tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39693001574381059232024-03-13T04:46:19.547-04:00RePeteIt’s all been said beforePeter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-19211143149496126952015-04-22T13:01:00.000-04:002015-04-22T13:02:30.632-04:00Arlene Blum: Earth Day HeroThere are two ways you may have heard of Arlene Blum, as a consumer product safety researcher focusing on the removal of toxic chemicals or as a mountain climber. Either way, it is clear she is up for big challenges.<br />
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With a PhD in biophysical chemistry from U.C. Berkeley, she co-authored a ground breaking research paper that led to a federal ban on flame retardants in kid's pajamas. The ban removed both brominated and chlorinated Tris from use, a major environmental safety achievement in the late 70's. Around the same time, she also became well known in the international mountaineering world, when she led the first all women ascent on Annapurna in Nepal, at 26,545 feet, one of the top ten tallest mountains, and statistically rated most dangerous.<br />
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Eight years ago she founded the Green Science Policy Institute at U.C. Berkeley and launched a series of campus seminars on "The Fire Retardant Dilemma." The Institute's stated purpose is to provide unbiased scientific data to government, industry, and non-governmental organizations to facilitate informed decision making about the use of chemical in consumer products. Their primary focus has been the modification of flammability requirements for the California Technical Bulletin, TB-117, which regulates furniture flame resistance, and AB-127 which Governor Brown signed in 2013 directing the State Fire Marshal to review code requirements regarding flame retardants in foam building insulation. These actions are fueled by her published research that has shown that code required flame retardants used in furniture and foam building insulation do not provide the intended fire safety. Further, the research shows that the retardants result in toxic smoke in the event of a fire, and that their long term environmental and human effects are or may be persistent, bio-accumulative and toxic. This evidence should influence policy and architectural practices, particularly with regard to the selection and specification of furniture and building insulation products. <br />
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Arlene's research and advocacy about the impact of these chemicals (more info in this <a href="http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2013/06/27/arlene-blum-fire-retardants/">U.C. Berkeley news article</a>), show her to be a relentless and tireless fighter to improve the environment. She is my nominee for a true, Earth Day Hero, and someone we should all recognize and learn from. <br />
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<br />Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-26027835031375746612015-03-09T11:49:00.002-04:002015-03-09T14:24:44.620-04:00Interaction or Interruption?I recently tweeted links to a <a href="http://blink.hdrinc.com/importance-quiet-and-consequences-distraction">discussion on the HDR Blog</a> regarding solitude and collaboration in the workplace. Some of the research cited there, was from a Steelcase study, <i><a href="https://hbr.org/2014/10/balancing-we-and-me-the-best-collaborative-spaces-also-support-solitude">Balancing 'We' and 'Me': The Best Collaborative Spaces also Support Solitude</a>, </i>published in the Harvard Business Review last October. Here are some of the arguments and evidence for more private working environments that balance we and me.<br />
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'The open office has a lot of critics these days. But it remains the dominant form of workplace design for a reason: It can foster collaboration, promote learning, and nurture a strong culture. It's the right idea; unfortunately, it's often poorly executed - even as a way to support collaboration.</blockquote>
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Organizations responded by shifting their real estate allocations towards open spaces that support collaboration and shrinking areas for individual work. But the pendulum may have swung too far: Our research now suggests that once again, people feel a pressing need for more privacy, not only to do heads-down work but to cope with the intensity of how work happens today.</blockquote>
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While privacy means different things in different cultures, our study showed that workplace satisfaction and engagement are deeply connected to a sense of control over one's environment.</blockquote>
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As organizations come to understand the need for privacy at work, they must also recognize that privacy does not compromise collaboration. By improving privacy you can actually enrich and strengthen collaborative activities.</blockquote>
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Open offices are not inherently good or bad. The key to successful workspaces is to empower individuals by giving them choices that allow control over their work environment.' </blockquote>
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Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-19234191791206077272015-01-06T15:41:00.000-05:002015-01-06T15:41:18.340-05:00The Truth about Breakthrough StrategiesWhile this title appears a bit bold, the <a href="http://www.strategy-business.com/blog/The-Truth-about-Breakthrough-Strategies">blog</a> that came out recently from Strategy+Business does offer some good and straight forward advice regarding innovation and breakthrough strategies. Much has been written about the approaches and environments that support design innovation, but I think this piece is an excellent summary. The article offers a number of innovation stories and strategies and, while each strategy is distinctive, they all share common characteristics which can be boiled down to four points.<br />
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1. All appear to have started with flashes of insight prompted by working on big problems.<br />
2. Research indicates that innovative strategies are sparked by precedents from unexpected places.<br />
3. Breakthrough strategies always involve a 'creative combination'.<br />
4. Breakthrough strategies are created by people, not companies.<br />
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This quote from the end of the story ties it all together. <br />
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'So what does all this tell us about breakthrough strategies? They rarely come from a typical strategic planning effort. Nor do they typically result from the common practice of generating and evaluating strategic options. ... Instead, they start with individuals working on big, specific challenges who find novel ideas in unexpected places, creatively combine them into innovative strategies, and personally take those strategies to fruition--against all odds.'</blockquote>
Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-50556453226488861132014-11-05T18:32:00.000-05:002014-11-05T18:33:03.412-05:00Rules of Business vs Laws of Nature: 1948 Donora SmogI find it interesting when one event brings an awareness that triggers and reinforces others in quick and overlapping ways. It can be called serendipity. For me the collision that I want to share includes E.B. White, Donora, PA and Amy Larkin, the author of <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Environmental-Debt-Hidden-Changing-Economy/dp/1137279206#">Environmental Debt, the Hidden Costs of a Changing Global Economy</a></i>.<br />
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Over the weekend I was reading from a book of essays by E.B. White and happened on an essay, <i>Sootfall and Fallout</i>, which was originally published in the New Yorker in 1956. The essay played out his growing concern at the time with industrial pollution and global contamination resulting from above ground nuclear testing. This story penned well before the modern American environmental movement had gathered much momentum and gives an interesting historical perspective. Some excerpts from the essay give his concerned perspective.<br />
