Designing A Product That Doesn’t Suck

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StrategyDriven Innovation Article |Designing a Product|Designing A Product That Doesn’t SuckProduct design as a small business owner has to be one of the most exciting parts of the entrepreneurial process. When you start your own business and you finally get down to creating your product; it brings such a sense of achievement that cannot be replaced.

If you are new to product design and you need some help with the process, we have some ideas for you to help you create a product that is fun and will draw the attention of your customers.

Create a product that doesn’t suck by using these simple tips.

Get input from your team

When designing a product it is important to remember the value of other people. Two heads are better than one; and a whole room of heads is better than two! Make sure when designing a product that you have a meeting with your team and start brainstorming it together. You may find that your team has some amazing ideas you wouldn’t have thought of before and this will likely help you to succeed in a way you couldn’t on your own.

Collaborate with an artist

One of the things that can really help you in terms of product design is a stunning box. When designing your product, consider getting a local artist to help you design a pattern for your box to make it stand out from the rest. This is a trick companies such as Birchbox have done with great success because not only will you get more customers through better design; but as you promote the artist, the artist will also promote your product because it has their design on it. You can even make this into a community event where you have a new artist come and help you every few months. Building a community like this is a clever way to build your audience and sell more of your product – as well as make your product look amazing.

Use recyclable materials

It is so important these days that we consider the environment when making a product and this includes using recycled as recyclable materials. Source materials that are recycled and make a point that your product is made as such. This will draw in an audience who cares for the environment and you will gain support as a result.

Ask for opinions

When stuck between a few designs for a product or looking to create the final design – be sure to ask for opinions before you go ahead. Ask your team, a focus group, and even ask people online via a social media poll. Show people that you value their suggestions and you might get better responses, as well as a better looking product.

Keep it simple

There’s a reason why the Apple logo on a plain white box is so well loved and known the world over. Less is more. Keep your design simple and don’t ever make it too busy that it puts people off buying it.

Use our tips to make a killer product today and squash the competition.

6 Ways Technology Can Help Companies Innovate Out of the Coronavirus Downturn

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StrategyDriven Innovation Article |Coronavirus|6 Ways Technology Can Help Companies Innovate Out of the Coronavirus DownturnAs our world deals with the COVID-19 pandemic, business leaders must understand that it’s going to be technology that determines which companies survive and build success from this unprecedented event.

The current COVID-19 pandemic may be the biggest “unfreezing event” that our economy has ever experienced, certainly since World War II. To turn a block of ice into a new shape you must first unfreeze it, pour the water into a mold, and then refreeze it again. Human habits work much the same way. COVID-19 has forced us all to behave differently—To unfreeze. Our habits will mold into new shapes, habits and routines that may endure once the current crisis has passed. Businesses routines will have to change too. We are entering a new fluid state that will lead to an unprecedented period of innovation and transformation.

Before COVID-19, the world was already on a path to widespread change. In my book, “The Innovation Ultimatum: How Six Strategic Technologies Will Reshape Every Business in the 2020s,” I outline the technologies that will drive unprecedented innovation into products and services in the 2020s, creating entirely new business models. The pandemic makes those technologies more relevant now than ever. These technologies are:

  1. Artificial intelligence (AI)
  2. Blockchain
  3. The Internet of things (IoT)
  4. Augmented reality
  5. Autonomous machines
  6. 5G and satellite networks

While some organizations had begun to embrace these technologies before the pandemic, it’s now critical that business leaders keep moving ahead with innovation efforts as we move into a new normal.

With social distancing, we have already seen new behaviors emerge: Increased use of telemedicine, online food delivery services, video conferencing, and home streaming services.

Online schooling is another example. While there has been some investment in online education by various institutions, that’s going to accelerate rapidly as millions of kids are required to learn from home. Educators are installing digital infrastructure, learning how to use it themselves, figuring out best practices on how to get the most out of the medium, training kids on how to use it, and setting expectations for proper use. Once this investment of time, money, and trust is made, a new normal is created. When the current crisis is over, that investment remains, and the barriers to shifting at least some of the curriculum online are already gone. Where it makes sense, digital education may become a common part of all schooling.

This is a clear example of an acceleration. Education’s shift towards digital was already underway. The constraints placed by pandemic only accelerated the inevitable.

The same applies for telemedicine. Here, the issues holding back the shift are not technological; necessary infrastructure is mostly in place. The barrier slowing roll out before the pandemic was that doctors couldn’t bill as much for their time as for in-person visits to a clinic. Expect this challenge to be addressed quickly, and telemedicine to become a more important component of our healthcare systems in the future.

