepherding new products and services to the marketplace in order to reveal how to arrive at an authentic human design that connects strongly with consumers. One of the chapter is available on the site (http://www.afinelinebook.com/). Having gone through it, the book seems to highlight the changing role Design is playing in not only designing products or services but being increasingly used by companies to Innovate & earn profits.

Check out the video of Hartmut Esslinger.

2. Guy Kawasaki explains the Art of Innovation in 10 steps at Cisco Live. Check it out.

3. DMI Rebranding - Design Management Institute has undergone rebranding. Check it out how they did it (http://www.dmi.org/dmi/html/aboutdmi/press/DMI_Identity_Relaunch_Presentation.pdf).

A Great Article was published by DMI on Business week talking about how Innovation strategy, brand strategy & design strategy being practiced together makes design as one of the primary idea generators for the creation of viable business platforms.

Check the article at (http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jun2009/id20090629_681162.htm?chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_top+stories)

4. Building Innovation radar – MIT Sloan School of Management visiting professor Alan MacCormack explains about how to create Innovation Radar for companies to innovate constantly. Check out the Podcast at

http://www.businessweek.com/mediacenter/podcasts/innovation/innovation_07_08_09.htmin which he give examples of Intel & organization resorting to student competitions to create Innovation radars.

5. D.Light- In Pune we spotted Dlight's all purpose portable lamp at a local Super market. D light is a solar powered lighting company that came out of Stanford D School. The company adopts design thinking philosphy & has the purpose of providing light for 100 million products by 2020. The company operates in India, China & East Africa.

6. Created Indian Design & Innovation Group at wenovski. Wenovski is a global network of Design & Innovation Thinkers.

Check it out at http://wenovski.ning.com/. Would appreciate if you would join.

Thanks

Neeraj

Sources: Businessweek.com, afineline.com, youtube.com, Dmi.org, Dlightdesign.com, blogs.cisco.com.

Reframing - A key skill of a Design Thinker

2009-07-05T23:37:00.005+05:30

http://ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

Reframing.....Reframing is one of the key skills of a Design thinker. Reframing involves a break from the traditional way of seeing things & framing in new context to generate new ideas. Reframing helps in generating new ways to create value which others may have missed. Eg: At the time when digital music download was considered as piracy and many were against it, Apple reframed the problem as to how to provide digital music, be legal & at the same time generated business value from it. An Indian Example is how J.K Tripathy of Trichy Police reframed the issue of police deriving power from the constitution to deriving power from people & developing a community policing system leading to drop in crime rates. Another example could be the Carpooling System(Mega Car Pool) in Delhi reframing a question of people driving alone leading to more cars & pollution with how can people help each other in reaching a place at the same time earning incentives.

Patrick Witney (Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology) talked about Reframing & its Importance at the inauguration of the recently conducted Innovation Summit. Here’s the video of the same.

Give it a Thought how can you reframe the problems around you & convert it into Opportunities. James Moed of Ideo has written an article on Reframing Recession.

Check It out at http://www.ideo.com/images/uploads/thinking/publications/pdfs/Reframing_Recession.pdf.

Thanks

Neeraj

Photo Source: http://www.getentrepreneurial.com/images/reframing.jpg

Video Source: http://vimeo.com/5112642

Reimagining Newspaper & Print Publication

2009-07-02T01:34:00.003+05:30

http://ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

In May, New York Times (online)posted an article about revival efforts needed for Wired Magazine and what steps the team is taking. (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/business/media/18wired.html?pagewanted=1&8dpc&_r=3). There has been a talk recently about a need to re look how newspaper operate inorder to develop solutions which are beneficial for newspaper industry. Now, Why is the print media (newspaper & magazine) not doing well in present times when people are educated, likes to be informed and at the same time curious. In times when being Informed is necessary and people seek information, newspaper & print media are not doing well.

Have a look at what Larry Keeley of Doblin is saying with regards to the same problem & what newspaper & print media seems to have missed.

So are people doing something about the issue. Well yes, Some people have already taken initiatives.

Have a look at this presentation on Innovation in Newspapers. The videos provide examples from The Strait, The Daily Telegraph & Florida Today highlighting some initiatives they are taken.

Jacek Utko gave presentation in this year's TED on how he redesigned the newspaper resulting in increase in circulation.

So what else we can do. Is there a shift needed in the business model, do we need to look at new buyer segment, do newspaper need to be more personalized, etc

Can design thinking save the newspaper Industry. let's think about it.

