innovationmonthly april 2008

April 20, 2008

INNOVATIONMONTHLY innovationmonthly is a collection of stories on innovation, design and trends.

INNOVATIVE WORK FORCE

By Rosa Maria Galvan

I know what it feels like when someone mentions the word “INNOVATION” and you think about technological advances, machinery improvements throughout history for the betterment of the human race, technological breakthroughs that improve on our quality of life and so on and so forth. It is as though a cloud of techno-cool ideas fills above your head and you think you know what the other person is talking about but can’t quite figure out what it is exactly they are saying each time the word “INNOVATION “ is uttered.

After all, the word INNOVATION is currently used

1

in the most ambiguous fashion to refer to a wide range of economic and social activities.

Then you dare to blurt out your thoughts only to be told that you are on the right track, but not quite so. The writer of this article has been through that experience; however, she was lucky enough to discover her misconception on her own. I started to fully realize what INNOVATION is upon reading a well rounded introduction to the term in Wikipedia (http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Innovation). After reading about it in Wikipedia, other websites followed such as: http://

www.carlotaperez.org, http:// www.innovationtools.com/ index.asp and http:// www.principalvoices.com And after a day of reading, taking notes and remapping my personal concept of INNOVATION, I arrived at the conclusion that I was irritated with myself. I was irritated because I felt I had been kept in the dark for so long due to my own doing, or lack to doing.

How could I have been so negligent and not have educated myself on something I thought I knew?

It’s not fair to write here that

INNOVATION MONTHLY April 20, 2008

Innovative Work Force Continued...

By Rosa Maria Galvan

innovation is not what I thought, because it is MUCH MORE than what I thought it was. It is true that innovation has been the cornerstone of technological advances throughout history (especially recently, in the last two centuries or so) that have helped the advancement and betterment of the human race. It is also true that since the human brain is such, inquisitive minds propelled by creativity and ingenuity have delved into research and have come up with inventions, for good or for bad. When such INVENTIONS have been put into practice and have become a ‘new’ and ‘useful’ (www.wikipedia.org) improvement they are called an INNOVATION. According to Wikipedia “In the organizational context, innovation may be linked to performance and growth through improvements in efficiency, productivity, quality, competitive positioning, market share, etc. All organizations can innovate, including for example hospitals, universities, and local governments”. (www.wikipedia.org). Taking this into consideration it is clear that in order for innovation to take place a wide range of disciplines have to be considered and applied in the everyday running of any institution whose goal is to be innovative. The traditional disciplines of business management, marketing, economics, human resources, engineering etc., are as important as they’ve ever been before but new attention has to be directed to disciplines that have traditionally been considered out of place in the office space and the board room. Such disciplines come under the banner of the humanities and arts field of studies.

(Tom Peters. Design, innovate, differentiate, communicate. DK Publishing, U.S.A. 2005).

questionnaires and at the end of the week or the month they realize they don’t have much to show for their efforts. They’ve improved the product or service, but still not up to par to have the desired edge. What did they do wrong? The answer lies in what they didn’t do. They didn’t send out people in the role of “anthropologists” and “observers” to really see what their consumer market really needs and wants. It is almost guaranteed they didn’t prototype the final product before it was produced and launched. No real consumers of their products were invited to participate in a group study project or a brainstorming session to fully understand why, how and when their customers use a product or service and how it can be improved. Basically they didn’t have the right group of people working for the company to fully understand that product design is linked to needs and practicality, that no matter how much effort is put into developing and branding a product it won’t necessary be a great success unless the customer is listened to.

