From Editorial to Curatorial...oh, and the iPad

I heard a great word the other day – curatorial.

I had never figured on a variant of the word like that – doh!

It’s a word to watch out for to be sure. I will probably now bore everyone I meet with it.  Starting right now. The context of hearing it for the first time was this chap who said there was no ‘curatorial layer’ to the application. There literally could be any amount of data about to be unleashed on him. He would then have to plough through it. No thought applied to the way in which the content had been distilled. Curated. He went on to say it would be like drinking a pint of quick drying cement. So he wasn’t about to do that.

Meaning, rather like Google search, that you will get a million responses to any search term. It’s kinda what happens. If no design thinking gets applied to the experience of the user, or the reason why you might want all that data - watch out you will be fire hosed. Because we can!

So in the new world order, this idea of curation of data is huge.

Rather like the word ‘Editorial’ meaning - the summary or overview/management function - so that the context stays true to the intention in some way ‘Curatorial’ will come to mean - intensely valuable construction and design of intelligent content - brought together from wherever - by thinking about it (intelligently) and creating more and more rich/valuable experiences for the consumer.

We so need to get our heads around this if we are to take advantage of the onslaught of devices like the iPad.

So - talking about experiences.

Buying an iPad in the US was something quite special. A very quiet mall in a district of Atlanta at 11 am Sunday morning. A quite beautiful and sunny day. The Apple store came into view - a small queue buzzes patiently for the place to actually open.  Every other store deserted, looking enviously at its counterpart. Within literally 5 seconds of the place opening a very attentive Apple concierge explained the options, the process of buying iPads, how it all just works - and then within a few minutes there it was, my very own iPad.

Jonny Ive was spot on when he called it magical.

I’ve heard the word delicious applied to many things. Mostly food, wine, women and Italian cars.

Now I genuinely felt that thought about glass, aluminum and the countless man years of magical design applied to digital machinery. I make no excuses. It is incredible. It is genuinely a game changer. Easy to say but it really is. If this is the first edition in a new category of product then hold onto your hats.

The way the apps work is exactly how I imagined - only more delicious. And remember this is just the beginning. Design thinking makes it come alive because they have considered the whole experience. They have studied important insights they’ve gained with iPhone and iPod. They have thought through the real use to which this machine will be put.

You hold, caress, squeeze, tap, push, slide and stroke the thing. You consume not only the information but much more meaning within the information because of the care that’s been taken to think about that. It’s intuitive. A truly curated experience.

I will stop now.

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Partnership? I will bring two Armadillos, you bring your Dromedary. OK?

Funny word that. Partnership.

Partnership typically means a thing - a device that involves, equanimity, balance, shared values, shared outcomes, respect and free transfer of experience and asset. It's about transactions yes - but beyond. Multiple dependencies and actions across a bunch of humans. Trading in real value.

In my experience it often doesn't mean that at all.

Most times there is a winner and a loser.  A leader and a grudging follower – plus quite often a fractious break down leading to long term resentment and cost.  All of this is because the way, shape and form of partnership wasn't set up properly. (See previous post.) And/or it was formed from naïve optimism mixed with good natured belief as the basis of the 'partnership'.

"Pah! One of my armadillos is worth way more than your Dromedary. I now discover."

Well to me this result falls into the same category of every program or project. I'm not saying all this is ever easy but we actually build in failure to the majority of partnerships.

Nowhere near enough attention gets paid to the ‘way’, the ‘shape’ and the ‘form’ of the thing. In modern arrangements there is a much better way to arrange things than a flat partnership agreement anyway.

Take a value network for example, where the exchange of value between members is, out the outset, variable. It's agreed upfront that it's way more than just the dollars. It's designed and thought about that way round - with open acceptance and an understanding that not everyone is likely to contribute in the same way, shape or form. However everyone knows the overall shape, everyone agrees with the way and each understands the form.

Shaping a common outcome is something that all parties must help to create. Co-create. Open.  The way everyone works is agreed and it conforms to an open standard. The form is clear, different and yet valued across the team. Different returns are a given. This is just how it is. Why wouldn't there be? Everyone is doing different things. It's out in the open. Spending time designing all the moving parts of the partnership is as important as designing the thing.

