We’re Together In Our Fight Against COVID-19!

March 24, 2020 Happenings
COVID-19

It’s been a week since Ontario declared an emergency facing increasing COVID-19 cases in the province, and largely to prevent people from gathering in large numbers. In other words, practicing ‘social distancing’ to avoid contact with infected persons, even if it’s business as usual for some of them. The tremors from the Coronavirus blowout are being felt everywhere even as I’m writing this piece. It all seems like the world has being pounded by an army of invisible invaders while it was napping, but while the governments are doing everything in their power to pushback COVID-19 the residents are clearly losing the plot. The objective to decrease the infections cannot be achieved without everyone deciding to isolate themselves voluntarily and by maintaining a strict personal hygiene routine considering that the virus has the potential to survive on various kinds of materials for days.

Since it’s a new virus our immune systems are being compromised — there is no sign of an infection for days, and moreover, there’s no vaccine or treatment which is currently available. The only way to safeguard ourselves from this brutal threat and that of our society is through preventive measures of self-isolation during infection, and through ‘social distancing’. By not following these precautionary measures, we’re only adding to the risk of an unprecedented and a catastrophic scale that could push our nations into turmoil and affect our livelihoods for several decades. We’re already seeing the economic impacts, so far – the value of gold has plummeted, oil and gas prices are at is lowest since June 2001, the global travel industry has been crippled by cancellations and nationwide lockdowns, and there have been large scale layoffs in almost every major industry worldwide as a domino effect. Besides the official postponement of the biggest event of all, the Tokyo Olympics. It’d be completely appropriate to say, that as a global community, we’re going through our worst nightmares arising out of an inconspicuous element of danger.

Heart of the matter is, we all should be committed in our struggle against COVID-19 with the rules of our involvement pretty straightforward. Get yourself informed and share the info, maintain strict personal hygiene, and avoid contact with the outside world unless if it’s absolutely, positively, necessary.

What’s ‘Social Distancing‘?

– avoiding crowded places and non-essential gatherings
– avoiding common greetings, such as handshakes
– limiting contact with people at higher risk like older adults and those in poor health
– keeping a distance of at least 2 arms-length (approximately 2 metres) from others

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Prevention and risks

Why Are Online Portfolios Suddenly Vanishing?

March 21, 2020 Design

Nothing personal but it’s worth observing this recent phenomenon of certain designers maintaining online portfolios in private, and it’s a question that has baffled me the most. Until I meet someone who has kept the ‘daggers’ hidden under a cloak of secrecy I will never get conclusive evidence. I was reading an interesting and highly insightful article on Medium from a UI/UX designer talking about grid systems for mobile/desktop UI designs. There was no doubt in my mind that this individual had done immense research to validate an approach of using a grid system, and I was impressed enough to look at his body of work. His online portfolio link had been provided but my eagerness soon turned into despair when I found everything except for the design work was public! After creating an impression with your writing and intellect why would you want to hide your designs? And this isn’t the only instance where I found the portfolio ‘locked up’ for a private viewing it’s become a trend.

It defeats the entire purpose of maintaining an online portfolio that is meant to be accessible 24/7 and aimed at like-minded designers, peers, and most of all, recruiters and employers who might be looking for a talent like yours. Online portfolios can be a great way to project your individual talent not just for exploring job opportunities, and for the industry at large to comprehend what a design process resembles in an individual’s capacity! But the core question still remains unanswered – why are designers turning secretive all at once?

