Steve Jobs’ Dialogue on Consulting

March 30, 2018 Design Happenings

I came across this germ of discourse from Steve Jobs referring to the consulting industry. In his ridicule of consultants for their lack of experience in the implementation of their projects, there was a strong message for owning and understanding the experience from an end-to-end perspective. He says:

I don’t think there’s anything inherently evil in consulting..I think that..without owning something over an extended period of time, like a few years, where one has a chance to take responsibility for one’s recommendations, where one has to see through all action stages and accumulate ‘scar tissues’ for the mistakes and pick oneself up off the ground and dust oneself off, one learns a fraction of what one can. Coming in and making recommendations and not owning the results, not owning the implementation I think is a fraction of the value and a fraction of the opportunity to learn and get better. And so, you do get a broad cut at the companies but it’s very thin, it’s like a picture of a banana, you might get a very accurate picture but it’s only two dimensional. And without the experience of actually doing it, you never get three dimensional.

So you might have a lot of pictures on your walls, you can show it off to your friends like “look I’ve worked in bananas, I’ve worked in peaches, I’ve worked in grapes” but you never really taste it. And that’s what I think. You’re also a variable expense in hard times and you’ll find yourself…(getting fired, is probably what he meant)

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The Facts vs Fiction In ‘Steve Jobs’

March 30, 2018 Movies

Steve JobsHaving enjoyed Walter Isaacson’s insightful book ‘Steve Jobs’ ages ago, and after amassing enough confidence, I was left disappointed watching its cinematic version recently. Especially after a feeble attempt was made in the ‘Jobs’ movie wherein Ashton Kutcher helmed the legendary Apple founder’s role my expectations from the official film had peaked. In the book, Isaacson has detailed the vibrant journey of Steve Jobs; personal and professional, and his varied mix of emotion, passion, vision, and an unfettered streak of wisdom which distinguished him from his contemporaries and enabled him to build Apple and NeXT. As a long time devotee of Steve Jobs one thought that the biopic written by Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) failed to do justice not just to the Isaacson book on which it was purportedly based but to Jobs as well who continues to captivate the industry even today, pathetically reducing his awe-inspiring story into a dramatized narrative.

The movie outlines 3 events which shaped the life and times of Jobs beginning with the launch of Apple’s flagship Macintosh computer in 1984, Steve Jobs’ famed departure from the company after his tumultuous association with CEO John Sculley (Jeff Daniels), and his grand comeback to Apple with the iMac launch. Throughout, the film captures the complex relationship with his estranged daughter Lisa and his colleagues all of which was truthfully captured in the Isaacson book though regrettably, that content has been sensationalized on the big screen. For instance, scenarios such as Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) having an argument with Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender) and Jobs’ badgering of Andy Hertzfeld (Michael Stuhlbarg) 40 minutes prior to the launch of the Mac to fix the voice demo never happened in reality, likewise there is a list of instances where the movie deviates from the book itself. Alas, with a personality such as Steve Jobs, the film could have ended up becoming a splendid saga of triumph & trials, instead, the makers could only manage a burlesque version to keep the audiences entertained.

The 3 Types of Designers According to John Maeda

March 18, 2018 Design

Designers are moving into mainstream business and as a key element of an innovation strategy, I have pondered on the definition of a ‘designer’ moving beyond their traditional roles of delivering aesthetics and prototypes, though that’s just one way of approaching design. Just recently, I discovered a unique categorization on Time by the renowned designer and technologist John Maeda. It was interesting to gain insights into the groups which he calls Classical, Commercial, and Computational, each coming with a unique set of skills and perspective.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“classical” designers, who create physical objects or products for a specific group of people (think architects as well as industrial, furniture and graphic designers); “commercial” designers who innovate by seeking deep insights into how customers interact with products and services (think teams of researchers huddled around whiteboards and mosaics of brightly colored Post-it notes); and “computational” designers, who use programming skills and data to satisfy millions or even billions of users instantaneously (think tech firms like Amazon and Facebook).

Classically trained designers are apt to look askance at the artistic abilities of designers from the other groups. Commercial designers question how computational designers can empathize with millions of people they’ve never met. Computational designers complain that the methods of the other two groups can’t be scaled.[/perfectpullquote]

Though every organization has a tailored in-house design plan (or not) to meet its tactical objectives, from a strategic viewpoint, it’s prudent to delineate the role of a ‘designer’ that’s based on a certain competency framework which would enable managers to structure innovation opportunities by optimizing the proficiency of the team to effectively meet the targets and to also build the competencies relevant to a project’s long-term vision.

Tu Hai Mera Sunday

Friends & Football – Tu Hai Mera Sunday

March 10, 2018 Movies

I spent my Saturday afternoon watching ‘Tu Hai Mera Sunday’ which turned out to be a nostalgic ride! Despite Bollywood breathing and thriving in the embrace of ‘Amchi Mumbai’ there are only a handful of films that have captured the ethos and the charm of this metropolis on celluloid, not just with their urbane settings but also by showcasing the common citizens entwined in their everyday wanderings. Where the characters are uncomplicated, not vying for attention or fighting for screen space, yet leaving audiences enthralled with their storyline alone. A few weeks prior I came across such a film, Netflix’s ‘Love Per Square Foot’, and today it was time to catch up with another ‘Made in Mumbai’ movie with ‘Tu Hai Mera Sunday’. Released last year, it was critically acclaimed and well-received, but as usual, it was buried deep within the debris of its box-office performance.

‘Tu Hai Mera Sunday’ revolves around an ensemble cast of 5 fun-loving buddies who reckon Sunday isn’t about getting comfy within their homes. So they routinely engage in a game of football at Juhu Beach, one of Mumbai’s characteristic destinations where locals assemble to escape the drudgery. However, on one such fateful trip, the group is joined by an ‘Appa’ who boots the ball harder to whack on the head of a local dignitary decisively ending their sporting sojourns on the beach. Would it bring an end to their passion? I believe not. Because football defines their urge to chug along, it’s their only chance at redeeming their spirits be it from an unruly boss, abject solitude, a cacophonous family, or mundane life in general. So alongside Appa, the group begins scrambling for a new playground, and from within that emotional journey, they discover their true personalities. I wouldn’t miss this fun-filled outing, even if it’s a Sunday!

NASA - The Sound of Earth Cover

NASA’s Golden Record Greetings

March 9, 2018 Happenings

I was keen on tuning in to an interesting set of greetings recorded in 55 languages which were sent aboard NASA’s Voyager spacecraft in 1977 and intended for extraterrestrial life forms or future human beings, all the recordings are uploaded on Soundcloud. The greetings apart, the ‘Voyager Golden Record’ contains images and other natural sounds from the Earth, besides an official statement from the then US President Jimmy Carter. Not many would fathom but this was truly a history in the making.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Pioneers 10 and 11, which preceded Voyager, both carried small metal plaques identifying their time and place of origin for the benefit of any other spacefarers that might find them in the distant future. With this example before them, NASA placed a more ambitious message aboard Voyager 1 and 2, a kind of time capsule, intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials. The Voyager message is carried by a phonograph record, a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth.[/perfectpullquote]

I hadn’t the faintest idea what those recordings were until I heard them for the first time on Soundcloud. I thought they were simply “hellos” recorded in different languages, but since I understand some Indian languages I could interpret them clearly in the manner that I grasped their meaning.

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