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'I think Man's gradual, creeping contamination of the planet, his sending up of dust into the air, his strontium additive in our bones, his discharge of industrial poisons into rivers that once flowed clear, his mixing of chemical with fog on the east wind add up to a fantasy of such grotesque proportions as to make everything said on the subject pale and anemic by contrast. I hold one share in the corporate earth and am uneasy about the management.' </blockquote>
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'I belong to a small, unconventional school that believes that no rat poison is the correct amount to spread in the kitchen where children and puppies can get at it. I believe that no chemical waste is the correct amount of discharge into fresh rivers of the world, and I believe that if there is a way to treat fumes from factory chimneys, it should be against the law to set these deadly fumes adrift where they can mingle with fog and, given the right conditions, suddenly turn an area into another Donora, Pa.' </blockquote>
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While I had some sense and historical knowledge of the concerns that E.B. White exposed, I had no knowledge of the chemical fog that enveloped Donora sixty six years ago. So after a little investigation, I discovered that the tragic events at Donora have been credited with the increased environmental awareness that eventually resulted in the first Clean Air Act in 1963 and its subsequent amendments. One of the best summary articles, <a href="http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/DonoraSmog.html">'<i>A Cloud with a Silver Lining: the Killer Smog in Donora, 1948</i>'</a> tells this story of environmental insensitivity. <br />
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Donora at that time was a small, 14,000 resident, steel town with two major mills, American Steel and Wire and Donora Zinc Works, employing 6,500 people, located south of Pittsburgh on the Monongahela River. For five days, starting on October 26, a temperature inversion trapped all the steel industrial emissions and created a dense, acrid yellowish fog that initially killed 20 people, sickened 6,000 others and left a trail of chronic illness. Long after the fog was broken on Halloween by a rainstorm, the debate raged over the blame and responsibility. Some cited nature, the temperature inversion, as the cause and others blamed the businesses for the unhealthy emissions from the mills. Strange as it may seem even to this day, the reports from the Public Health Service concluded that the deaths and illness in Donora were due to the temperature inversion and seen as a 'freak of nature' while the steel companies called it an 'act of God.' The steel companies did make some reparations but they never admitted responsibility.<br />
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These conflicting and conflicted perspectives are underscored today in Amy Larkin's book that focuses on aligning the rules of business and the laws of nature. Among many business/environmental topics, she cites air pollution costs in U.S. healthcare as greater than those of tobacco, and as largely a public cost and not one assigned to sources. This data is hard to understand now that we are fifty years beyond the initial Clean Air Act. In her Nature means Business Framework, the first principle she advances is that pollution can on longer be free or subsidized. This is the battlefield where the true cost must be assigned to the source. Clean air is certainly still one of the challenges of our times. <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/DonoraSmogAtNoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/DonoraSmogAtNoon.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Donora smog at noon</td></tr>
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But let's return to Donora to see how one great nature/business paradox played out. Not long after the tragic events, families that could evacuate or migrate did, and housing values dropped starting a long decline. By 1956, the Zinc Works closed and by 1966, after the passage of the first Clean Air Act and numerous labor strikes, the remaining steel plants closed. Formerly known as the 'Home of Champions' due to athletes like Stan Musial and Ken Griffey, today Donora has been reduced to a struggling community of about 5,000 residents with a monument to the fog in the Donora Smog Museum, and the prospect of further environmental issues related to gas extraction from the Marcellus shale. As one long time Donora resident stated in an interview for a 2009 NPR story on clean air, 'We here in Donora say this episode was the beginning of the environmental movement. These folks gave their lives so we can have clean air.'Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-30682983452132159622014-10-23T12:59:00.000-04:002014-10-23T13:01:47.272-04:00Measure What MattersThe attached article, <i><a href="http://www.architectmagazine.com/sustainability/why-your-firm-should-embrace-the-post-occupancy-review_o.aspx">Return Policy</a></i>, in Architect Magazine, is a reminder that learning design organizations need to measure what matters to them. If what matters is high performance buildings and spaces that foster the performance of users, then as the article highlights, a post-occupancy evaluation can be an effective technique to measure that performance.<br />
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Citing best practice recommendations from three design firms, the article lays out both methods and strategies focused on revisiting the spaces that you have designed and built. Janice Barnes from Perkins and Will sets out a perspective on bringing post-occupancy into a design practice. She offers four key steps a designer should take to create effective evaluations that both provide design direction and measure design effectiveness.<br />
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1. <b>Make sure it's a priority.</b> Does your firm have a mindset that this is important? Because if not, it will always be pushed aside.<br />
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2. <b>Don't reinvent the wheel.</b> Invest once in developing a consistent protocol that includes a diverse set of tools for research and evaluation, such as focus groups, interviews, surveys and on-site visits.<br />
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3. <b>Refine your standard protocol for specific industries.</b> Consider the issues that consistently arise in that typology and build the necessary research into the process.<br />
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4. <b>Get the protocol evaluated.</b> Perkins and Will established their standardized PPOE and then vetted it through a research university.<br />
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Barnes offers a further insight that the key to successful post-occupancy evaluation is actually the pre-occupancy research.<br />
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'In order for the (POE) data that you're collecting to give you valid results, you have to first measure the problem you're solving, then design to solve that problem, and finally see if you solved it. It's collected data pre- and post-occupancy. That's why (at our firm) we call it PPOE instead of POE.'</blockquote>
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While there are a number of factors that may make it complicated to integrate POE's into practice, the benefits to clients and design firms are becoming more clear. In order for our practice to grow and learn, no matter what POE method is used, designers need to know how well their design solutions are addressing the challenges they have set out to solve for and with their clients.Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-62472699847504089432014-10-14T17:26:00.003-04:002014-10-14T17:26:31.515-04:00Design is a Research Process<div class="p1">
In the last few years there have been a number of articles focused on the integration of research into the design process. The majority of these articles have been framed from the perspective of a healthcare practice, however a design research perspective is applicable to any client project. Two of these articles: <i><a href="http://www.aiacc.org/2012/08/10/how-to-convert-key-design-issues-into-research-questions">How to Convert Key Design Issues into Research Questions</a></i> by Mardelle Shepley and <i><a href="http://www.healthcaredesignmagazine.com/article/6-steps-integrate-research-healthcaredesign">6 Steps to Integrate Research into Healthcare Design</a></i> by Upali Nanda and Tom Harvey offer advice from experienced researchers and practitioners regarding the challenge of integrating research into design and making it a formative part of the process.</div>