While it’s premature to determine how the world might be different going forward, it’s not too early to take a few educated guesses. Here are some initial thoughts on how things may be different, and how new technology might play a significant role.

  • Robots don’t get sick. All businesses will make moves to improve business continuity and reduce risk. This may accelerate investment in automation technologies, including artificial intelligence, robotics, sensors, autonomous vehicles (e.g. for delivery), and blockchain technology. Self-driving delivery trucks and drones don’t carry disease if properly cleaned. Even governance of operations can be encoded into blockchain networks and artificial intelligence.
  • Better supply chains. As part of a broader risk reduction exercise, we will see companies make moves to build more robust supply chains. Expect many measures here, including requirements for multiple sources across multiple countries, some onshoring (especially for critical components and products) and increased levels of transparency and traceability for goods in the supply chain. New provenance chain technology, based on Blockchain technology, can play a big role here. New automation technologies will make onshoring of manufacturing more attractive.
  • More remote workers. Again, to reduce risk, we may see bigger companies move away from large HQ campuses towards many connected, highly distributed sites. More people will work from home offices. This will constitute a balance between risk mitigation and rapid information flow in organizations. The high-speed connectivity of 5G and satellite networks will be crucial to this shift.
  • Social apps. New apps and services will emerge that help people remain social while keeping their distance. Humans are social creatures. Let’s see which company will be first to capture the world’s imagination with a new social game designed to connect far-flung family members of all ages.
  • A new reality. Virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) technology will likely get far more use. VR offers a powerful sense of immersion, making you feel like you are transported to another place. At a time when that’s one of the things that we can’t do, people will crave the ability to visit distant places and to feel like they share the same space with family and friends. Avatar technology is improving, as are sensors that capture our movements and even our expressions. As low-cost, high-quality AR headsets become available in the coming few years, there is an incredible opportunity for developers to create new social experiences at a distance. Those could include, for example, an enhanced shopping experience in the home or better collaboration between remote coworkers.
  • A race for broadband. The next several weeks will make the value of a broadband connection crystal clear. Yet, broadband Internet is still not available to half the planet. People in rural areas are particularly disadvantaged. Satellite constellations, built by companies like SpaceX, OneWeb, LeoSAT, Amazon and others, will bring broadband connectivity to every corner of the earth by the end of the decade, much sooner in many locations. This build-out cannot happen quickly enough.

We live in unprecedented times. It’s too early to call how this all plays out, and we should all expect our plans to shift over time as new information becomes available, but every company must begin to think about the new normal and build their business plans accordingly.

The pandemic has proved that in order to survive, every company must become a technology company. Every company must become a data company. Business operations must be retooled using both process automation and worker augmentation.

A construct that I find useful as a futurist is to ask myself several simple questions in the face of a new force of change: What will stop, what will start, what will accelerate, what will decelerate, and what will transform? Think about how answers to these questions will affect your business in the future.

A colleague of mine, former Intel CEO, Craig Barrett, told me back in 2008 that the best way to weather a recession is to invest your way out of it. That way, when the market turns around you can race out of the gate ready to take fullest advantage of the upswing. No company ever saves their way out of a recession. Innovation will be vital to recovery.

For companies that heed Barrett’s advice and choose to innovate their way out of recession, new technology will be key. As we reimagine products, services, channels, companies, and the entire economy for the rest of the 21st century, six strategic technologies—artificial intelligence, the internet of things, Blockchain technology, 5G and satellite networks, autonomous machines, and augmented reality—will each play an important part.

Every company needs to gain a deep understanding of these technologies and how they might be deployed to meet rapidly evolving consumer needs, to create new channels (that enable remote interaction), to automate business processes, to boost business continuity, and to deliver innovative new products and services that fuel economic growth.

The best way to get out of recession is to innovate your way out of it. The sooner we start to think that way, the sooner we can slingshot ourselves out of our current situation.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Steve BrownSteve Brown is an energetic speaker, author, strategist, and advisor with over 30 years of experience in high tech. He is the former futurist and chief evangelist at Intel Corporation and helps others understand the business and societal impacts of new technologies and how they will shape the future five, 10 and 15 years from now. He is the author of The Innovation Ultimatum: How Six Strategic Technologies will Reshape Every Business in the 2020s. Steve holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering degrees in Micro-Electronic Systems Engineering from Manchester University. He was born in the U.K. and became a U.S. citizen in 2008. He lives with his wife in Portland, OR.

A Fast – and Brutally Effective – Way to Make Your Organization More Innovative

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StrategyDriven Innovation Article | A Fast – and Brutally Effective – Way to Make Your Organization More InnovativeStartups are good at innovation for many reasons, but the two most important ones are people and culture.