Thanks

Neeraj

Photo Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/business/media/18wired.html?pagewanted=1&8dpc&_r=3

Video Sources: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wldu2_Guww, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eotVslVz_N8, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWQ7Tin3iRQ&feature=related, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SlDbzzjUKo&feature=related, http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jacek_utko_asks_can_design_save_the_newspaper.html

What Should We Do Next?

2009-06-28T17:23:00.003+05:30

http://ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

Ok, Now…let me ask some questions

What's the future of your company? What's your next big Idea? What's the next big market/ customer group you are likely to have? What should you offer next? Where is next growth coming in from?

In short you must be asking the following question too

What should we do next?

Many companies are facing this problem. The question is not How to do it but What to do, what to make, what to offer to customer?

Consider one of the Hypothetical Situation:

You are running a Famous burger chain & have been enjoying growth for a couple of years. But as years go by you tend to notice that consumers are starting to get bored of the same menu at the same time competition has step in to the market.

Now you wish to counter competition at the same time increase your consumer base. You have the resources available but the problem is you are not able to decide

WHAT SHOULD WE DO NEXT?

Many companies are resorting to design strategy in similar situations.

In a Short film created on Design Strategy, famous Design & Innovation consultancy Continuum explains the process of Design Strategy as a resonance of what is meaningful for customer & what is beneficial for your business. The video include the process which Design Studios follow inorder to decide What should the client do next? (Whether introduce new product, service, have new distribution network, etc)

Have a look at this video

Thanks

Neeraj

Source: http://vimeo.com/4167960

Self reliance is the key for brighter future

2009-06-25T15:49:00.008+05:30

Neeraj has been doing really good work on this blog by posting lot of useful information and path breaking ideas.
So, thought to contribute to his efforts. I came across one great example of a simple design and its effectiveness. Working Villages International (WVI) is a non-profit organization dedicated to building self-sufficient, environmentally sustainable villages all over the world. Based on Gandhian principles it works on strengthening rural people by making them self reliant by developing a sustainable local infrastructure utilizing on local resources.
Most amazing thing is that in current economic conditions when trillion of dollars are required to fill the development gap between Sub-Saharan Africa and rest of the world, WVI’s founder Alexander Petroff has provided a successful alternative to such an impossible scenario. This idea is based on concept of Swadeshi given by Mahatma Gandhi.

Their idea of Self Sufficiency takes actionable shape with 3 important things vis-à-vis: Selecting Appropriate Technology, Developing Local resources (Swadeshi) and Rotational planting and Composting.

The plan works in 5 stages:-

Stage one focuses on growing crops and building the infrastructure to support crop production and storage.

In stage two, build up the manufacturing capacity to build the village itself.

Stage three is the production of all non-agricultural commodity infrastructures, such as looms, pottery kilns, paper pulpers, bakeries or any other necessary function of daily life.

During stage four, people are trained in different trades. As they gain competence and expertise, WVI turns over ownership to the village and its inhabitants.

In stage five, WVI remain in whatever advisory capacity the local villagers want, but without any ownership or employment function. The village will at this point be a fully functioning and independent eco-community, housing and employing thousands of people without ever requiring another dollar of foreign aid. (Source: www.workingvillages.org)

I personally feel that just to design or innovate something we are running after technological advancements but going ‘Back to roots’ is very essential in prevailing environmental conditions. The pace at which we are running nature is unbelievable and we need to go back to Vedic life style to preserve nature.
For more details you can visit www.workingvillages.org

What Makes Design Thinking Special?

2009-06-18T23:28:00.005+05:30

http://ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

How is Design Thinking different from process re-engineering or business consulting?

That was the question asked by a reader to Business Week's Bruce Nussbaum. Check out the response from Bruce as he answers the question highlighting the difference between the approach followed by major consultancies & that of design thinkers. As he points out, Design Thinking is about Creation of new (business models/products/ services based on user centricity, business objective & technology) & not about choosing among limited options available. Design Thinking is about reframing of problem & at the same time reinventing the wheel. Design thinking is about understanding the user, aligining his/her needs with the business viablity along with technological feasibility to come up with innovative solutions.

Check out the video

Thanks

Neeraj

Video & Image Source: Businessweek.com- http://feedroom.businessweek.com/index.jsp?fr_story=6a997b076fc793b6d537b2951fc138fc1d325d51

Foster's Experience

2009-06-13T18:49:00.006+05:30

Hi everybody

Every brand seeks to create Experiences that go beyond the mere functionality to connect at a deeper level with customer infusing all the necessary elements of Brand. The role of an Experience Architect(Ten Faces of Innovation)is important & crucial for designing for designing a well designed experience.

