2016:10 What I learned this week

- Chatting with friends outside of the realm I work in, I realised I am actually good at what I do. I work at a place where the work and people are of such high calibre that I am constantly being challenged, so I never feel like I'm on top of my game, rather just constantly struggling to learn more, do more, impress more. I should stop and take time to give myself a pat on my back.

Take a look at what other people have on their home screens /how they organize and prioritize apps 

http://homescreen.is/

http://first-the-trousers.com/2016/02/25/the-four-brains-of-a-strategist-which-one-do-you-use-most/

Google venture discovery sprints - Marty Cagan explains how discovery sprints helped the Google Ventures team solve their product challenges.

http://svpg.com/discovery-sprints/

Epson’s paper lab recycles your paper in-house

http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/4/9848244/epson-paperlab-paper-recycling

Mattel has a 3d printer! No longer just a specialized vocational tool, it's an accessible toy for 5 year olds!

http://techcrunch.com/2016/02/15/mattel-unveils-thingmaker-a-300-3d-printer-that-lets-kids-make-their-own-toys/

2016:9 What I learned this week

Drawings and annotations of the objects people own in their homes. It's like visiting someone's home and going through their stuff, but through drawings called "soft maps"

Rothuizen's soft maps shed light on individual behaviours and desires, which are crucial elements to understand in urban planning. Rothuizen: "My drawings show how our ideas of what we want and what we have are two different things. I think that in order to plan what we want, we should start with what we have."

http://www.socialcities.org/blog/mapping-the-lives-and-desires-of-shenzhen-residents-from-their-home/

http://janrothuizen.nl

Next big thing in design – IDEO’s next strategy

https://medium.com/ideo-stories/the-next-big-thing-in-design-513522543a6f#.onp1owlfx

UX is not enough

http://blogs.adobe.com/creativecloud/ux-is-not-enough/

I love these things. A small website that serve a small but specific purpose. 

Frank calls you everyday to collect and record your feedback of your day.

http://callfrank.org/

A (really good!) science fiction future (20 min film)

"In a near future where most people get a "cricket" implanted in their brains that allows them to switch to an “automatic mode,” a cricket repair man is faced with a moral dilemma when the parents of an autistic boy ask him to hack into the chip of their son."

https://vimeo.com/143619244

2016:8 What I learned this week

Nothing crazy insightful this week. Mostly fun stuff

SATs have been revamped, here’s a few sample questions to test yourself

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/02/07/us/new-sat-quiz.html

Genetic discrimination

http://www.wired.com/2016/02/schools-kicked-boy-based-dna

Escaped Zebra catching drill. Perhaps this is how we take role-play prototyping with our clients to the next level

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/japan-zookeepers-ueno-zoo-stage-escaped-animal-drill-employee-wearing-giant-zebra-costume-1541416

The school of 2050 – kind of strange, but interesting as our future selves constantly shift our views over time

https://medium.com/bright/the-classroom-is-dead-18986bcf5fb0#.jois8s1j1

Ship it squirrel and update the plan

http://www.geoffreywiseman.ca/blog/2013/03/15/shipit-update-plan/

2015:49 What I learned this week

Career advice
https://www.futurerising.com/careers-advice

Detroit 2030. Planning the future of the city together with the citizens of Detroit.
http://detroitfuturecity.com/

IKEA LATTJO collection. Toys! "Play it forward"
http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/10312751/

Cooper Hewitt  how design has become more and more user-focused over the past fifty years, and how this shift has affected the daily lives of people everywhere
https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/exhibitions/51669015/

2015:46 What I learned this week

camera drone that you just throw and it follows you. It's also cute.
https://www.lily.camera/

Talk to your intelligent robot to assist you. Yes, like Her.
http://motion.ai/

RSID has a design and health program
http://footnote1.com/better-health-by-design/


As I try to understand more about what is a designer, strategist, design strategy, design thinking:

A good article from AIGA about the role designers play in strategy. An excerpt from "Success by Design: The Essential Business Reference for Designers" It's not explicit, but it is probably skewed towards graphic designers
http://www.aiga.org/what-aspiring-designers-need-to-know-about-strategy/