By setting things up this way, ahead of time, the likelihood of success is dramatically increased. By having a visual representation mapping of every role, contribution, hand off, return and other agreed values or principles the partners all know what is expected and likely to happen. We reduce the risk of failure at least. We stand a chance of showing that (when required to) that Dromedary managed to get us over that hump.

And armadillos can be so snippy.

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If only we put minds to it...in some way, shape or form!

Let's build a Pyramid. Awesome, Yeah! Let's Go! - wicked. Whoo Hoo!

This has to work in some way, shape or form. Great idea. It will amaze and shock. It will live forever.

Every day since we were fish (maybe even a week or two earlier), we set about creating value so as to survive. We worked hard to add more richness to each of our lives. We did it through improvement in some way, shape or form. Individually or collectively. That's all there is to it right?

That's it. What else is there? As a species we are all about combining efforts in some way – to survive and improve.  Amazing if you stop to think about it.

We all have different reasons and ways to go about it of course.

In business we combine so that change or performance gets increased - hopefully recognized and valued by the world. In society it's so that we have a rewarding world in which our kids are safe and educated to enjoy a balanced and worthwhile life. Or we don't and we try to kill each other. We have got pretty amazing at that too.

I don't think I am the only one who felt physical nausea at the slogan of 'shock and awe' applied to a recent invasion of utter deceit and stupidity.

Given the opportunity (or good reason) to get our minds wrapped around any given topic we can make magic happen. Alchemy. If we put our minds to it then we can carry that energy on into ever more remarkable territory. Outstanding. Problem is we seem to have lost our way a bit.

Well - it comes down to the ‘way’, ‘shape’ or ‘form’ in which we do it. Doesn't it always?

Yep and therein lies the big snag. Holy crap. We are dreadful at agreeing the way, the shape and the form and getting worse in countless cases. In my experience we need way more focus or caffeine (or electric shock treatment). So many brave attempts at change come unstuck because we never agreed the way, the shape or the form in which each participant would operate. Let alone co-operate.

What do we mean by way, shape or form these days? It's easy to say. I hear it all the time. It’s completely lost it’s original and vital meaning.

For me shape is truly that. What does the thing look like? Can we prod at its corners and edges? Could we hit it with a stick? Take a photograph of it. Draw a picture in the sand. Define its colors precisely with Pantone swatches. Can we walk around it? Lean against it - explain its design! Well can we? And if we could would we all be better able to agree that it's the awesome thing we all want to create? Of course we would!

And the form, well the same thing really. In the 21st Century this would cover the media it arrives by/through, the choice of specific materials with which it gets made, the stuff around it to support its existence. Its eco-system - its value network. Surely if we could see and share in that expression we would stand a better shot at success correct? - Yep!!!

And the way? Well now it gets sporty. Subjectivity will kill us here if we can't all agree on the way. My way or the highway meets let's create a shared way to build the Pyramids. How we do anything is as important if not more important than the what. How you pass that granite rock up to that chap in a loin cloth chopping away at that boulder thing with those trees rolling underneath to shift it all is paramount. It could all go horribly wrong. Without a shared way it does. Frequently.

So the triangle of way, shape and form is considerably more than the simple sound-byte we all trot out. It's a multi-dimensional puzzle that needs to be exceedingly well thought through. It's so much a three dimensional triangle in fact let's think of it as a pyramid. Awesome!

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Rambling 2.0

I’ve never been to Mars.

Traveling is actually a great relief - even with the toxic and diabolical state of traditional travel processes. Road, Air and so on. Obnoxious.

If you can shut out the stupid systems and appalling experience we humans have concocted to make it happen, the act of travel is hugely valuable.  And underestimated. The old maxim – “It’s the journey not the destination” - and the new one - “The search is the find” - never more appropriate.

A meander in a new city - a ramble that’s written, a wander about the planet.  All wildly underestimated.