Recently I was invited for a Pool party organized by Foster's in Pune.

Now Foster's denote Australian & the communication features beaches & women. So with the Experience Architects at the job of infusing these elements, how was this pool party.

I decided to judge this experience using Doblin's Compelling Experience model. The model helps to envision & decide the experiences that the customer/participant must have. I have customized the model's elements according to Foster's party. Its element include:

1. Attraction: What experience we should have at the time inviting them for the party that will induce them to come.

2. Entry: What sort of experience we should have at the entry of the event.

3. Immersion: what are the experiences we can design using Brand elements to insure fully immersement of people at the party & ensuring its success

4. Exit: What should be leaving experience for the invites.

5. Extension: What happens after one has left the party- what can the invite pass on to others?

Entry : I'll start with the Entry phase. The experience for me started at the entry phase. Even before one could enter the party, Fosters had placed small surfboards along the way to the entry creating an impression of beach. At the entry the staff was also dressed in cool beach shirts.

Immersion: Being a pool party of Foster's the entire experience had to be designed integrating Foster's Brand. The people serving guests were wearing Foster's hat very similar to Cork hats highlighting Foster's been Australian. Australian Models dressed in beach wear highlighted the beach experience . With Barbeque serving entirely Non-Veg been grilled in front of guests creating an expression of been in the Outback of Australia. Blue been the Brand prominent color was to be seen entirely. Considering the hot weather & it being a pool party the Dj played mostly reggae & trance music (which I m not sure was Australian) And yes Fosters was been served throughout.

Exit: The Experience Architect could have paid a little more attention at the exit phase in terms of thinking how the exit experience of guests would be. As a chance to remember, guests could have been given a small souvenir (may be Their Polaroid snap of party, Foster's hat) which would have reminded them of this party even after considerable time.

Extension: One possible method of extending this experience could have been taking pictures of people at the party an uploading it on their site & with the possibility of people connecting with each other. For eg: People can chat/message each other those who came to party, connect with them , share opinions & memories of party, in the future may come together & organize their own get togethers. Through this the organizers get instant feedback on how their party was at the same time a chance to connect & expand their brand recognition & sales.

Overall its was a great experience. Cheers to the organizers for putting up this event.

Here are some of the Snaps of the party.

Thanks

Neeraj

Ideas for Change 2

2009-06-07T01:16:00.003+05:30

http://ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

Hi everyone

This is my second post in the series of Ideas for change. I am collecting Ideas that are solving environmental Issues, ideas aimed at helping people to be more efficient, more productive, solving their problems, etc.

Let's have a look at some of the Ideas

1. Better Place: Why Can't we have environmentally friendly at the same time efficient Transportation solution. Well Shai Agassi seems to be asking that question for a while & the answer is BETTER PLACE. Better Place is the world’s leading electric vehicle (EV) services provider, catalyzing the transition to sustainable transportation. Better Place aims to reduce global dependency on petroleum through the creation of a market-based transportation infrastructure that supports electric vehicles. Better Place is building first electric vehicle network & has operations in Israel, Denmark, Australia, U.S, Canada & Japan.

Shai Agassi spoke at TED this year about his grand vision. Have a look.

2. Velib : The widely reported Paris' famous bicycle renting scheme is one unique business model started by Jean francois & Jean-Charles Decaux. Launched in July 2007, today the bicycles have become a mainstream & green form of public transportation in Paris. More than 2,00,000 Parisians have taken one year subscription ($40) and in a poll in May, 94% of Velib users said they were satisfied with the service.

3. Ecover(Eco friendly washing powder) : Belgian Company Ecover is manufacturing environment friendly washing powder made of natural plant & minerals ingredients. The product also comes in a recyclable bags. Last year the company generated $15 mn in pre tax profit.

4. Haath mein Sehat (Health In Hands) Project: Moving on to Ideas which aim to improve lives of people. One Such Initiative is Haath mein Sehat (Health In Hands) Project (to which I was also a part of ) which aims to improve livelihoods of people living in slums of Mumbai through health education and developing efficient low-cost water treatment methods. HMS is an interdisciplinary, international collaboration between local organizations and institutions in Mumbai and students at the University of California, Berkeley. Have a look at the Project Video.