They attract people who are looking for a challenge and opt into taking risk in the pursuit of a potential, yet uncertain, upside. The successful ones create a culture that embraces problems as an opportunity to break the rules and find a better way. There are clear incentives to succeed and significant repercussions if you don’t – like losing your job. These organizations are often resource-limited, which creates an incredible focus on only doing what really matters.

They also fail at an incredibly high rate. According to the Startup Genome Project, more than 90 percent of startups fail. If you tried to do something with that failure rate at most established companies, you’d be fired. So what can you do?

One of the solutions that some larger companies have tried is to create an innovative startup within an existing business. This approach hasn’t had much success, as it’s far more complicated to implement than people think. These internal startups strive to be innovative, but tend to become more incremental. They’re limited by the people available to them and the culture of the parent organization.

The good news is that there’s a faster way to get innovation going: Eliminate all the jobs in your company with the title of vice president. This probably seems like a drastic step. But, if you want to innovate, you need to find the right people and create a culture that’s willing to embrace unconventional ideas and is unafraid of change. Keep in mind, culture isn’t defined by words; it’s the embodiment of your actions.

You can’t get serious about innovation until you’ve put these foundational pieces in place.

Substance over form

To get started, take your current organization chart and delete the vice president positions. You’ll still need some people to lead teams and organize work, but call these jobs what they really are: managers. If there’s an overlap between jobs with all the titles removed, it’s a great time to simplify things and get rid of any role that isn’t critical to achieving the goal. Fewer people results in a secondary benefit of smaller teams, which research has shown are much more innovative.

When you tell someone you’re eliminating their title, you’re forcing them to choose to derive their value from the work they do instead of what they’re called. You’re making them choose substance over form. If the title is so important that they can’t or won’t do their job without it, then they’ll get in the way of innovation. If they’re willing to quit over their job title, it’s highly unlikely they’ll embrace the culture required to pursue innovation and drive change. Innovation requires people that care more about what they do than what they’re called and can deal with the brutal truth.

Why target the VPs?

The VP title is a symbol of bureaucracy, which is the enemy of innovation.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a vice president is: “an officer next in rank to a president and usually empowered to serve as president in that officer’s absence or disability.”

That seems like an important role if something happens to the president, but if the U.S. government only needs one, why do companies need so many? They don’t, that’s the point.

It seems illogical that anyone would want the vice president title to begin with. You’re explicitly acknowledging that you’re not trusted to be in charge unless there’s an emergency. If you literally described the title on a business card it would read something like: “John Doe, Not really empowered.”

If someone wants that job, they’re not the right person to be on a team focused on innovation. You can’t have people waiting around to be empowered; they need to be motivated enough to empower themselves. In fact, if you’re going to pursue something that’s never been done before, you need people who are willing to hold themselves accountable for things outside their direct control.

As organizations evolve over time, you’ll likely be recruiting people from larger companies who feel they need titles to do their job. This is a warning sign that they’re not aligned with the innovation culture. You will hear the argument that titles are cheap; they don’t cost anything. But titles are more expensive than you can imagine; they can cost an organization its soul.

Beware of C-level fever

A new enemy in the title game is potentially more problematic than having too many vice presidents. In Russell Fleischer’s article for Fast Company, he talks about a “C-level fever” that’s not only affecting big companies, but startups as well. He points out that if everyone is a chief, no one really is.

Unlike vice presidents, the chief of something implies that someone is in charge, and when it comes to innovation, this can lead to two significant issues. Chiefs tend to like to make decisions, or at least to be consulted on decisions, which slow people down. They also tend to make themselves the focus of their team, when the focus needs to be on solving the next problem and finding the next idea. One of the keys to innovation is optimizing the people doing the work, not those sitting around talking about it. Limit the number of chief titles to those who need to be legally responsible (and potentially liable) for the actions of the company. When people understand that personal liability comes with the title, it tends to be an effective deterrent.

Innovation is hard, but only because we allow ourselves to make it complicated. Simplify your organization chart, find people who don’t need titles to feel empowered, and create a culture that insists on substance over form. You will be much more successful creating solutions to problems that other people believe can’t be solved.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Chuck SwobodaChuck Swoboda is Innovator-in-Residence at Marquette University, President of Cape Point Advisors and retired Chairman and CEO of Cree, Inc. He is co-inventor on more than 25 patents covering LEDs and lighting technology, and has over 30 years of experience in the technology business. Additionally, he is an author, speaker and host of the “Innovators on Tap” podcast. His new book is The Innovator’s Spirit: Discover the Mindset to Pursue the Impossible (Fast Company, May 5, 2020). Learn more at www.chuckswoboda.com.