I find it disappointing - and hard sometimes to argue this because so many people are conditioned to want the result - not the figuring. The end product not the design or the working it out part. The destination not the journey. People have become so used to expecting conclusions.

We seem to have lost the art of enjoying the crafting of the thing.

We've lost the patience and involvement of it all. We’ve misused the meaning of design and as a result weve started to atrophy. We’ve stopped thinking. No time for contemplation.

Traveling, seeing, experiencing and mind rambling is such a delight - then ‘writing’ it first in my head and then into my machines – it is the thing. It's like the creation of a picture for me. Writing what I’ve ‘felt’ is what forms the better and bigger idea. It's a ramble, full of wild departures, blind alleys, interesting meetings, strange alien creatures on the side-walks and relaxing stops for fresh provisions in a new place. I don’t much mind if no-one else reads it.

To be on the journey is always a far better experience than actually getting there. I'm not for a minute suggesting that there isn't a good thing at the destination but if the journey was rewarding I always seem to enjoy there more.

I’ve just seen a road sign that says Slow Down. I wonder what it means?

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Thinking Round - The Future!

Look at this. It’s 4 phases of a thing. A thing that’s so simple it can often elude people.

I get asked what I do - I explain I answer complex problems by getting people to think differently. People will not be all that impressed by that. It doesn’t tell them much. So I explain that there are 24 vitally interconnected conversations, each of which are crucial for solving critical business issues. I get these conversations out using visual framework tools and techniques. They often say that’s very complex.

So I will say that these conversations are broken into 4 logical frameworks. 11 conversations in Discovery, 8 in Development, 3 in Decision and 1 in Deployment.  All of this preceded by a single conversation that asks what the issue is that we are trying to resolve – and why.

Nah, you lost me - way too complicated.

OK, what about this then?

I force fresh thinking for companies that want to be in the 21st Century. What does that mean? Well that means a real time - adrenaline filled, unique and proven approach for companies that have become exasperated that solutions are too slow, don’t work, are too expensive, waste critical resources, solve the wrong problems really well or serve the supplier/advisor more than them.

Hmmm, OK, long sentence but now it’s getting more interesting.

I continue. I suggest that in this century we can crack the answer together.  It’s not rocket science.  I believe that all our clients know more than they know. I can prove it. If they just give me a short amount of time to get them in a room with the correct exam question, a white wall that’s big enough to expand their minds and an openness to trying a different way to think – hey presto.

2500+ cases and hundreds of references to say it works - cannot be wrong.  Realizing that there's a better way to a solution is a very big thing. When people give it just that extra little bit of thought they can see how this is actually quite simple. By using structured conversations instead of random and opinionated presentations, by applying real-time visualization to abstract but critical ideas, by opening the minds of the senior teams to the art of the possible – we can change minds and hearts. What else is there?

Oh yes - we have a shared, aligned and practical plan that describes everything we need to know - so we can get on with it.

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Stable Doors? Bolted Horses!

Living downtown on Planet Risk.

It's official. The words predictable, safe, secure, manageable, stable and long term are the new high risk strategies.  Avoid them or die.

Who would know.

The big objective for most people seems to be to reduce risk at all costs. And reduce cost at all costs. Oh and at low risk. But that will be at huge cost and risk. Because we know that risk is on the edge and at the edge is where the opportunity is.

Planning for safe is not only ludicrous it's stupid.

It bakes in apathy, risk and dumb process. It kills the spirit of what makes business survive.  And yet these things are the first words out of everyone's mouths when thinking about the future. Getting to anything like these things requires constant re-thinking. Constant disruption, black-belt creativity, truly flexible systems, passionate and engaged people right across the enterprise and incredible energy and passion by mercurial leadership.

Yes everyone want’s the latest technology, creativity and smart capability but it has an increasingly short shelf life.

Rising above the crowd and leading in the 21st Century means leveraging not owning what was once valuable or unique (but is soon commodity). Then doing it again.  All the time.  And again.  And again. It is how to think – it is not a one-off project. Designing ‘apps’ for the iPad is the hot ticket today - it will be the daily trudge for creative programmers inside a year. Probably already is.

Being in front is about being happiest with the uncertainty of next.

