Design Thinking

<p>As some businesses get increasingly exploitative, sometimes other businesses and sometimes a divine intervention comes to counter the effect.</p>

<p>India &#8211; More highways or Better National &amp; Public Transport? &nbsp; This is an email I had sent to our Minister for Road Transport &amp; Highways in January this year. Of course I am still optimistic (or delusional) enough to hope for a response or an opportunity to further discuss this topic. Either way, I&#8230;</p>

<p>In my book, I briefly discussed the topic of quality in the world of innovation and automation. My view was that through the quality revolution in the US and Japan and then other parts of the world, logically back then, someone visualizing the year 2021 might have assumed a world where everyone has quality integrated&#8230;</p>

<p>With the stopping of production of Segways last year, but its more affordable robotic startup Ninebot doing well, one wonders if affordability must be integral to the success of a business depending on the business model and whom it aims to cater to.</p>

<p>Many of us are familiar with the paradox of choice, whether or not we have heard of the phrase itself. The paradox of choice, is our tendency to believe that more options or variants or choices in a given situation or purchase event is a good thing. After all, who wouldn&#8217;t want more flavours in&#8230;</p>

<p>Zomato has a nicely done vertical slider for their filter options on their mobile app. It&#8217;s just simpler, logical and easy to use. Odd how we still have horizontal sliders on apps.</p>

<p>If you are a manager struggling with business growth or stuck with trying to create the next great product or service, till 14th September, head to https://www.ateamstrategy.in/ for relevant options for quick innovation or growth challenge related support on call. No hassles of long, expensive consulting projects. Just simple help with uncomplicating challenges and suggesting ways to solve or innovate.</p>

Jane Elliott: image Heard of Jane Elliott? She’s an American schoolteacher and an anti-racism activist. She is especially famous for her...

<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Soap Dispenser Design This here is an ancient shampoo dispenser that broke last month. It was a crappy design for a few reasons. Firstly, because of how the pumps are placed (at the bottom). It would not stand on its own when you needed to refill. You either&#8230;</p>

<p>Shared Tables This amusing but perhaps effective picture I saw in this tweet last month got some thoughts rolling. We could all use some personal space in public. Especially in countries like India. Where the population, combined with the general lack of regard for other&#8217;s personal space can be quite a challenge. Growing up, I&#8230;</p>

<p>My 9 Step Version of the Design Thinking Process This post about my 9-step version of the design thinking process has been long overdue. It is already explained in my book, ‘Design the Future’, but I also wanted to share it here for those interested. The five-step Stanford design thinking process is arguably the most&#8230;</p>

<p>Choosing Business Opportunity to Avoid Change As an individual, if you have a habit your core doesn&#8217;t fully approve of, you&#8217;d find a disconnect that you might, either align with, or from time to time try to fix. It could be diet, fitness or even ethic related. And often, between control or restricting something for&#8230;</p>

<p>The pros and &#8220;Cons&#8221; of Storytelling! Storytelling. Steve Jobs wasn&#8217;t the first to talk about, or practice it. Nor was he the first one to focus on the customer and build differentiation. Function and form. And he wasn&#8217;t the first to capture customer personalities, traits and passions in their marketing and communication, instead of just&#8230;</p>

<p>Airline Seats and Behaviour Do you think those extremely uncomfortable airline seats have anything to do with our behaviour when we are flying? Remember the last flight you took. Unless you were traveling business or first class, you can&#8217;t forget the tiny seats. And the armrests, that always seem to have gotten closer from the&#8230;</p>

<p>The Non-Financial Side of Business A call with an industry colleague last week set in motion, thoughts on how we measure individual or business success. As a kid growing up in India in the 80&#8217;s, studies used to be quite a tricky part of life. Studying history, for instance. We had a ton of dates&#8230;</p>

<p>Why Design Thinking is Here to Stay A close friend recently shared this article titled &#8216;Why Design Thinking will fail&#8217;, written in 2013 by Jeffrey Tjendra. Jeffrey is a designer entrepreneur and strategist. Among some of us friends, there was were points of disagreement on the article. Jeffrey does seem to have a good understanding&#8230;</p>

<p>Venture Capital Elevator Pitches I left my job at a venture capital (VC) firm in 2010. After freelancing for a bit I then worked with a high-technology company in the robotics space. I then started my own strategy consulting practice, which over the years has matured into an interesting blend of design thinking, management strategy&#8230;</p>

<p>&nbsp; The Entrepreneur in a Venture Capital World Imagine a food connoisseur has a vision of opening a restaurant. Selling a carefully crafted list of delicacies, whose preparation has taken years to refine. This aficionado has thought of everything. The cutlery that would highlight the preparations, what the entrance to the restaurant would be like, the&#8230;</p>

<p>What&#8217;s Your Profession? Did You Bring More Soldiers? In 1970s, according to the TV series Mindhunter at least, the FBI was filled with accountants &amp; lawyers instead of more relevant experts in areas that mattered. That is, in place of behavioral analysts. That seems to have been the case with the Indian Venture Capital industry&#8230;</p>

<p>Number Fifty-Four&#8230; &#8230;The bike with a bamboo core! What does it take for innovation to be possible? Simply, just the intention. You need to want it badly enough to make it possible. I happened to see this online a long time ago. I am still in awe of it though. People in Ghana find themselves&#8230;</p>