How To Find Your Winning Business Idea

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StrategyDriven Innovation Article |Winning Business Idea|How To Find Your Winning Business IdeaThis post will outline the exact framework I’ve used to come up with four very different ideas for my multi-million dollar ecommerce brands. This process will help you not only come up with a product to sell, but also help you create more clarity around your brand vision – something you’ll return to again and again.

First up, if you already have a product on the market this lesson will be equally as important for you, because it’s going to get you thinking about your brand in an entirely new way, so definitely pay attention here.

Right now you’re probably thinking what do I even mean by a “problem first approach to ideation”. What I mean here, in its simplest state is that your product should be the solution to a problem and this is the very first thing to know before starting an e-commerce brand.

You’re not just creating a product, you’re solving a problem. Something that I’ve said time and time again: “The world doesn’t need more products”, so rather than asking yourself what product can I sell, instead ask yourself what problem can I solve?

By flipping this thinking on its head, from finding a product to finding a problem is important for several reasons. First up, if we’re thinking differently to others, we’re more likely to come up with something different and better than what’s already out there.

This method gives you the opportunity to find a better solution to the problem than other standard products on the market. Also if your product is solving an existing problem that your target market or customer already experiences, you know it’s going to add value and be of value to them.

Acing a problem-first approach will also make it easier down the track to create more products that make sense for your brand, because you’ll always have that starting point or brand vision to work from. In fact, coming up with a solution before you know the problem you’re solving can actually be seriously detrimental to innovation. Once you have a solution in mind, it’s really hard to shift from that, even if you know and you’ve got that it might not be the best possible one.

It’s a little like answering a question before you know what the question even was. Even if you take a good guess it’s always going to be a little bit off the mark. Identifying the problem that you want to solve before making your product will make sure that you never lose sight of what your brand is trying to achieve or end up with a product that does miss the mark.

Finding a problem and coming up with multiple solutions means that you’re better equipped to find the best possible product for your brand to sell. What we want to do here is find a problem that you already know exists or better yet you’ve experienced yourself. This is what I often refer to: “scratching your own itch”. That means you’ve felt the pain point yourself, so you’re better able to empathize with your target audience. Ideally, the problem that you’re looking to solve will be in an area that you’re passionate about – you want to be able to do it day in day out, for the foreseeable future.

Let’s use an example that I’ve spoken about before, I’m truly interested in protecting our shared environment for future generations. My interest in this might stem from the fact that my mom is it a little bit of a hippie, she’s taken to doing things like lining her bin with old newspaper instead of plastic bags, religiously takes her own plastic bags to the supermarket, etc. The huge environmental issue is our unprecedented production of waste and dropshipping products – both landfill and recyclable.

So the problem that my brand will solve is how to decrease waste from everyday disposable items. A good way of coming up with your solution here is by turning a problem into a question and your solution will be the answer to that question.

The question could be: How do I decrease waste from everyday disposable items? And one answer would be to make those items reusable and this is something that I do a lot when coming up with solutions – I come up with a problem and ask myself what the polar opposite of that problem would be?

Like I said, the opposite of disposable is reusable this is another strategy that you can use. So we have our problem – the waste from disposable everyday items and our solution making them reusable. Now we want to have a bit of a brainstorm around what some of these disposable everyday items could be, that we could make reusable. This is going to help us come up with some potential product ideas.

So, now let’s start thinking of some items that you use daily, are disposable that you could make reusable. First things that immediately come to mind: Erasers (shopify best sellers), tooth brushes, takeaway coffee cups or straws. Now you want to begin to have a think and do some research around each of these potential product ideas in terms of what you think has:

  • biggest market potential
  • competition

It’s important that they aren’t being done as well by other brands. You can fast forward and go for the item of areas which has the least market saturation (which in our case, from the items listed is the disposable straws).
Then we want to focus in and start to do some additional research around our problem and solution. We want to look at some facts and figures that you can focus on to highlight the problem of disposable straws. Apparently an estimated 500 million straws are used each day in the US alone – this is a powerful number and it can help you convince the customer the importance of making a change.

Then we want to highlight the fact that plastic straws cannot be recycled and they sit in our landfill for years or pollute our waterways. So, you’re starting to create a compelling reason for your prospective customer to switch to a reusable straw, by getting them to understand and even empathize with the problem.

If you’ve felt the pain point yourself, you’re not only going to be more motivated to solve it, but you’re actually going to be more equipped to solve it as well. If you ask yourself your problem as a question, your solution can be the answer or another approach is thinking of the polar opposite of your problem, for example: Disposable and reusable dehydration and hydration or in the case of SkinnyMe Tea (my brand if tea) toxins and detox.