Staying at the top of the food chain is remembering that it’s always about next. Now is boring and already dying. Yesterday. Not a comfortable place for many people. We have to get used (and delighting) to the fact that the norm is that tense, adrenaline buzzed - risky more sporty place called "don't know, we can't be sure - but let's try this...".

This means we don’t have to own all of the current resources. But we need to know how to partner with the talent for next. We need to know how to build communities of innovation for next. We need to understand the value networks for next and the 21st Century Eco-Systems for next.

If we could be sure about anything it would not be realistic. We know that sure bets aren't. We know that fashion is fickle and short term. Getting shorter. Get to understand that. Fast.

Baking in stability is to die. Stable doors means the horses have bolted.

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Virtual Reality! More than a game?

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In September 1955, James Dean met Alec Guinness outside an Italian restaurant in Hollywood. He introduced himself and showed Guinness his brand-new Porsche 550 Spyder.  “The sports car looked sinister to me,” Guinness wrote in his autobiography:

Exhausted, hungry, feeling a little ill-tempered in spite of Dean’s kindness, I heard myself saying in a voice I could hardly recognize as my own, ‘Please, never get in it.’ I looked at my watch. ‘It is now ten o’clock, Friday the 23rd of September, 1955. If you get in that car you will be found dead in it by this time next week.’

Dean laughed. One week later he collided head-on with a Ford coupe outside Cholame, Calif. He was pronounced dead 6 days and 20 hours after Guinness’ prediction.

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Interesting Nike Campaign...!

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Dilemma's, Paradox, Irony.

My head hurts.

Dilemmas, Irony and Paradox. Can you simplify that for me please? Err, no.

It messes with my head to meet smart people who state determinedly that they want to solve a major issue in their lives/business/government department. They go on to say that they want to do so with simple tools and techniques and fast. I get the question I just find it hard to explain (without some incontrollable facial muscle spasms) that the answer may require dealing with complexity.

This request more than often comes along with a request for a whole new vision - a strategy – wholesale transformation in some critical area or other.  A new deal for this government department, a whole new way to engage with our consumers – reengineer my organization - change my life please.  

“Oh, and we want it to be simple.”

If I dig deeper they defend this with -

“It’s because I fear my colleagues will not be able to deal with the complexity of it all.”

After a while I may get them to admit that it is they too that actually can’t deal with the complexity of it all – not often though. Trust me - I know the feeling. I used to feel the same when I was a client. Admitting this fact is over 80% of the way to solving the problem. I am bursting to ask them then if in this case should we close down the operation and let them get on with their lives elsewhere? - do only the things they are capable of? I don’t ask that. Often.

A dilemma in fact.  A dilemma in that the capability of some of these leaders asking for change doesn’t exist  - it won’t work - but - they are the leaders.  A paradox in that they have recognized that there is a problem bigger than they can manage or wish to pursue but they still will - and irony in that they want the solution, they don’t know what it is, they know it’s very valuable - but not at any price.

I’m still optimistic.

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The underestimated power of the Gif...!!

Gotta love these, and much thanks to FFFFOUND! At http://ffffound.com/ where there’s a ton more. The idea of the GIF is an the abbreviation of Graphics Interchange Format. It was originally developed by CompuServe (an on-line service that was pretty successful in the early nineties). The format features include file compression, transparency, interlacing and storage of multiple images within a single file which allows for a primitive form of animation.

Primitive? It works for me. Armed with a degree of creativity and an eye for the idea this format is a great structure within which to think visually. It strikes me that rather like Twitter disciplines the mind to make sense in short sounbytes then this format does the same for the visual idea of idea.

Love it.

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On being wired...or tired?

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I like people who are connected. To me they are prepared to roll with life.

They know what’s going on - are more interesting - they seem sharper to me.  They sparkle, they have their fingers on countless pulses. We know we can't stop the inevitable weight of human endeavor so we have to turn it to our own advantage. What comes with all this is the fire-hose of being connected. Relentless though it is. Invasive as it is. We have to learn to deal with it. Handle it. People may think this is anti-social, anti-human. It’s the opposite.