If “[Innovation] is an important topic in the study of economics, business, technology, sociology and engineering” and “the factors that lead to innovation are also considered to be critical to policy makers”(www.wikipedia.org), then it is imperative to try to understand why those disciplines would have such an interest in studying innovation and how innovation can benefit from them. It is a beneficial symbiosis for both sides of the spectrum. Professor Carlota Perez, writing about technological changes and innovation as means of transforming society claims that “Its diffusion across the length and breadth of the productive sphere tends to encompass almost the whole of the economy and ends up transforming the ways of producing, the ways of Just for argument sake, let’s imagine this living and the economic geography of the whole scenario… The management of a company realizes world”. (http://www.carlotaperez.org/papers/1they have to revamp the existing business to be the technologicalrevolutionsparadigm.htm) leading company in the field. This decision is No matter how much you may think you know communicated to the marketing and R&D about one thing, there is always a chance there are departments; the ball gets rolling to design a product certain aspects and practices you don’t quite know that will help them to achieve the leading edge they about. The good thing is you don’t have to tell desire. They have brainstorming sessions in the anyone about it just as long you start educating traditional way, they research what the competitors yourself on it as soon as you can. are doing, they send out college students to carry out

2

INNOVATION MONTHLY April 20, 2008

“We cannot create observers by saying ‘observe’, but by giving them the power and the means for this observation and these means are procured through education of the senses.”

- Maria Montessori

The Hunt

By Andrew Tan

Since the 1960s, businesses have tapped on ethnographers to understand their customers better. By the turn of this century, the use of ethnography has not only tipped but has even passed the tipping point. Nowadays ethnographers are used across industries by companies like Intel Inc in the high-tech field to furniture makers like Steelcase Inc. “The beauty of ethnography, say its proponents, is that it provides a richer understanding of consumers than does traditional research. Yes, companies are still using focus groups, surveys, and demographic data to glean insights into the consumer's mind. But closely observing people where they live and work, say executives, allows companies to zero in on their customers' unarticulated desires.”1 But what if your organization does not have the capability to put together a team of ethnographers to help gather

3

unarticulated desires and inspirational points for your next new product or service? What if you are a small- or mediumenterprise that does not have the resources to employ ethnographers? What if ethnographers are hard to come by as it is here in Malaysia? Is all hope lost? Should you give up trying to learn what your customers’ unarticulated desires or needs are?

Of course you shouldn’t give up! I say if you don’t have a team of ethnographers to send out into the world, send out your engineers, designers, marketers, technologists, and receptionists.

Let them go out into the world and observe for your organization. Let them be your organization’s eyes and ears, very much like what Second Curve does. Second Curve is a hedge fund company that manages hundreds of millions of dollars by making big, long-term bets on the stocks of banks and financial services companies.

INNOVATION MONTHLY April 20, 2008

The Hunt Countinued...

By Andrew Tan

Once a year, Second Curve organizes what they call a “branch hunt”. During the branch hunt everyone from the analyst to the receptionist is divided into teams. Each team is then given cameras, recorders and four $100 bills. The teams then spend their day at various bank branches chatting up bank employees, opening checking accounts and taking pictures. All this is done to capture the true experience of being a customer.

Of course, one branch hunt will not transform the investment decisions of a high-powered hedge fund. But by organizing the research outing year after year, Second Curve is able to generate hard-to-duplicate insights that inform their long-term strategies.2

Therefore when going out for observation, keep in mind the hunt statement. And if you are performing observation in a public area and you feel totally lost and taken aback by the sea of people confronting you, remember the ad-hoc observation persona that was created. Pick a person from the crowd that best resembles the persona and pay attention to how that person is reacting to his/her environment.

So what are you waiting for? Go out there and start observing! No amount of instruction is going to improve your observational skills because the only way it will improve is to go In fact, even if your organization can afford to have a team out there and do it. As Maria Montessori says, “We cannot of ethnographers, I say you should still send your folks out into create observers by saying ‘observe’, but by giving them the the world to observe your customers in order for them to power and the means for this observation and these means are empathize with your customers. This is very much like what procured through education of the senses.” To me, there is only P&G is doing with their Living It and Working It program. The one way the senses can be educated, and that is through Living It program allows P&Gers to live with their consumers practice. for a fixed period of time and the Working It program allows P&Gers to get into shops and sell to consumers. These two programs give P&Gers the opportunity to immerse themselves References in the lives of their consumers.

[1] http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_23/ b3987083.htm Let’s say that you are now all fired up to send your team [2] http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/13/business/ out into the wild to start observing. However, before unleashing yourmoney/13mgmt.html?_r=1&n=Top/News/Science/ them into the open, you will want to first provide a little focus.