If you’re stuck on ideas you can look at websites like trendhunter or Kickstarter, for example. On trendhunter you can search according to a category you’re interested in:

If you’re interested in health and wellness, then you can go into the health category and maybe look at some of the top trends for that month in the health and wellness space or you can see if anything really catches your eye.

For me obviously if detox teas was written down, I would have found that really interesting and I would have tried to think about some of the ways that I could solve that problem differently to what was already being presented.
Another good place to do some research once you have a general idea is Pinterest. You can type in things like: “the benefits of hydration” or “dehydration” or “detox tea recipes” and look at some of the DIY tips and trends there. As an action item I’d like you to come up with five broad problems that you’re looking to solve.

The Value of the Human Mind – How Machine Learning is Helping Humans Win

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StrategyDriven Innovation Article | The Value of the Human Mind - How Machine Learning is Helping Humans Win

Overview

There is no doubt that we are living in the AI era. Artificial intelligence is at work all around us today. Even if we do not realize it, our thoughts and actions are training the technology to respond in the way we desire. Machine learning is one of the fundamental tasks of AI. Just as the name implies, the machines and platforms we use daily are learning from the consistent input we provide. Let’s look into ways that machine learning is helping to make our lives much easier.

What is Machine Learning?

Machine learning is an AI component that uses algorithms to find and apply data patterns. The process involves the input of data into a model that is used to predict an outcome. The more data that is input into the model, the “smarter” the machine application seems to get.

The data used can take on many forms, such as text numbers, images, videos, clicks, etc. If there is a way that the item can be stored, it can be applied to a machine-learning model. There are a variety of ways that machine-learning algorithms are incorporated. These various algorithms fit under three specific types of machine learning.

StrategyDriven Innovation Article | The Value of the Human Mind - How Machine Learning is Helping Humans Win

Types of Machine Learning

The three types of machine learning are supervised learning, unsupervised learning, and reinforcement learning. Deep learning is the refined form of machine learning we see used daily. Deep learning uses an algorithm to create what are called neural networks. Neural networks are loosely based on the neural networks of the human brain. Each of these types of neural networks fits in one of the three categories.

Supervised Learning

Supervised learning involves machine learning, where variables—called features—and labels are assigned to the model used. These features and labels are utilized to properly classify the data received. The algorithm can identify patterns based on predetermined features and labels.

An example of machine learning using the supervised model is a machine that can count coins of different denominations. If the weights (features) of nickels, dimes, and quarters (labels) are input into an algorithm, the model can predict the denominations of the coins based on knowing the weight (feature) of each. Another example of this is with a music streaming service that predicts the best choices of music to play based on the genre you routinely choose.

Unsupervised Learning

Unsupervised learning does not use predetermined features and labels. The model is set up to search for any patterns it can recognize. The process is much like a person collecting shells at the beach and later categorizing them based on their shapes. Since there are no labels in this process, there is a greater ability for the machine to analyze the data to locate hidden structures contained within it. Unsupervised learning has become popular among those in the cybersecurity community.

Reinforcement Learning

Behavior modification involves the use of reward and penalty to encourage or discourage specific activities. For instance, if a dog is being house trained, it will be rewarded when it does its business outside and scolded when it does so inside. Reinforcement learning uses these same feedback responses to train machines to learn.

The algorithm for reinforcement learning is based on a trial and error model. Large amounts of data are input into the model, and the machine is rewarded or penalized subsequent to whether the selections help or hinder the objective of the application. Reinforcement learning is seen with the training of robots for industrial automation.

StrategyDriven Innovation Article | The Value of the Human Mind - How Machine Learning is Helping Humans WinHow Machine Learning Helps Humans

We see machine learning at work in our everyday lives. From our search engine results to our ride-sharing apps, machine learning is front and center in the process.  What he have seen is that augmented intelligence enhances human’s intelligence. Let’s focus on some of the applications that use machine learning.

GPS has become a staple in the lives of all travelers. GPS uses machine learning to assist us in reaching our destination by using other users’ input and recognized patterns. Picture recognition used by Facebook is another form of machine learning that uses a supervised model. Ride-sharing apps use various machine learning models to predict destinations, estimate times, and determine pricing.

StrategyDriven Innovation Article | The Value of the Human Mind - How Machine Learning is Helping Humans Win

Conclusion

Once merely an element in sci-fi movies, AI has become a part of our daily experience. Whether we notice the presence of machine learning or not, our lives have been made notably simpler due to its role in developing applications designed to give humans the advantage. Hopefully, you can now recognize the ways that AI continues to benefit you every day.