5. Aravind project : India’s Aravind Eye Care System is probably the world’s largest provider of eye care. From April 2006 to March 2007 Aravind served more than 2.3 million patients and performed more than 270,000 surgeries. Founded in 1976 by Dr. G. Venkataswamy, Aravind has as its mission nothing less than the eradication of needless blindness among India’s population, including the rural poor, through the effective delivery of superior ophthalmic care.

I’ll be posting some more ideas & projects in the coming period.

Thanks

Neeraj

Sources: http://hmsindia.org/ http://www.ted.com/talks/shai_agassi_on_electric_cars.html http://www.betterplace.com http://trendwatching.com/ http://www.youtube.com/ http://www.ideo.com/images/uploads/news/pdfs/IDEO_HBR_Design_Thinking.pdf

Ideas for Change

2009-06-02T16:29:00.003+05:30

Hi everyone

With Population levels continuously rising in our Cities, there is sense of worry & urgency shown by world leaders to reduce its harmful effects on the planet.

Bill Clinton & Al Gore have already initiated projects & are also making people aware of these effects.

Have a look at Bill Clinton’s Climate Initiative Video

Here is Al Gore’s Presentation from TED 2009.

So, apart from these, which Ideas/initiatives are being thought which will help generate awareness & avoid these effects. I think the problem here is not only to care about environment but to show care about humans & society at large which will bring a social mindset to create a change. So apart from collecting ideas that are aimed at solving environmental issues, I decided to collect ideas aimed at helping people. Be it helping them to be more efficient, more productive, solving their problems, etc.

My next post will comprise some of the ideas so collected. I’ll call it Ideas for change.

Also, this is the 100th post of our blog & as they say it all started with An Idea

Thanks

Neeraj

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1X93xqYOgE&eurl=http://www.clintonfoundation.org/news/news-media/video-cities-go-climate-positive&feature=player_embedded

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/al_gore_warns_on_latest_climate_trends.html

How to kill an Idea : Focus Group

2009-05-23T11:01:00.004+05:30

http://ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

Hi all

Have a look at the following Videos showcasing How Ideas get killed during Focus groups.

I remember reading somewhere about Henry Ford saying that if I had asked people they would have said that we need faster horse. Similar would have been the case with Walkman, Ipod and other products. Thats where Design Reserach (to capture insights on what customer wants) & Validation tools come in handy and the overall notion of distinctive value (whether the new idea/product/service will be able to provide differentiated value to customers which is not being met by any other product/service as of now)

Have a look at the Videos.

Thanks

Neeraj

Source: www.Youtube.com

Ideas Project & Tim Brown on the shift from being Consumers to Participants

2009-05-16T18:07:00.004+05:30

http://ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

Hi Everyone

Ideas Project, a project of Nokia hosted at www.ideasproject.com,is bringing together the most visionary and influential "big thinkers" to contemplate the big ideas that matter most to the future of communications. It is a new kind of conversation platform aimed at uncovering the connections between these thought leaders and their disruptive ideas.

Tim Brown recently discussed his Big Idea that Communication Technology is Converting Consumers into Participants. As he puts it, a great service is not defined as something where the customer remains passive but as something where customers act as participants. For Eg as he has written on his blog- Consumers should be encouraged to participate in being healthy through creation of more platforms such as E medical records, offering people to take control of his/her health.

I feel there is a similarity between the Idea proposed by Seth Godin of people joining Tribes/communities for a meaning & being relevant & in Tim Brown's Idea of Consumers becoming participants. Both of these Ideas encourage companies to be Meaningful, Stand for something, Involve customers as a part of creation & delivery process at the same time these Ideas also reflect the greater notion of Customers Joining for Meaning rather than only satisfying their tangible need & I guess these ideas in a way reflect the new marketing principles, that Customers will be looking for Meaning, being able to Participate & be relevant.

Have a look at the following videos of Tim Brown as he discusses his Idea on Idea Project.For Seth Godin talk see the previous post. You can also submit your Big Idea to www.ideasproject.com & have a chance to win Nokia N95.

Thanks to Byron for informing about Ideas Project.

Thanks

Neeraj

Sources: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/05/prweb2417654.htm http://www.ideasproject.com, Youtube.com, Ted.com

Seth Godin at TED

2009-05-13T23:59:00.003+05:30

http://ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

Challenge the Status Quo, Stand/be a part for something, Bring a change, Become a part of Tribe.

Have a look at the following talk by Seth Godin at Ted discussing next big thing in marketing as customers constantly looking for meaning by being part of a group.

Thanks

Neeraj

Video Source:www.TED.com