Topics/Research&pagewanted=all From our experience of conducting observation safaris, [3] http://www.nycupa.org/past_events/ providing focus is the most important item on the agenda, razorfish-2003-05-20.pdf especially if it is a group’s first time going out and doing observation. There are two ways focus can be provided.

The first way is to develop a hunt statement. A hunt statement is basically a statement that tells the group what is being hunted or what is being observed and what is the purpose of the observation endeavor. An example of a hunt statement is as follows: “We are going to observe how teenagers use cell phones in order for us to build a well-suited cell phone for them.”

The second way is to develop ad-hoc observation personas.

The use of personas was popularized by Alan Cooper and is defined as “archetypes representative of actual groups of users and their needs”3. Personas are most widely used when designing software and online applications but we believe it can be adopted to help a team that is going out for observation.

Putting together a robust, detailed and well-researched persona takes a lot of time and normally personas are also developed after much observation of one’s customers. However ad-hoc personas for the purpose of observation are a little different.

Ad-hoc observation personas can be crafted using the teams’

4

collective past experiences on the potential target customer for the new product or service.

INNOVATION MONTHLY April 20, 2008

“Seek and you will find; else what you find is only accidental.�

Learning the Art of Observation

By Edwin Chung

Ethnography is a method commonly associated with the field of anthropology. Yet the technique of observation, which is based on ethnography, can today be found in a number of design methodologies. It is now used as a method for requirement elicitation in computer systems design [1, 2, 3] and is also employed in process improvement and innovation techniques such as lean and design thinking [4, 5]. Though not widely recognised as a formal tool for entrepreneurs [6], many successful entrepreneurs naturally employ very similar techniques [7] for identifying opportunities.

Observation is not so much what you see and hear with your eyes and ears but how your mind processes the information it received from your eyes and ears. In other words, observation is very much what your mental eyes and ears see

5

and hear. And similar to thinking techniques, observation is a mental skill that can be learned and one improves with practise.

We have found that an effective way to learn the art of observation is first to learn the principle and technique using photo and video case study followed by a live observation session both guided by an experience practitioner. We have also found mental conditioning exercises to be effective in both helping beginners learn the technique and practitioners stay in shape.

Mental conditioning (something also known as priming) is a method that helps your mind filter and select useful information from everything that your senses take in. Take the picture at the top of this article for example. This is a scene taken near Canberra Centre (ACT, Australia) early one

INNOVATION MONTHLY April 20, 2008

Learning the art of observation continued...

By Edwin Chung

morning where patrons, on their way to work, stop by a small café to pick up some breakfast. The scene shows patrons standing around waiting for their order to be filled. Have a look at the picture again. Do zoom in to view details. Did you gain any insight, inspiration or business opportunity from the picture? Or is there anything in the picture that got you curious? Unless, you have been brewing over a problem/issue and something in the picture triggers a thought, the picture above may look very similar to your favourite place for a cuppa or a picture you took from your last vacation.

References [1] Nuseibeh, B.A. and Easterbrook, S.M., "Requirements Engineering: A Roadmap," in Finkelstein, A.C.W. (ed) The Future of Software Engineering, (Companion volume to the proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE’00). IEEE Computer Society Press, 2000.

[2] Simonsen, J. and Kensing, F., “Make Room for Ethnography in Design!” in Journal of Computer Documentation. Vol. 22, No. 1, February 1998, p 20- 30.

[3] Nussbaum, B., “Ethnography Is The New Core Competence.” Inside Innovation, BusinessWeek, June 19, 2006; Now think about this statement; “entertaining customers http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_25/ while they wait!” It could just be having some music playing in b3989414.htm. the background or an entertaining barista behind the counter.

[4] Kelley, T., The Art of Innovation, New York: Doubleday, Take a look at the picture again while you think about the 2001. statement above. What do you look for in the picture now?