It's all very time consuming isn't it? Well no!

I find that I have been able to make it a part of what I do anyway. I don’t spend a lot of time on it. I graze, I skim, I skate across what I want and when something attracts my eye then I get stuck in. It is about my own passions at that time. It’s replaced things that I used to do that were a waste of time and inefficient. I choose to link to whoever I want. I get to turn them off again if they bore me. I can ignore them or hit delete. But for every one that’s tired and bores me there are countless that teach me something and adds to my experience and learning.

We need to remember that each of us are individual. We work in different modes, we have different moods. We demand flexibility. Our tactics in the digital realm require similar ideas. It’s these ideas that we need to keep up with. Today’s web space is a web of things, spaces, moods, modes and tools to tackle each one in a different way. So let’s get on with it!

It drives a lot of people people crazy.

Not me. Fact is for me it’s the other way around. People choose to use the platform that suits what they do. Nobody to my knowledge religiously signs up to all of this stuff.  And anyway it's all a stepping stone to something else - the personal portal or something like that. Something that gets all of this stuff into a rational single space. Nope.

Why would that work? That's just a website. The world has moved on.

Ping!

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Radical? The way it's going to be? Well?...hmm...

This is how business will need to think. Well - along these lines anyway.

This may have gone a little weird but it’s a great example of how the business world will start to rethink it’s consumers as co-creators of their business – the new terrain - content. Love it or hate this expression it’s a sign of what to come.

It all starts naturally enough with a boring shot of a car.

Missed opportunity but I guess ford isn’t quite that brave yet. Yes we know you mean cars!http://www.fusion41.com/ Then it gets kinda crazy with what they have done to make the car interesting to people who have some time on their hands and are interested in the kind of challenges and resulting stats that they seem to have winkled out of them.  Sadly too the questions resemble a thinly disguised attempt to sex up their car and a cross between a reality TV show and a drunken night at the Agency.

They have targeted their ideal consumer - some unsuspecting and presumably well paid punters.

Well it’s a start.

The fact is they have to think differently to make the common or garden car seem a bit more interesting. Whoever wrote the challenges probably needs to get out more (a new car perhaps?) but it’s a valiant attempt to think differently within the media as it is now. So well done lads.

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The State of the Internet - The Facts and the Figures as an information graphic video

via coolinfographics.com

This is doing the rounds quite a bit and that's cool.

The figures are quite incredible and each year we get amazed by them and the rate. Thats cool too. I am posting this because it will be fascinating to see what effect the iPAD has on this. In 12 months and 24 months I would expect the stats to be off the scale in several other dimensions.

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It's simply complex - OK?

One of the big benefits of having a 'language' that's common is that it gets everyone to agree. It’s truly the mechanism by which humans work. It makes things simple. Unless it doesn't of course.

You either love or hate this Ferrari. At what level do you appreciate it or loathe it? Do you see a revolutionary design, a piece of state of the art and passionate engineering – or an unnecessary and needless waste of effort? Why does it have such different meaning to different people? Obvious right? - We are all different, we are uniquely individual and we each see different things in everything.

It seems to me that getting to a simple and common agreement is often impossible. Should we try and where do we stop trying?

• Believing that their is a common appreciation of things is insane and dangerously ignores the subtlety of what is actually going on.
• Enforcing the law as if everything is agreed causes civil unrest is insane and dangerously ignores the subtlety of what is actually going on.  
  

Are we missing something here?

We enter into conflict or debate because our perspectives are so dissimilar - the definitions (or semantics) of the language we use vary to great extents between the users. We are what we have learned and become conditioned by. We are the sum of our experiences. In society this creates huge tension because governments have been so inept at understanding how to manage this truth - In business it can cause huge cost, risk and underperformance because not enough time is spent socializing the meaning of anything. This is why we have governance, standards and standards bodies to be the keeper of the keys. Blunt instruments. Why don’t we learn? If there were more discussion more people would learn, understand what is going on and perhaps contribute to just how things could be improved. Is that so complicated?

To ignore that things are really not how they appear is to ignore that we are human.