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As you look at the articles you will see that Mardelle Shepley acknowledges that designers are prolific generators of research topics, and that these important design questions are formed during the programming phase when primary design goals are formed. She shows how a design goal can become a design hypothesis by identifying examples of goals, defining components of a hypothesis and then sharing examples from three case studies. Her case study examples are particularly useful for taking a typical, somewhat general design goal, and crafting it into a design hypothesis which identifies a clear design feature and states a clear outcome. From my experience, this is one of the most important steps in clarifying design intentions.</div>
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In the second article Upali Nanda and Tom Harvey from HKS/CADRE take on many of the</div>
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same practice issues, but make an effort to link research issues with traditional design</div>
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phases. Their simplified framework is broken into six steps which are summarized and displayed in a graphic to show how the steps interface with typical design phases.</div>
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1. TARGET - Create designs based on key performance goals of the organization: set targets based on important client goals and define performance metrics to assess these goals.</div>
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2. EXPLORE/EXPERIMENT - Gather knowledge, understand users, simulate scenarios and test prototypes using tools that balance technology with empathy : explore and experiment with the potential of design options to answer design goals and design questions leading to a design hypothesis.</div>
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3. DEFINE - Link design solution to performance hypothesis: every design decision is a performance hypothesis and based upon project importance can be crafted into a clear testable hypothesis.</div>
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4. MEASURE - Identify key metrics for design and performance and collect baseline data. All measures are not quantitative: match design phase metrics/simulations with outcomes/performance metrics.</div>
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5. MONITOR - Ensure design is implemented as planned, aiming for targeted performance goals: track the project through documentation and construction to protect design features and hypotheses.</div>
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6. TEST - Test the hypothesis: to what extent did the project achieve the outcomes hypothesized and why? Remember that design doesn't "cause" improved outcomes; it creates compelling conditions for improved outcomes.</div>
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Both articles provide a useful perspectives to explore design as a research process. Mardelle sums it all up at the end of her article.</div>
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"The generation of hypotheses during the design process is likely to clarify design thinking, support problem solving, and provide the base for potential research." </blockquote>
Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-76946309235945017292014-06-25T17:29:00.000-04:002014-06-25T17:29:03.023-04:00Go With The FlowThe introductory paragraph of this <a href="http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/117.02.SupermanProductivity">article by Steven Kotler,</a> author of <i>The Rise of Superman</i>, caught my attention as an important area of useful design practices.<br />
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'Researchers define flow as an “optimal state of consciousness,” a peak state where we feel our best and perform at our best. Some of us know this state by other names--”runner’s high” or “being in the zone” or, if you happen to be a jazz musician like John Coltrane, then it’s “in the pocket” -- but whatever the lingo, the experience is unforgettable.'</blockquote>
The focus of Kotler’s book and this article is to break down the scientific research on high performance, decant the critical factors or triggers and share these triggers so that individuals and organizations can utilize it to create more flow. In fact a major point he makes is that assessing the amount of time employees spend in flow is “the most important management metric for building great innovation teams”.<br />
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Flow triggers are broken into four categories: environmental, psychological, social and creative. Many of the seventeen triggers are well known and are also linked to some of my own research into defining critical success factors in design projects. Kotler states that over one hundred years of research shows that flow sits at the heart of every athletic championship, underpins major scientific breakthroughs, accounts for significant progress in the Arts, and recently has become exceptionally critical to business.<br />
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As you study the triggers you will see their importance to the business of successful design teams, including shared clear goals, good communication, equal participation, blending of egos, familiarity, rich environment, serious concentration, an element of risk and immediate feedback.<br />
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Kotler offers this final advice at the end of the article. <br />
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'One of the most well-established facts about flow is that the state is ubiquitous--meaning it shows up anywhere, in anyone, provided certain initial conditions are met. What are these conditions? These 17 triggers. It really is that straight forward.'</blockquote>
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<br />Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-38875835714882053062014-04-01T14:50:00.001-04:002014-04-01T14:50:22.872-04:00Climate Change Preparedness and Resiliency Guidelines<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 0.2in;">In
December 2013, the Boston Redevelopment Authority implemented a
</span><a href="http://www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/planning/planning-initiatives/climate-change-preparedness-and-resiliency" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 0.2in;">Climate
Change Preparedness and Resiliency Checklist for all new
construction</a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 0.2in;">. The development review requirements have been added
to Article 80 Project Review of the zoning ordinance. The new
ordinance includes guidelines, climate change analysis and research
documents and the checklist.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">The
checklist, which can be extremely useful to the design and
development industry, identifies a wide range of possible impact
issues including extreme temperatures, blackouts, extreme wind,
drought and sea level rise and storms. The focus is building
resilience and adaptability to these changing conditions. The
guidelines start off with the following paragraph.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">“Analyze
project impacts on the surrounding environment that are attributable
to forecasted climate conditions over the full duration of the
expected life of the project. Utilizing the best available science,
identify the changes in the climate and environment and how changes
will affect the project’s environmental impacts including
survivability, integrity and safety of the project and its
inhabitants.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 0.2in;">Clearly,
this material can provide a myriad of benefits and it impacts how
sustainability will now be considered and evaluated. These regulatory
changes will also widen sustainability conversations to include
adaptation and resilience in projects at both a building and
community scale.</span></div>
Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-12721493228332742422014-03-11T17:54:00.003-04:002014-03-11T17:54:58.023-04:00Sustainability: Resilient Design and Adaptation StoriesRecently I started following Alex Wilson's blog at the Resilient Design Institute. In his most recent post he shared a wonderful story and a link to an introductory video. The story was created by two young women who completed their Masters at the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources in 2013. Last summer they set out on a journey across the United States to see first hand how people and communities have focused on adaptation to climate change. They traveled through 31 states racking up about 17,000 miles and interviewed hundreds of people. Their travel and interview results are captured in 38 informative and inspirational stories posted on their blog, Adaptation Stories. <br />
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Check out their <a href="http://adaptationstories.com/">video and some of their inspiring stories</a> on a wide range of topics on adaptation and resilience. In addition, I think that <a href="http://www.resilientdesign.org/">Resilient Design Institute</a> and <a href="http://www.resilientdesign.org/category/news-blogs/alex-wilson/">Alex's blog</a> are also excellent resources to broaden perspectives on sustainable practice.Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-69893664831106108542014-02-05T10:55:00.000-05:002014-02-05T10:56:27.652-05:00Very Cool 3D Printing Robot<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #231f20; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Recently there has been a lot of discussion in the media surrounding 3D printing, robotic design and construction, and exploration of 4D at the MIT Self Assembly Lab, giving a clearer view of the possible impact of these disruptive changes.</div>
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I often discuss these trends and technologies with Zach Schoch, a computational designer in the Yazdani Studio at Cannon Design. We have worked together on a couple of research projects and share a number of common interests. In some of our conversations we focus on the desire to have more tinker/lab space, software and tools to advance our experimentation in these emerging technologies.</div>
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Well, little did I know that Zach has his own lab/studio space and has been experimenting for quite a while. A recent article in 3ders.org nicely explains <a href="http://www.3ders.org/articles/20140106-giant-euclid-3d-printing-robot.html">his technology and experimentation with robotic 3D printing</a>. This is pretty large scale compared to some of our Makerbot printer tests. The article also includes a video of some of his experimentation when he was at SciArc.</div>
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This is very cool work Zack and thanks for sharing it.</div>
Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-89814197165512179872014-02-02T16:45:00.000-05:002014-02-02T16:45:34.233-05:00Virtual Crash Course in Design Thinking<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #231f20; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Recently a colleague linked to a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/30/technology/solving-problems-for-real-world-using-design.html?_r=0">story in the New York Times</a> that described Design Thinking at the D.school at Stanford and the considerable successes achieved by the program. He highlighted an important part of their process which is the development of your empathy muscle. After I read the NY Times article I took a trip to the D.school web site and found a new feature, a virtual crash course in design thinking.</div>
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The recent success in the D.school program has led to significant interest so the school has created some virtual content for all interested designers to take a test spin in design thinking. The crash course is structured in three parts.</div>
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1. Gear Up: How to Kick Off a Crash Course</div>
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2. Go for a Ride: Virtual Crash Course Video</div>
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3. Chart a New Course: Put Design Thinking to Work</div>
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The eighty minute virtual crash course video can allow any organization to structure an introduction to Design Thinking for the time, effort and experience of doing it. Obviously “doing it” is a critical element in design thinking. </div>
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Taking a <a href="http://dschool.stanford.edu/dgift/">virtual crash course</a> can be a great way to start off the new year!</div>
Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-46924005506790597082013-11-30T14:33:00.002-05:002013-11-30T14:33:31.341-05:00Everyone is Practicing Integrative Design or At Least That’s What They Say!<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #231f20; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
In an <a href="http://www.sustainable-performance.org/everyone-is-practicing-integrative-design-or-at-least-thats-what-they-say/">article published by Barbra Batshalom </a>on her blog at Sustainable Performance Institute, she questions whether design firms are practicing in an integrative manner or just writing and talking about it. When framed in the context of green building design she recognizes the importance of integrative design process in creating green buildings and challenges firms to question – “how green is your process?” Perhaps most importantly then is the question- what are the indicators of that process?</div>
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This article and its questions strikes and reinforces many themes on a variety of topics in many design process improvement conversations.There are a couple of key points to take away and further engage in that conversation.</div>
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First is the importance of design process in the realization of design outcomes. As she says “there is a heightened awareness that design process itself determines the success and cost effectiveness of implementing green building and using rating systems.”</div>
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Second is the appreciation that there are many clear indicators of a “dis-integrated” team process. I’m sure many designers have experienced some indicators and you could reflect on these items that are cited so that they can become things we all seek to change and improve.</div>
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Third, and most importantly, are some of the clear indicators of teams that are engaged in an integrative design process. What are some of these signs?</div>
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~ You are pushed out of your comfort zone.</div>
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~ You are asked for your input on a wide range of issues.</div>
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~ The expectations of your work are clear and detailed.</div>
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~ Other people’s work is dependent on your work.</div>
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~ Interaction of the group inspires creativity.</div>
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~ You feel more respected and valued with a higher level of pride in the outcome.</div>
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~ The work process is clearly mapped and decisions are made in a transparent manner.</div>
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~ Innovative solutions are encouraged.</div>
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~ Client/stakeholders decision makers are involved in a significant way.</div>
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Barbra summarizes a challenge in the end of the blog with the following quote.</div>
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“<strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The first step in assuring your proficiency as an integrative designer is to pay particular attention to your own indicators – if you are reflective about your participation and the participation of others in the group, and look for quantifiable feedback that evaluates the collaborative nature of the process, you have a much higher chance of success.”</strong></div>