  • I believe there are a couple of factors and the most important one feels like the designer’s work for an organization is covered by an IP or a non-disclosure agreement. Designers aren’t allowed to showcase their visual thinking process in public without breaking the law and it’s a precarious situation they find themselves in all the time. So it’s only inevitable that they strictly make their work ‘on-demand’ to skillfully dodge the scrupulous eyes of the employer. So this applies to specific client work, but what about side projects which are independent of an employer’s discretion?
  • Another version could be to prevent employers, recruiters, and peers or colleagues from unfairly judging their work. UX is a pretty subjective domain having a nuanced process that’s dictated by the culture of the company. For instance, designing a ‘persona’ could end up within multiple formats across the industry and could still make sense in their individual capacities. If employers or recruiters were seeking to judge the designer on the basis of the perception they carry about a standardized ‘persona’ format they might well be disappointed. In such a case, candidates may prefer discussing the portfolio on a personal level by blocking access to the portfolio.
  • In relation to my previous point, some designers may also have a misguided personal view about their own work, finding it archaic and unfit for public viewing.
  • And lastly, some designers, in general, might be scared their work is at risk of getting plagiarized.

Be as it may, portfolios in any form are actually articles to be judged. They’re also seen as a ‘gateway’ to your innermost beliefs and design thinking processes, and might largely differ with an individual’s mindset. But it’s critical that that difference should be presented boldly and to position your unique qualities in the market. Aiming to build a career in design I miss the point and find no logic or prudence in keeping your talent confidential. The mantra should always be to stay open-minded, invite diverse opinions, and spreading the knowledge of design.

Innovation Through Serendipity

March 1, 2020 Design

There’s a well-known ‘eureka’ story around the occurrence of ‘serendipity’ or an unplanned discovery. Hiero the monarch of Syracuse, gave a silversmith some silver and gold to make him a crown but the king wasn’t convinced if the silversmith had been an honest craftsman. So he commissioned the famous mathematician Archimedes to check if the silversmith was a fraud or otherwise. He failed to find a solution, but one day as Archimedes was taking a bath and as he settled in the bathtub he noticed some of the water overflowed. He found out that it was the exact amount of weight that occupied his body. That’s how the Archimedes’ principle came into being and humans found a way to keep giant cargo ships floating on the deep oceans.

The definition of Serendipity, in a nutshell, is a happy coincidence, an unexpected event that apparently occurs due to chance, and it often happens when we are searching for something else. Once can be assured that almost everybody in the corporate world might hate to leave things to chance but in especially design as a field it’s mostly common to expect serendipity to occur with or without due process and provided the outcome isn’t driven by expectations alone.

But it has also been mentioned that serendipity isn’t an act of coincidence alone. Rather, in innovative processes, serendipity is more about making “connections or insights that occur when we are searching for one thing to find something else.” So effectively, being serendipitous means discovering what we didn’t know, 1 and Apple is one company. that is notoriously famous for making innovation choices based on the serendipity of extraordinary individuals such as Steve Jobs. 2

Nonetheless, in the sense of the most revealing inventions made through a serendipitous approach they are broadly categorized into three types:3

  • Discovery, that was not sought (e.g. Velcro)
  • Discovery, that was being sought, but found in an unexpected way (e.g. vulcanization)
  • Discovery, whose use is different than originally planned (e.g. Post-It).

Moreover the essence of serendipity can only be explored with an open mindset if not with the larger organization at least within the confines of the design culture. It essentially requires moving beyond our personal customs, culture, and prejudices and observing the external considerations of the customers as well, and by learning to spot the opportunities while simultaneously connecting with the internal views and research. This may appear to be a highly contradictory and an arduous exercise but adding the quality of serendipity to the research spectrum would eventually lead to some surprising results. It’s worth taking a chance.

  1. Collins, R. (n.d.). The Key to Innovation: Serendipity. Retrieved February 29, 2020, from https://optimityadvisors.com/insights/blog/key-innovation-serendipity ↩︎

  2. Medeiros, J. (2018, June 26). Here’s Why Steve Jobs Said Intuition is Absolutely More Powerful Than Intellect. Retrieved February 29, 2020, from https://www.goalcast.com/2018/06/26/steve-jobs-said-intuition-is-more-powerful-than-intellect/ ↩︎

  3. Meige, A. (2015, September 18). Serendipity and Innovation. Retrieved February 29, 2020, from https://open-organization.com/en/2010/04/25/serendipity-and-innovation/ ↩︎

Super Over, Last Ball, Maximum Excitement!!