[5] Ante, S.E. and Edwards, C., “The Science of Desire,” What are you thinking now that you didn’t earlier? The BusinessWeek, June 5, 2006; http://www.businessweek.com/ difference in how you view and what you look for in the picture magazine/content/06_23/b3987083.htm. now is the effect of the statement above. Your mind has been [6] Henricks, M. “Under study: why did your client say no? conditioned to focus on anything related to “entertaining Why can't your employees do their jobs? The answer may lie in customers while they wait.” Also, did you notice the TV at the corporate anthropology - Smart Moves,” Entrepreneur, back of the store earlier? And did you notice it this time round? April 2002; http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/ entrepreneur/2002/april/49848.html.

If you have some knowledge of observation but were not [7] http://www.nationaleweek.com/eweek_files/ moved by the above exercise, try this! Keep the same statement, Sept07Opbound.doc “entertaining customers while they wait” in your head for the next few days to a week as you go about your usual life.

Remember to remind yourself of the statement every now and We would like to publish your experience with mental conditioning then. Evaluate at the end of the week if conditioning your in a future edition of this newsletter. To share your experience, please mind this way has changed the way you view the things you see email them either to me at edwin.chung@kwerkus6.com or our editor around you.

at andrew.tan@kwerkus6.com.

And for those new to observation, try this. Pick a particular colour or model for a car that is not common where you are.

Remind yourself of that colour or model each time you go out.

How many such cars did you notice the last time you were out?

Likewise, evaluate after a week or two if conditioning your mind this way has sharpens your ability to spot such a car?

Finally, once you have gotten the hang of mentally conditioning yourself, condition your mind to look for opportunities! In whatever you see ask “where is the money!”

6

INNOVATION MONTHLY April 20, 2008

“How good is your crystal ball?”

I, Anatopism

By Jason Tay

I, Anatopism... or also known as, “Just because we can do it.”

Sometimes, even the best ideas don't perform in the marketplace in quite the way the designers expected it to. In the worst case, they can even be complete flops. It is because of this that the processes and techniques used in and taught by our consultancy, Kwerkus 6, integrate some means of minimizing this risk. Can we eliminate it completely? Can we guarantee that it won't happen? No we can't, but we can learn to prepare better to reduce the chances of it happening.

anatopism is the corollary of this but in terms of space or location instead of time. In other words, something that wasn't in the right place.

If you'd like to read a little bit more about anachronisms and anatopisms, you can look it up in a dictionary, but for our purposes, I use it to label where innovations stand in terms of their relevance to the current marketplace into which they are targeted, or the timing of the innovation. Specifically, if you don't do your homework, it is possible to introduce a really In this article, I will specifically look at anatopisms. You good innovation in the wrong way, wrong place, wrong time, may have already heard of anachronisms which refers to things and good as it may be, getting those factors wrong can make a that are out of chronological context. For example, in a perfectly good innovation or idea fail miserably and cost you depiction of the 1930's, you wouldn't expect to see modern money instead of achieving something for your business. digital computers, or pocket calculators. That sort of thing. An

7

INNOVATION MONTHLY April 20, 2008

I, Anatopism Continued...

By Jason Tay

By way of illustration, let's consider some good ideas that worked, and we'll see that the path that led up to it is strewn with the same idea that had failed in the past, usually repeatedly. If an idea or innovation has failed so many times before, why did it work this time? As they say, hindsight is 20/20, and it is always easy to understand the reasons for the success after it has happened, yet few would have been able to predict it with any certainty before the fact.

“How good is your crystal ball?”

Some products are anachronisms the day they are put on sale. To me, one example of this is the Sony UMD (Universal Media Disc) for movies. Prior to the introduction of the Sony Playstation® Portable (PSPTM), Sony announced that the UMD disc would be the de facto media used for distribution of Sony PSPTM games titles. It is essentially a 60mm diameter DVD capable of storing approximately 1.8GB of data. Unlike the Betamax versus VHS format war, there is no choice in the world of the Sony PSP – Sony is the only entity that can manufacture UMD discs in an effort to eliminate software piracy. In the USA and Europe, the media is fairly successful as a given, even if only because it is a proprietary format supported only by the Sony PSP, stronger anti-piracy enforcement and also due to the affordability of original titles.