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Simply stated you have to work at it but you also must feel it.</div>
Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-67800614855859681742013-09-07T21:22:00.000-04:002013-09-08T12:05:27.908-04:00True Grit: Diana Nyad<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/02/diana-nyad-abc_n_3857725.html">Much has already been said</a> about Diana Nyad's amazing swim from Cuba to Key West and many stories will evolve from her accomplishment and methods. But at the clearest level she proved that perseverance and big dreams can transcend age, injury and setback. This to me is the definition of true grit.<br />
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In a Boston Globe article called 'The Truth About Grit', Jonah Lehrer traced the research that links a successful scientific result with the effort required to produce that successful result. I <a href="http://phourihan.blogspot.com/2009/08/seems-that-im-reading-thinking-and.html">wrote</a> about his article a few years ago in reference to learning, but it's appropriate in this context as well.<br />
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In Lehrer's article he noted that the celebration of the moment often overshadows the goals, discipline, effort and stick-to-itiveness that is actually required for success. He goes on to state that researchers are quick to point out that grit isn't simply the willingness to work hard. Instead, it's about setting a specific long term goal and doing whatever it takes until that goal has been achieved. It's always much easier to give up, but people with grit keep going well after others might have conceded. <br />
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So after thirty-five years and five attempts, Diana did just keep going and accomplished her goal. As reported by Lizette Alvarez in the New York Times in her <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/sports/nyad-completes-cuba-to-florida-swim.html?_r=0">interview</a>, Nyad had three messages.<br />
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"One is we should never, ever give up. Two is you are never too old to chase your dreams. Three is it looks like a solitary sport but it takes a team."</blockquote>
During the grueling journey, she maintained focus as she always has done, by humming her favorite songs in her head. With a reported song list of over eighty songs, including the Beatles, Janis Joplin, Neil Young and others, her strokes were calibrated to the cadence of these songs. From tunes like 'Ticket to Ride' and 'Paperback Writer', she got the positive distraction needed to keep both her body and mind going. Sheer will power carried her across the straits.<br />
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The day after the swim the Boston Globe's Reflection for the Day was a quote from the late Pulitzer Prize poet, James Wright. I'm sure Wright wasn't thinking about swimming in his comment, but the timing and sentiment is perfect for Diana's strategy and preparation.<br />
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'You can endure almost anything as long as you can sing about it.'</blockquote>
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This interest in the power of music makes me wonder - did Diana perhaps have the Beatle's 'When I'm Sixty-Four' on her hum list? The timing would have been just right. Diana's triumph sends an inspirational life message to aging baby boomers and all who will listen.<br />
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'If something really is important to your heart, you look and see what's inside yourself and you find a way.'</blockquote>
<br />Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-42556339755776124582013-08-06T20:48:00.000-04:002013-08-06T20:48:34.655-04:00Slow Ideas: How Do Good Ideas Spread<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #231f20; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Last week I tweeted the link to <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/07/29/130729fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=all" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #231f20; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Atul Gawande’s recent New Yorker article titled, <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Slow Ideas</em>.</a> Today I’ll follow up with some things I think are useful to all design professionals. While the article is framed in the context of significant healthcare inventions and challenges, the results and patterns of idea creation and diffusion apply to many settings. To set the stage, Gawande analyzes some current and historical examples of idea generation and innovation pointing out how some ideas like anesthesia were very quickly adopted while other good ideas took a generation to adopt. All of his example and case studies like sterile practices, rural birthing and cholera were or are global societal challenges.</div>
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But packed into his article and case study examples are many stories and messages highly relevant to professional practice and approaches to managing our adoption of ideas and change. Certainly many issues we deal with are “invisible” to some or many and certainly many people favor technical solutions. But as Atul states most successful change is accomplished through social methods.</div>
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I liked the reminder about “Seven Touches” both in client marketing and change agency; the clear support for and necessity of face-to-face exchange; the appreciation/understanding of inherent change resistance; and the realization there is a timing or readiness for change.</div>
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There are also many good quotes and I’ll note a few. I’m sure you may find more that resonate with you.</div>
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“This has been the pattern of many important but stalled ideas. They attack problems that are big but, to most people, invisible; making them tedious work, if not outright painful.”</div>
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“To create new norms, you have to understand people’s existing norms and barriers to change. You have to understand what’s getting in their way.”</div>
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“In the era of the iPhone, Facebook, and Twitter, we’ve become enamored of ideas that spread effortlessly as ether. We want frictionless, ‘turnkey’ solutions to major difficulties of the world–hunger, disease, poverty. We prefer instructional videos to teachers, drones to troops, incentives to institutions. People and institutions can feel messy and anachronistic. They introduce, as engineers put it, uncontrolled variables. But technology and incentives are not enough. ‘Diffusion is essentially a social process through which people talking to people spread an innovation,’ wrote Everett Rogers, a great scholar of how ideas are communicated and spread. Mass media can introduce an idea to people. But, Rogers showed, people follow the lead of other people they know and trust when they decide whether to take it up. Every change requires effort, and the decision to make that change is a social process.”</div>
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I think the BetterBirth Project case study shows many useful examples of leadership and person-to-person learning that can be considered in the birthing of organizational changes and new ideas.</div>
Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-91184535699307799662013-06-27T13:39:00.002-04:002013-06-27T13:43:34.972-04:00Key Design Issues Are Research Questions<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Four years ago Thomas Fisher, Dean of the College of Design at University of Minnesota, wrote a short essay for the Boston Society of Architects Research Grant program entitled<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Research in the Design Studio.</em> His essay and the following exerpt reminds us that research opportunities are everywhere in our design work.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">" Research occurs in design studios and offices all the time: historical research, precedent studies, programming analyses, form explanations, functional evaluations and so on. But we don't think of this as 'research' and so we rarely frame our work using research protocols, such as hypothesis statements, testing methods, evaluation criteria or generalized conclusions. Nor do we document and share the results of research with colleagues very often. If we transform architecture into a more evidence-based, value added discipline, we desperately need to see design as a form of research..."</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Based upon this narrative, Thomas Fisher is providing us a method to expand our definition of design and our understanding of our emerging Market Smart approach.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Last fall Mardelle Shepley, FAIA, Texas A&M, wrote an <a href="http://www.aiacc.org/2012/08/10/how-to-convert-key-design-issues-into-research-questions/">article with a similar theme</a> for AIA California Council entitled, <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How to Convert Key Design Issues into Research Questions. </em></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit;">She too has long observed that design professionals and process are a great, but sometimes unexplored, opportunity to capture research questions. The introductory sentences set the tone for the article.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Architectural designers are prolific generators of research topics. The very essence of the design process is to identify questions and pose answers."</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">She suggests the strongest connection and most important part of the design project, the initial stage, is also the most fertile for identifying possible research questions. Whether you call it planning, visioning, goal setting or programming, it is here that the design approach is framed.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"The distillation and prioritization of design research questions occurs during the programming process, where primary design goals are generated. While the uninitiated may consider a building program a mere list of spaces, designers are aware that the crux of a good program is the identification of project objectives.These objectives are the equivalent of research hypotheses."</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">As noted there are a number of ways that project or design goals can be generated: overall client specific outcomes; design team design strategies; pressing or ongoing research topics; or novel, untested design innovations. Any of these categories can spawn specific large and small scale design goals. They can each become a hypothesis when the designer or team collects data and draws conclusions about the intended or possible outcomes of the design idea.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">To assist and structure the process of converting a design goal into a research question/hypothesis, Mardelle states that most design hypotheses contain four components.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1. The design intervention/design feature or the independent variable</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2. The outcome/result or dependent variable</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">3. Subjects, all of the occupants or users</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">4. Responses, all of the environmental resultant conditions</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">As we all know, design decisions are numerous and vary widely in scale from planning strategies to furniture and graphic selections. But whether formally documented or not, all designers know that these design decisions are intentional even if the outcomes are unstated. To aid in clarifying the nature of these possible outcomes, four general categories are offered with a couple examples.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1. Psychological: satisfaction, emotional impact</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2. Behavioral: frequency of use, interaction, collaboration</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">3. Physiological: heart rate, pupil dilation</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">4. Mechanical: air quality</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When we combine the design intention, the IF, with the anticipated outcome, the Then, the result is a simple If-Then hypothesis statement for any or all of our design decisions.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">So in their essay and article what actions are Thomas and Mardelle advocating?</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1. Create and document clearly constructed design goals/design intentions on a full range of scales.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2. Create or otherwise establish expected outcomes or</span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> results from design decisions or features. Some that are quantitative and some qualitative.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">3. Conduct assessment during the design process through simulation or other analysis and/or upon completion and occupancy to confirm the relationship of the intention with the reality of the actual outcome.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">4. Repeat the process, building the results of the design feedback into the design process.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Design is a research process and research is a design process.</span></div>
Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-17072638872437716042013-06-25T16:06:00.000-04:002013-06-25T16:06:27.904-04:00Tipping Toward A White US Minority<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #231f20; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Last week new census data was widely reported including this article in the <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/06/13/for-whites-more-deaths-than-births-data-shows/WaOH91Rt62ZwXIPkUJNF2O/story.html">Boston Globe</a>. The article revealed an unexpectedly more rapid change in US demographics.</div>
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While demographers have long expected that the aging white US population would eventually shrink, the rapid change over the past five years, partially attributed to the recession, caught many by surprise. The projections now anticipate that white US population will become a minority by 2045. It seems far off but it really isn’t.</div>
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There are a number of ways to consider and understand the implications of these changes including social programs, the future work force, the US economy and our standing in the world. The article considers a number of the issues and certainly there are other challenges that society and design firms need to focus on and respond to.</div>
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In the article William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, offers a number of quotes and comments that focus on and underscore the social and economic concerns of like Social Security and Medicare. In regard to the acceleration of the demographic changes, Frey notes some impact of these resulting transitions.</div>
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“Today’s racial and ethnic minorities will no longer be dependent on older whites for economic well-being.” He then suggests that the situation might be reversed when he noted the following. “It makes more vivid that ever the fact that we will be reliant on young minorities and immigrants for our future demographic and economic growth.” He takes these thoughts further when he adds “The issues of minorities will hold greater sway than ever before.”</div>
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There are many other obvious topics not addressed directly in the article including immigration policy and education. Of these I think these more rapid shift in demographics should be a serious reminder of our efforts regarding educational reform, revised education programs and policy and the required resultant improved achievement and opportunities for all.</div>
