Killer Question #7
When things get tough, the common reaction is to scale back and standardize the processes. The objective is to take costs out of the business. What would happened if you went the opposite direction? Rather than standardize, why not customize?
How To Estimate The Value Of An Idea
Download KI_20090119.mp3 So you have a great idea. How big is it? What is the value of the idea to the organization? Most people get hung up trying to come up with the exact answer. In most cases, you won’t find the perfect answer. Especially if you
What are the unshakable beliefs in my industry about what customers want? What if the opposite where true?
Its easy when we are being successful to stick our heads in the sand and believe our own PR. We can easily brush off minor threats with the argument that the customer wouldn’t go for whatever was being offered. We hold on to the belief that we know best what trade-offs they are not willing to make.
Woman and technology … part 2
When things go wrong with technology (like that never happens!), men and woman react differently.
What devices are in my bag?
A few years ago, someone started the rumor that if you ask me what devices are in my bag, I will pull them out and show them to you. Even if they are prototypes. This is mostly true. I am sometimes barred from showing some prototypes … but if I can, I will show […]
Technology And Woman
During a breakfast I hosted at CES, I shared my view of the role of woman in deciding what technology gets purchased. Radiris over at Hardware Geeks posted about the story I shared in an interesting perspective comparing the reaction woman get at CES and AEE (Adult Entertainment Expo – the “porn” sh
Improve Innovation Adoption By Communicating The Utility and Cost Benefit
Download KI_20090104.mp3 Why are some innovations more successful than others? Innovation success is never just about what is possible. It’s always about the choices customers and markets make from among what we can do. A key consideration when making the choices on which innovations to us is
Could you standardize a custom product?
Target’s (TGT ) focus on value brough unique products to the average consumer with their design-for-the-masses housewares by big names such as Philippe Starck and Cynthia Rowley. So how did Target transform what has been highly customized products for the rich and famous and bring it to the masses?
Killer Question #27
It all started with an idea and a passion. In 1901, William S. Harley, age 21, took an idea and created a blueprint drawing of an engine designed to fit into a bicycle. Over the next few years, its the passion and determination of William Harley and Arthur Davidson that turn the blueprint into a wor
What is inconvenient about assembling your product?
When you think of “ease of assembly”, you normally don’t think of furniture. The first challenge in trying to figure out how to get the pieces home before you can event start. Then you have to decipher the instructions only to end up with something that doesn’t look like what you saw in the store an