January 30, 2020 Happenings
India & New Zealand Team Logos

Today’s exciting T20 match between India and New Zealand literally went down to the wire (or over the wire), when India beat New Zealand in a last-ball sixer to take an unassailable lead of 3-0 and win the series. The highlight of the game was Rohit Sharma’s successive 6s in the last two deliveries of the Super Over. This accomplishment also refreshed memories of yet another T20I, the 2018 Nidahas Trophy Finals held in Colombo wherein Dinesh Karthik hit the maximum on the last delivery to lift the cup against Bangladesh. Mind you India on that day was on the backfoot needing 34 off the last 12 deliveries when Karthik came on to the crease. But on the last ball of the match, India needed 5 runs and it was a nerve-wracking moment whereby Karthik held on to his nerves with the boisterous Lankan crowd backing the Indian team to lift the cup. More on that later.

Cutting to the chase, losing the toss at Hamilton and batting first India made 179 for 5 on the back of Rohit Sharma’s 65 off just 40 balls (the first Indian to hit a half-century inside the Powerplay in a T20I) and the target didn’t seem steep and at one stage of the game, it almost seemed as if New Zealand had pocketed this match easily to keep their hopes alive in the 5-match series. But then Mohammed Shami bowled a splendid last over to get the in-form Kane Williamson (95 off just 48 deliveries) and uprooted Ross Taylor’s wickets. The match tied on the levelled scores moving the game into an exciting 6-ball Super Over. Batting first the Kiwis made 17 in their quota and India needed 10 runs in the last two deliveries. However with Southee bowling so accurately it seemed like New Zealand had their foot in the door until Rohit Sharma changed the script to hit 2 sixes in successive balls (2, 1, 4, 1, 6, 6).

Judging both these stupendous innings from an audience perspective, I’d pick Karthik’s as the better of the two purely on the factors of the flat batting pitch of Colombo plus the finals of a tri-series. Also, India was playing their T20I arch-rivals Bangladesh with the Sri Lankan team already out of the tournament, and the home crowd itching for revenge. A last ball 5-run target was required and then you flat-bat a Soumya Sarkar delivery over the extra-cover ropes in which Karthik also blasted 22 runs of a penultimate Ruben Hossain over (6, 4, 6, 0, 2, 4) to get the target down from 34 in 12 balls to 12 of the last 6 (1w, 0, 1, 1, 4, W, 6). But regardless, both these innings were the most exciting and significant in their own ways — while Dinesh Karthik’s blitzkrieg grabbed the Nidahas Trophy, six-hitter Rohit Sharma handed India its first T20I series in New Zealand. Such exciting times for both these hard-hitting players and with the T20 World Cup next year being held in India, I can’t wait to see them back in action.

Photo: © Tony Luong

Revisiting Clayton Christensen’s ‘Jobs to be Done’ Theory

January 29, 2020 Happenings

On January 23, we lost one of our finest innovation thinkers and scholars, and an icon whom I have revered and admired deeply. I’m referring to the passing away of Prof. Clayton M. Christensen, 67, Harvard Business School professor and the father of the theory of “disruptive innovation” from complications of leukemia. The closest that I’d come to associate myself with the legendary business consultant was during my rather prolonged tenure at Tata Consultancy Services he was serving as an Independent Director enabling the company to achieve greater success globally 1, a position which he held from January 2006 until September 2018. It’s a terrible loss no doubt, but I wanted to personally pay a tribute to “Clay” and remember him through one of his famous theories on “Jobs to be Done” which not only has roots in innovation but also consists of insights for customer experience strategy.

To begin with, in 2007, Christensen popularized the phrase “Jobs to be Done”. In an MIT-Sloan Management Review article, he summarized the peculiar nature of innovation that is steeped in demographical data in the following words:

Most companies segment their markets by customer demographics or product characteristics and differentiate their offerings by adding features and functions. But the consumer has a different view of the marketplace. He simply has a job to be done and is seeking to “hire” the best product or service to do it. Marketers must adopt that perspective. 2

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