The picture is radically different in the rest of the world, especially in Asia where piracy, despite Sony's best efforts, is rampant. Somehow, the pirates have a way to rip data off the UMDs and pirates will load any game you fancy into a Sony MemoryStick for just a few dollars each. Even so, it would seem that the games shops in more affluent areas of Kuala Lumpur do sell a certain amount of original games. The pirates clearly have highly inventive reverse engineers on their side!

The story is entirely different with UMD movies. Sony Entertainment actually publishes movies in UMD format designed to be watched exclusively on Sony PSP handheld games consoles, ostensibly while on the move. Logically, it makes perfect sense – the PSP becomes a portable DVD player with integrated colour LCD. After a slow start, prices were dropped when it was realized that price was a major inhibiting factor to increased penetration of the format. In the US, Europe and Japan, UMD Movies are actually the cheapest way to buy original movie titles of all the latest and hotest movies and TV shows. Cheaper even than buying them as DVDs, which should enjoy better economies of scale than the UMD format ever ought to. Whether Sony is artificially keeping the price low or not, perhaps we shall never know, but more about this later. In Asia, low prices notwithstanding the UMD movie market is completely non-existent. You cannot buy UMD movies at all. Once again, one of the main reason I suspect, is piracy. The majority of Asian Sony PSP users are more likely

8

instead to spend a few dollars on a pirated DVD movie disc and rip the movie into a size and file format suitable for viewing on the PSP handheld by loading it into a flash memory card. As a product, it is an oxymoron in today's Asian context. On the upside for Sony, they're doing a roaring business selling memory sticks!

Now, let's get back to the fact that UMDs are now one of the most affordable ways to get buy a movie. The main characteristics of a UMD movie is that it has been formatted to be displayed and played back only on the Sony PSP handheld game platform. That is most likely the biggest clue in the reason why the UMD is an anatopism. It will never be an anachronism in my view because regardless of timing, it's placement was always wrong.

Without the ability to view UMD movies on anything other than a PSP, it's appeal was immediately curtailed from the day it was launched. A prospective buyer would much rather buy a regular DVD and be able to watch it on the living room TV, and if it so pleased them, they could use Sony's own MediaManager software or other free software available over the Internet to convert a DVD movie into a format suitable for viewing on the Sony PSP. Even in countries with good original DVD sales and stiff enforcement of anti-piracy laws, with the single purchase of a DVD, the movie can then be enjoyed both in the living room and the Sony PSP, should you own one too.

In terms of the usage model, the UMD has been sidelined completely and is totally superfluous. The latest generation of Sony PSP handheld consoles have added the ability to display to a regular TV, but it is doubtful that this will change it's fortunes in any way.

Although many large retailers took Sony UMD movies off their shelves in mid-2006, it is purported that in 2007 some retailers began stocking Sony UMD titles again after a price reduction in Japan produced a ten-fold increase in sales.

Despite this, as innovation consultants, our view is that it remains a unique, exciting format that unfortunately suffers from a number of crippling restrictions and in a time when paying for electronic download of TV shows and movies is becoming common place with the latest top TV shows being made available for download immediately after the latest episode is aired for the very first time, the UMD remains a precariously placed product/technology. It excels as a means of delivering high quality games. However, it faced extremely tough competition from DVD and newer technologies like Bluray and it was introduced at a time when electronic download was on the uptake. Video players like the Apple iPod Video enable users to buy TV shows and movies from the iTunes portal, providing and sensible, consistent message from day one. Sony should have focused the UMD on games delivery –

INNOVATION MONTHLY April 20, 2008

9

I, Anatopism Continued...

By Jason Tay

at which it excels – and focused their movie and TV ambitions on electronic downloads to the Sony PSP, something which it is beginning to do only now.