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Just consider that a five year old entering public school this fall will be reaching an age of serious earning power in 2045 as the demographic tipping point occurs. Given these new predictions it would appear as an excellent reminder that the future welfare of the country is in our hands to change now. It will certainly be in the hands of all the five year olds in 2045.</div>
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Can we take heed of this information and resulting challenge and create the appropriate learning environments for all our five year olds?</div>
Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-77835802451806582862013-06-19T19:36:00.001-04:002013-06-19T19:36:50.343-04:00How IDEO Brings Corporate Design To America<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #231f20; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
I recently found <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/11/smallbusiness/ideo-david-kelley.pr.fortune/index.html">this article from Fortune</a> which features David Kelley, founder of IDEO, and his thoughts on the evolution of his firm and how the business world is increasingly impacted by design thinking. One of the more powerful quotes comes when he says…</div>
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“Our real impact on the business world is that the design-thinking process helps companies innovate. We help to instill in our clients the belief that they can routinely innovate.” </blockquote>
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It’s a great quote and leaves me only wanting to add that innovation is anything but routine.</div>
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At the end of the article, David shares three pieces of advice relevant to an architectural firm.</div>
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<b style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Do stuff rather than plan:</b> So he reinforces a bias for experimentation, action and learning and, I would add within an organizational framework, that does include planning.</div>
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<strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Play and look at things with a child’s mind.</strong> So do things in your teams that change your habits and your work environment and inspire your work.</div>
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<strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Find your fit in life: </strong>So I assume you have found your fit but have not yet realized your best work. Reinvention may be the next fit.</div>
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Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-15271359383575629942013-06-17T11:02:00.000-04:002013-06-17T11:02:34.022-04:00Funky Leadership Advice<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #231f20; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Stories of leadership are found in all shapes and sizes, both very serious stories and some not so. One excerpt from a new book <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Art of Doing:How Superachievers Do What They Do and How They Do It So Well</em> was recently shared on the Fast Company blog titled <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3012395/dialed/the-mothership-connection-funktastic-career-tips-from-funk-legend-george-clinton">The Mothership Connection: Funktastic Career Tips From Funk Legend George Clinton</a>.</div>
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The basic take-away is that great things can happen when fun, passion, excellence, focus, experimentation, persistence and timing collide. It’s certainly true for music, art and design.</div>
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The story offers up nine pieces of advice and lessons learned from George Clinton, a short manifesto for doing cool things well. Check them all out and a few that I’ve highlighted below are great reminders.</div>
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<strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1. Someone has to be the ringleader: “Someone’s got to be in control and if you know what you want, it might as well be you.”</strong> I guess I’d substitute responsible for in control.</div>
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<strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2. Grab What You Like and Bring Your Own Thing: Was funk a Blue Ocean strategy?</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">6. Listen to Feedback: “You hear us. We hear you back.”</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">7. Stick Together: “… if anybody gets in trouble, we’re all going to stick with that person no matter what.”</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">9. Keep Chasing the Dream: ” I’m not trying to catch up with being happy–because it’s the pursuit of happiness i’m after. I want to be so close behind it I can almost touch it. That’s what keeps me looking forward and moving ahead.”</strong></div>
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As George says if you’ve ever been in the Funk, you’re in it forever. Oh, we like the funk, we like the funk!</div>
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Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-52831262360943540122013-06-12T14:24:00.000-04:002013-06-12T14:42:37.675-04:00The Science of Persistence - Climate Science PioneersWithin the past month, two significant global environmental events occurred, the death of Joseph Farman, discoverer of the Ozone Hole, and the first recording of atmospheric CO2 levels above 400 ppm on the Keeling Curve. What connects these events?<br />
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Reading Joseph Farman's recent obituary in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/science/earth/joseph-farman-82-is-dead-discovered-ozone-hole.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">New York Times</a>, I was reminded of his Ozone Hole discovery almost thirty years ago, and was drawn into the interesting story of his dedication as a scientist and researcher. With the British Antarctic Survey in 1957, he began collecting the ground level ozone readings which eventually resulted in one of the most important environmental discoveries of the twentieth century. But what emerges beyond the discoveries, the subsequent adoption of the Montreal Protocol to ban CFC's, and Farman's related personal recognition, are the quotes, taken from the Times obituary, regarding his methods and diligence.
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"…his commitment to the prosaic first principles of data collection, they said, in the remotest outpost of the scientific world, produced discoveries unimagined by other scientists and overlooked by orbiting satellites."</blockquote>
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"But Mr. Farman refused to stop making ground-level readings, despite his superior's questions about their usefulness, and despite his lack of standing in the field of ozone research."</blockquote>
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"His dedication, as much to the principle of scientific record keeping as to ozone study, would make him something of a working class hero among scientists."</blockquote>
After twenty five years of recordings he had collected enough evidence to show that ozone levels over the Antarctic had fallen by 40% in just a ten-year period and that the ozone hole was a real and present danger to life on earth. Sharon Roan, author of <i>Ozone Crisis: The 15-Year Evolution of a Sudden Global Emergency</i>, noted his modest willingness to do the research he thought was important to do. "He wasn't looking for anything astonishing -- just doing a little job, and persevering at it. And he came up with the most astonishing discovery."<br />
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At the same time that Joseph Farman began his environmental recordings, another climate science pioneer, Charles David Keeling, was initiating his recordings of atmospheric carbon dioxide, two miles high on the rim of the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii. As a scientist with Scripps Institution of Oceanography, he began making daily recordings with a device he developed at Caltech. These measurements were begun as part of a one-year initiative, the International Geophysical Year. Like Farman, Keeling's persistence and discipline resulted in daily recordings which have been consistently recorded since 1958 and are now referred to as the Keeling Curve.