When collaborating and socializing to create common meaning – everything works - everyone can ‘team’ - we are aligned – harmony. The theory is that if we could truly collaborate, become more socially connected then bits of work would get done by different parts of the team and it would all come together as one. This applies to running a country as much as running a business. It’s called thinking and conversation – common sense. It’s a rare thing. Is that why we don’t do it? Does it all sound so hard? Too complex? Not simple enough? Imagine if Ferrari didn’t get it right – would you get on this thing?

What else can we do?

Interpretation happens in individuals heads.

In business and the enterprise the same is true. If you allow people to deeply engage in the defining or meaning of the standards then you can expect magic to occur from your biggest asset. Miracles in terms of performance. High energy and potential unleashed by those who would join your team. Don’t do it and learn to live with an underground movement of discontent, opposing parties and massive mediocrity.

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The Multi-Colored Magpie - Breaking old ground In order to innovate.

My life and my work is based on an evolving ‘manifesto’.

Constant change in the world means that my manifesto can never stay still either. Principles, intentions, ambitions and frontiers quite naturally stretching us all further every day. Perversely innovation and change is often about breaking old ground. Breaking new ground all the time is unthinkable and it just doesn’t work. At the heart of the work It’s about tirelessly dismantling old systems of thinking – terrorizing anything that represents a barricade to new reason or fresh thinking.

A Wall of Newfusion.

To do this I put up a massive wall of white space in order to write the insights, the slogans that themselves have the power to tear down the mental wall of conditioned resistance, frustration and dogma recently shed by their owners.

We all know that to really transform anything we need to remove any reasons for the new ground to get fouled up.  In the biggest sense this is where new eras of design are now required. 21st Century design thinking and implementation. The task is one of subterfuge - subtly educating – constantly redesigning - raising the consciousness and appetite for major disruption. Right now!

How to Balance Automation with Individuality?

I believe strongly that to win in this world we have to be crafty and ingenious. Grabbing precious things from everywhere. Anywhere. We are curious multicolored magpies looking at everything that’s valuable and then make off with it.  The search is most definitely the find. The discoveries I make in simple conversation, trawling the web, creating fresh debates, adding to the chatter – this is where I find the gems - the jewels that just lay around unnoticed in every situation are remarkable. To ignore it with lazy minds is diabolical. Search the web now for the definition of diabolical.

The dangerous innovation actively sought by the commercialized world nowadays is automation. It’s impossible to automate creativity. It’s not possible to replicate the skills of design thinkers without design thinkers. None of this is codifiable by computers. Creativity demands humans to think.  We can all do this. We can all contribute if we open our minds. To get close to that just get better at knowing how to think smartly in every single situation you can. Become a magpie but one that doesn’t think just black and white.

Redefine and redesign – thinking.

Some more http://bit.ly/cdBeXv

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Picasso's War

Picasso’s Guernica depicts the suffering wrought by a German bombing in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War.  Three years later, when the artist was living in Nazi-occupied Paris, a Gestapo officer saw a photo of the painting in his apartment.

“Did you do that?” he asked.

“No,” Picasso said. “You did.”

From the very excellent Futility Closet http://www.futilitycloset.com/

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Socially Acceptable Media - Already Singing This Tune!

via youtube.com

Just excellent way to get to grips with whats actually happening! Brilliant, love it, watch it and thanks sarah for switching me into this!...Enjoy!

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The Incredible Timothy Allen

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I really admire the eye of the photographer. Well some photographers. More recently been following the work of Timothy Allen. Being able to perceive anything in the complex world around is a critical skill for the 21st Century. To be able to tell story that resonates, see the truth in a tornado of input - priceless. take a look at his work and support the craft of people like Timothy. We need these skills back in the mainstream to remove the appalling results of our dumbed down social systems! (i Think!)

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Web Science! - A Simple Idea. Disruption

via silicon.com

Web 3.0 is a simple idea too but it's vital that we all get our heads around this stuff. We've had the privilege to be close to these amazing people and these ideas for some time but this article does put some of the concepts into clear perspective. Check it out.

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