References [1] Wikipedia – UMD, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Universal_Media_Disc [2] Feb 2006: Sony's UMD Aren't Selling Well, http:// www.engadget.com/2006/02/16/breaking-news-sonys-umdsarent-selling-well/ [3] Mar 2006: Sony's UMD problems about to get much worse, http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060330-6490.html [4] July 2006: Sony Kills Off UMD Movies, http:// www.realtechnews.com/posts/3266

INNOVATION MONTHLY April 20, 2008

Pembangunan Aplikasi Komputer – Di Manakah Inovasinya?

Bahagian 1

By Mohd Suhairi

Apabila kita bercakap perihal pembangunan aplikasi komputer terdapat dua perkara penting yang akan sentiasa ditanya oleh setiap pelanggan/pengguna iaitu berapakah harga untuk membangunkan aplikasi tersebut dan bilakah aplikasi tersebut boleh disiapkan. Percaya atau tidak setiap pelanggan/ pangguna mahukan sesuatu aplikasi itu disiapkan secepat dan semurah yang mungkin tanpa ada sebarang kekurangan dari segi kualiti, fungsi mahupun kestabilan. Secara umumnya boleh dikatakan setiap aplikasi komputer yang dibangunkan di dunia ini bertitik mula dari ilham yang dilahirkan oleh seseorang. Maka adalah menjadi tugas seorang pembangun aplikasi komputer untuk menrealisasikan ilham tersebut.

Akan tetapi tugas untuk menrealisasikannya sepertimana yang dikehendaki pelanggan/pengguna adalah satu tugas yang bukan mudah.

Dengan berbekalkan maklumat yang tidak lengkap itu aplikasi terus dibangunkan dengan menggunakan pemahaman dan pengalaman yang dimiliki oleh pihak pembangun. Disinilah berlakunya satu kesilapan besar di dalam membangunkan sesuatu aplikasi. Kerap kali pihak pembangun aplikasi akan mendapati dihujung peringkat pembangunan nanti apa yang mereka Disinilah pentingnya fungsi sebenar sesuatu bangunkan bukanlah 100% apa yang dikehendaki aplikasi itu sepertimana yang dikehendaki oleh pihak oleh pihak pelanggan/pengguna. Akibatnya masa pelanggan/pengguna dikenal pasti dan direkodkan dan wang tambahan diperlukan untuk membuat seawal mugkin. Ini penting untuk mengelak pengubahsuaian pada aplikasi tersebut. Ini sungguh berlakunya pembaziran masa, wang serta sumber merugikan kedua-dua belah pihak. Pihak manusia. Perkara ini seringkali kita dengar berlaku pambangun akan hilang kredibiliti mereka sebagai malah seawal peringkat pembangunan aplikasi itu pembangun aplikasi dimata pihak pelanggan. Pihak lagi di mana di dalam keghairahan untuk pelanggan pula mungkin terpaksa mengeluarkan membangunkan aplikasi tersebut pihak pembangun duit tambahan untuk proses pembetulan tersebut. terlupa apa sebenarnya yang dikehendaki oleh pihak pelanggan/pengguna. Sebagai satu contoh untuk Sebaliknya pelbagai kaedah inovatif boleh

Gambar dari kiri ke kanan: •http:// www.alistapart.com/d/ paperprototyping/ pop_up_window.jpg •http:// portfolio.splendidnoise .com/images/ portfolio_prototype.jpg

10

mempercepatkan proses pembangunan aplikasi kadang-kadang proses untuk mendapatkan atau mengumpulkan maklumat perihal keperluan sesuatu aplikasi (software requirements) secara terperinci dari pihak pelanggan/pengguna dipendekkan atau diringkaskan. Tambah buruk lagi jika pihak pelanggan/pengguna sendiri tidak pasti apa yang mereka mahu sebenarnya. Ini sering berlaku kepada pelanggan/pengguna yang tidak berapa arif di dalam bidang teknologi maklumat.

INNOVATION MONTHLY April 20, 2008

11

Pembangunan Aplikasi Komputer – Di Manakah Inovasinya?

Countinued...

