When the folks at LittleBits asked me to test their latest kit of snap-together DIY electronics, I was really excited. As a gadget-loving person, I love the idea of creating a Rube Goldbergian perpetual motion machine. I even the idea of…
This essay is written as part of the Startup Edition project – check out the other essays here. How do you discover what people really want? People are not effective at self-reporting, or letting you know what they will…
On the perils of changing an existing, highly engaging product. This is a response to this week’s Startup Edition question: “How do you build engaging products?” Facebook has a history of experimentation – changing things wholesale for large groups of…
Think of the last customer service fail you experienced. You might think, how did this happen? Why did the company I contacted give me an idiotic response? Why didn’t they answer my question? Or why did they (figuratively or literally)…
Standing up, all day? Really? What are some of the main reasons you might consider using a Standing Desk as your primary workstation? Reason #1 – Using a Standing Desk Promotes Healthy Habits Using a standing desk is a great…
//Read about more mistakes in the newest Startup Edition “Do not fear mistakes. There are none.” -Miles Davis. We all make mistakes. I’ve made a few mistakes in my time. I’m not talking about the garden-variety mistakes you might make…
Makers need to make in the real world Get out of the (electronic) building Last evening, as the Pacific Northwest sunshine (yes, we do have that here in the Spring and Summer and Fall) was blazing, I was weeding my…
Revisiting the API of ME About 6 months ago, I wrote an article on the “API of ME“, an idea for a system of capturing, sharing, and **limiting* information by and about customers so that they could participate actively in…
This post is a contribution to Startup Edition. Tools are a Commodity We could talk all day about the tools we use. Agile is Best! Pomodoro is Best! Pen and Paper is Best! Getting everyone in a room is Best! (You…
In the movie Star Trek II (and in the more recent reboot), then-Starfleet Academy cadet James T. Kirk relates the story of the training exercise to try to save the Kobayashi Maru as a key learning experience for his transformation…