IDEO's expertise as Business Design explains what design thinking x corporate strategy is for IDEO, and case studies to prove its value
https://www.ideo.com/expertise/business-design/

2015:45 What I learned this week

Don't fret fellow humans, we aren't ready for 100% AI.
http://www.fastcodesign.com/3052646/innovation-by-design/life-with-my-robot-secretary
http://www.fastcodesign.com/3050421/how-facebook-m-will-hook-us-on-shopping-at-facebook

Always a good read and reminder as I transition into strategy
https://medium.com/life-tips/faq-how-do-i-get-into-strategy-a7d25de79df0#.6davjpb60

2015:42 What I learned this week

An article about the value of an independent design consultancy in a world where we compete with a growing number of large firms that decide to purchase and internalize a design consultancy of their own.

"The narrative in the design industry has swung towards the story that design has finally found it’s seat at the table; in-house at the world’s largest and most influential firms. [...] The next generation of great design firms will compete on mindset"

https://medium.com/design-for-the-network/its-never-been-more-important-for-design-firms-to-think-differently-29fc8c465c33

Discovered a person making the punny burgers from the show Bob's burgers for real, and then turning it into a cookbook. ie, Don't You Four Cheddar 'Bout Me Burger
http://thebobsburgerexperiment.com/

Lenert and Sander made an awesome video on foley for COS
http://lernertandsander.com/the-sound-of-cos/

a tres cool clock. like a physical cartoon..
http://www.hellorhei.com/

Cities are growing, and why bigger is better. A good listen from ReSite 2015 Special Lecturer Greg Lindsay on technology and integrated networks.
https://vimeo.com/134493744

Shedding the designer role

This week has been the most difficult, but mostly because the learning curve was steep. This is unknown territory.

It's the most exciting part though, because this is where design departs and business begins. I learned about the Balanced Scorecard, and discovered an online KPI database. (http://kpilibrary.com/)Which goes to show that nobody out there in the large corporate world really knows what they are doing.

I'm still trying to see how the two worlds mix, design and business, because right now I see a line where my skills as a designer have waned and the skills of a true strategist really would shine. Understanding operational needs, creating a measurement plan, building a business case, etc. That is entirely out of my realm of knowledge and it is both fascinating and empowering to know that I have an opportunity to live in both worlds.

Work progress update

Project A has finally started, and with a bang!
A double back-to-back session and five meetings in two days with our client. I haven't been in the office since Tuesday and I miss the team!
We had a good kickoff. I was prepared because we've been preparing for weeks now. It's always interesting to find what kind of client and dynamic we are going to have. Nonetheless, still feeling uber stressed. I have not figured if it's because I'm hungry or stressed, but there was a night I couldn't sleep and every night thereafter its just nerves in my belly. I believe it's due to inexperience, so more future sessions later means less stress. We also had our first working session the following day, which was tiring but nice because the content was fresh for our participants. We also changed our style a bit this round and I really feel it just keeps improving each time. It's also the first time I'm really preparing the sessions on my own so it was a lot of brain work figuring flow and making sure we find the easiest way to facilitate co-creation. I wish I can speak to this work in a snap. Every time I need to speak I'm afraid they'll think I'm a fraud.  (see, imposter syndrome and then the Dunning-Kruger effect)

Project B started too, and our first session with them is next week. This one scares me as well, we'll be in a room full of really smart individuals, so what am I to say that they don't already know better? The work is also in an industry I know almost nil about. So maybe some market research and understanding processes and how businesses run will help alleviate the fear. Project B had deadlines this week too, and we're just getting to know the team as well. We worked until super late. We're swamped.

Balancing two big projects isn't easy. I'm looking for tools that will help me stay organized and focused. So I'm thinking either meditation or evernote. Something digital or analog? Not sure. Our project team also shrunk from three to two and the lead has two/a heap of other projects/responsibilities so it's on me to step up my game and take care of my part so they don't have to worry/waste extra time teaching vs doing. My goal is to be able to say "let me take care of it" and him not have to worry. Taking more than I can handle? This is probably why my stomach is in knots.

Strategy through design (What I do)

This is what my work looks like:






It's not particularly fabulous, and the result is actually invisible, intangible, and usually ambitious, and I'm okay with that.