By Mohd Suhairi

diambil sama ada projek tersebut besar mahupun kecil supaya masalah ini dapat dihindari. Antara kaedah yang paling cepat dan mudah tetapi amat efektiv yang boleh diadaptasi bagi mengenal pasti keperluan sesuatu aplikasi itu ialah penggunaan paper prototype dan body storming. Kaedah ini amat mudah sekali sehinggakan ianya juga boleh dilakukan dihadapan pihak pelanggan/pengguna bagi memastikan keperluan sesuatu aplikasi itu telah dikenal pasti secara terperinci sepertimana yang dikehendaki oleh pihak pelanggan/pengguna.

Apakah yang dimaksudkan dengan paper prototype dan body storming ini? Apakah yang perlu ada untuk mengadaptasi kaedah-kaedah ini?

Jawapan bagi soalan-soalan tadi sebenarnya tidaklah susah jika kita tahu teknik-tekniknya. Dengan hanya berbekalkan apa jua maklumat yang berjaya dikumpul dari pihak pelanggan/pengguna serta sebatang pen/pensil dan beberapa helai kertas kosong, paper prototype sudah boleh dilakukan. Apa yang perlu dilakukan ialah melakarkan segala skrin yang berkemungkinan dibangunkan di dalam aplikasi sebenar keatas helaian kertas kosong tadi.

Setelah skrin demi skrin dilakarkan maka tibalah masa untuk kaedah body storming dipraktikkan.

Maksud body storming di sini ialah dengan membayangkan lakaran-lakaran skrin yang telah dibuat tadi seolah-olah ianya adalah skrin sebenar yang akan dilihat apabila aplikasi ini dibangunkan nanti dan cuba melakonkan setiap operasi yang hendak dilakukan oleh aplikasi tersebut melalui lakaran-lakaran skrin tadi. Dari situ kedua-dua belah pihak boleh mengenal pasti sama ada pihak pembangun mahupun pihak pelanggan/pengguna dimana letaknya kelemahan mahupun kekurangan di dalam sesuatu aplikasi itu. Dengan kaedah body storming ini juga sesuatu aplikasi itu boleh dikenal pasti sama ada mesra pengguna atau pun tidak walaupun aplikasi tersebut belum dibangunkan lagi.

Secara ringkasnya artikel ini cuba membincangkan permasalahan diperingkat awal yang sering dihadapi apabila sesuatu aplikasi komputer hendak dibangunkan. Artikel ini juga cuba memperkenalkan dua kaedah yang bukan sahaja inovatif malah sangat efektiv, produktiv, cepat dan juga murah bagi mengenal pasti bahawa aplikasi yang akan dibangunkan nanti bukan sahaja mersa pengguna malah adalah sepertimana yang dikehendaki oleh pihak pelanggan/pengguna.

