I often use an idea generation deck (pack of cards by Michael Michalko) in my product design and process improvement workshops for brainstorming. It’s great for refining ideas with the SCAMPER Framework - Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify/Magnify, Put to another use (repurpose), Eliminate / Minimize and Rearrange / Reverse. We…

We often need to get a functional understanding of a topic in a short period of time. This requires us to identify and understand the first principles — the building blocks of that topic. This sketchnote illustrates how to get to that in an efficient way. I think it is…

Here’s a sketchnote outlining my thoughts on the role of a CDO in today’s organizations. Design stewardship should inform all levels of an organization — business models, user experience, marketing, employee experience, sustainability, innovation and transformation. …

The future will be different from the present- that’s a given. Change is neither negative nor positive, it is a neutral force. The deciding factor is an organization’s ability to survive or thrive in the face of change. At ClearSky we have created a series of strategic interventions to help…

I’ve been reading User Friendly by Cliff Kuang, it’s very engaging. There’s an insightful piece on Audi’s 3+1 rules for how autonomous cars must work. Here they are: 1. The car should clearly inform the driver about which mode it’s in — is it driving itself or not? 2. It should…

Episode 1 I was at a consumer electronics store yesterday. The salesperson was equipped with a tablet where he could access customer information, product information, look at inventory and access the infinite aisle. The purchase decision took just 10 minutes, with us feeling very optimistic about the sales experience… till it…

“You think because you understand ‘one’ you must also understand ‘two’, because one and one make two. But you must also understand ‘and’.” — Jalaluddin Rumi, Sufi Poet The problem with reductionism is that it only focuses on the parts. It breaks down a system into little components, units that…

We need to find a way of moving forward without certainty, without prescribed courses of actions or existing best practice.— Dan Hill We plan too much for the short term because it’s more certain. Let’s take a longer view — so we are not held hostage to change, but are…

Some folks are hyper organized, others are not. I fall in the latter category and land with a thud on the extreme end of chaos. Without structure my life will nose dive into an ocean of distraction and instant gratification. But then again, you’ve got to work with what you’ve…