INNOVATION MONTHLY April 20, 2008

证，把创意点子变成实际成果，那才

创意创造财富

是带来财富的第一步。求证是为了证 By 林成玮i

明自己创意的理论是对的。如果多方

一个创意无限，不凡俗的好主意，可

求证后证明是相反的话，切记必须接

以只是单纯的有趣好玩；但也可以是

受事实，并再接再厉。

为个人或公司带来无限财富的起点。

成功

费德瑞史密斯（Frederick Wallace

发充满商机的创意点子，

实现财务自由，我想信是很多人都想

Smith）在1971年创办联邦快递

做的事。以上的三点，并不足以代表

（Federal Express），创造了快递的神

所有所须的条件。再说，如文中第二

话，也为他带来了财富。大家都知道

点所说的，欢迎大家本着质疑及否定

Levi’s牛仔裤。当周围的人都相拥去淘

的精神去求证鄙人所说的（我甚至不

金时，李维史特劳斯（Levi Strauss）

是什么权威，所以大家实在应该怀疑

却观察到市场的需求，进而发明了由

鄙人的观点）。共勉之！

帆布制成的工作裤。这与众不同的想 法，不但创造了至今仍广受全球欢迎

参考资料：

的牛仔裤热潮，更为李维史特劳斯赢 来了全球的财富。还有很多的成功人 士，都是在

人看似平平无奇的环境

中，运用创意，去

创与众不同的成

就。 要

本汽车限制进口时所受到的影响比起 同业中，相对的低。

创充满商机的创意点子，我

认为至少必须具备以下的几点： 1. 拥有入微的观察能力

12

本田企业在几年后美国政府宣布对日

2. 勇于质疑，否定权威的精神 质疑标准，凡事多问为什么，你会发 现，其实很多事情是在所谓的标准

[1] 赢在创意 / 罗威编著 2003，爱迪生国际文化事业股份有限 公司 [2] Wikipedia - Honda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda [3] Wikipedia - Soichiro Honda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Soichiro_Honda [4] 走出思维定势 / 作者： 金

所谓入微的观察能力，并不只是单纯

下，却没人知道为什么的缘由下，周

才、编辑：李邦龙

地注意四周所发生的一切。同时，你

而

也必须能

为什么

http://www.jsjy.gov.cn/art/ 2007/04/11/art_162_14245.html

很快地把所看到的景象进

始地被重

着。“这步骤需要吗？

？”“不知道耶！以前人这么

行处理及分类，把不重要的“去掉”，

做我就跟咯！”。

把重要的讯息“留下”。只有这样，你

到很多类适的情况。勇于质疑，否定

才可以在看似平平无奇的环境中，发

权威让你看到改善的空间。

掘商机。相反地，入微的观察能力也

小小的改善空间。也许就是在这小小

可以让你在看似安全的环境中，发现

的改善空间里，你会找到无限的商机

潜在的危机。

也说不定

本田汽车（Honda）创办人本田宗一

权威，丢掉其他人认为理所当然的想

郎（Soichiro Honda），看准可能发生

法，就是

的全球石油危机及美国汽车的高耗油

说，勇于质疑，否定权威甚至可以说

量的缺点，在1972年成功打着省油的

是世界向前迈进的原动力！

优点，进军美国市场。几年后，本田

3. 大胆假设，小心求证

感到惊奇！你会看

小看这

！所以，勇于质疑，否定

创创意的起点。宏观来

宗一郎也观察到美国对日本汽车进口

勇于质疑并不足以让我们

的情绪反应，大胆在美国本地设厂装

只有在质疑过后，大胆地作出假设，

配汽车；并除了厂长外，一律聘请美

如改善的计

国人。Made In USA 的本田汽车，让

进一步多方面及细心但不畏缩地求

发商机。

、新产品的设计等；并

INNOVATION MONTHLY April 20, 2008

Our Favorite Links 1. Four Wheels for the Masses - Tata's US$2,500 car - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/ business/worldbusiness/08indiacar.html?_r=1&oref=slogin & http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/ content/feb2008/id20080227_377233.htm?chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_innovation +strategy - We love it when we see disruptive innovation practised not in high tech, but in low tech and sometimes no-tech because it shows that if you only practise innovation with high tech, your eyes are only partially open. Back in January, India's Tata launched their new $2,500 people's car. Read about how they did it, and how it was achieved.

2. IBM races to make hi-tech memory - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7341031.stm IBM researchers are working on a complete rethink of memory technology that they claim could replace both hard disk drives and flash memory in the future, bringing the ability to store hundreds of hours of video on a handheld device with performance that exceeds both prior technologies.

3. Star Trek's Holodeck a reality? - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7346325.stm - Ever wondered how Star Trek's Holodeck (an immersive seemingly infinite space virtual reality room) would work? Well, the CyberCarpet is a fundamental, enabling technology on the road to achieving it.

4. US Army develops robotic suits - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7351314.stm - On the big screen, films like Robocop, Universal Soldier and forthcoming release Iron Man show manmachines with superhuman powers. But in Utah they are turning science fiction into reality.

5. From whence it came: The Personal Computer

- Remembering the BBC Micro - http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2008/03/ remembering_the_bbc_micro_1.html

- Twenty Five Years of the IBM PC - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4780963.stm

13

rticle, a n a n o t n e m Want to com article or n a e t u ib r t n co s a line u p o r D ? ic p suggest a to s6.com u k r e w k @ n a @ andrew.t