Historical research has shown that, prior to 1750, pre-industrial levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide ranged from 275-285 ppm. When Keeling initiated his measurement the level was about 315 ppm, and his subsequent measurements recorded the growth attributed to human activity and fossil fuel consumption. The terms greenhouse effect, global warming and climate change all have origins resulting from this data and Keeling's subsequent research.<br />
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When the May <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20130430/all-eyes-keeling-curve-scientists-anxious-co2-levels-cross-400-ppm">report</a> of atmospheric carbon dioxide recordings showed measurements of more than 400 ppm, it was seen as a possible tipping point. Many believe, like climate scientist James Hansen, that we must reduce levels to 350 ppm to mitigate the range of environmental impacts associated with higher levels of concentration of atmospheric CO2. Framed around the crucial need for reduction to this lower level, Bill McKibben's environmental movement, 350.org, also <a href="http://350.org/about/science">reacted</a> to the announcement of the 400 ppm recording.<br />
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But back to the nexus of the climate science pioneers, Farman and Keeling, and the recent events that remind us of the important lessons of their research. Both scientists began their studies in remote locations and at about the same time in the late 50's, just as Sputnik went into space. Both were personally passionate, believing in themselves and the importance of their work, and persisting over significant time in the measurements which have changed our understanding of the planet. Farman and Keeling left us powerful lessons, yet we still have much to learn. Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-76636703320909940542012-06-16T12:08:00.000-04:002012-06-16T12:08:04.538-04:00Blog OnA few weeks ago I came across an interesting research article related to blogging and its impact on chronic illness. It triggered a number of reactions and reflections, so I wrote about it on the <a href="http://cannondesignblog.com/?p=10389">Cannon Design blog</a>. Reflecting on the topic was also a reminder that I had been posting frequently on the Cannon blog and tweeting even more often, but my personal blog was dormant. So now I'll take my own advice and blog on. Here's to getting back to keeping my own blog rolling!Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-69543095990687755152011-09-26T17:06:00.000-04:002011-09-26T17:09:42.513-04:00Rolling Fat: A Motor Trend<p>Recently in the gym, I picked up a magazine to read while I warmed up on the bike. In a recent Motor Trend magazine, I happened upon an article,<a href="http://www.motortrend.com/features/editorial/1110_technologue_is_our_auto_centric_lifestyle_making_us_obese/"><i>Technologue: Rolling Fat: Is Our Auto-Centric Lifestyle Making Us Obese?</i></a>
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As I’m burning off some calories, I find some recent research by Sheldon Jacobson, a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois, linking automobile use and adult obesity. Their trend analysis of vehicle miles driven divided by the number of licensed drivers from 1985 to 2007 highly correlated (98 %) with annual obesity rate information from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
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While there are many candidates for blame in the spiraling epidemic of obesity in the U.S., Jacobson submits that the number one source is our staple of modern life that we can’t seem to live without – the automobile. As he points out in the article, “Obesity is an energy imbalance, and driving is one of the lowest energy expenditure activities we do in any day.” But what can we really do about such a fundamental part of the nation’s daily routine? Is it possible to continue our driving patterns and still eliminate obesity? The research team sees this topic as complex requiring that we, as a society, will have to rethink the way we use our automobiles if we want to address obesity.
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The following quote captures some perspective and change actions:
<blockquote>Turning its numbers around, the U of I team asserted that America’s obesity problem would be eliminated if we each replaced 12 miles of daily driving with a more physical means of transportation while continuing to do the same things. Jacobson knows this will never happen and notes “if the changes that lead to obesity are small, the changes that reverse it can be small, too – but they must be persistent. If every licensed driver reduced travel by one mile per day, in six years the adult obesity rate would be 2.16 %lower, leading to $16-18 billion in healthcare savings.</blockquote>
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<a href="http://news.illinois.edu/news/11/0511obesity_SheldonJacobson.html">In a related article</a>, Jacobson carries the discussion further to link these complex issues in both public health and environmental perspectives. He states “at the aggregate, if we drive less, not only will our carbon footprint be smaller, we will lose more weight as a nation.”
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Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-46601687102918971792011-08-28T15:37:00.004-04:002011-08-28T15:49:27.249-04:00What Do You Believe?Last October I wrote about <a href="http://cannondesignblog.com/?p=3293">watching Simon Sinek's TEDx Talk</a>, and I've finally gotten around to reading his book, <span style="font-style:italic;">Start With Why</span>. I also just finished reading Clarence Jone's book, <span style="font-style:italic;">Beyond the Dream</span>, which chronicles the events and setting of Martin Luther King Jr's I Have a Dream speech. As I read both books I found a lot of overlap in the themes of the two books, both focused on dreams, beliefs, values and culture for individuals, communities, organizations and countries. We've used these themes to inform discussion in our firm related to living our Vision and realizing the potential of our Ideas-Based practice, but they hold true, and can benefit, any organization.
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<br />In <span style="font-style:italic;">Start With Why</span>, Simon Sinek talks a lot about the importance of organizational trust, the perspective of companies as a culture, and the realization that the culture results from a strong sense of shared beliefs and values. While these are not radically new concepts, they are a reassuring reminder to keep these issues at the forefront in organizational actions. Two points stood out for me: the relationship between trust and risk-taking, and the importance of beliefs in growing/adding people to an organization. The following quote from Sinek's book makes the first point clear.
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<br /><blockquote>"If there is no trust, then no one would take risks. No risks would mean no exploration, no experimentation and no advancement of society as a whole."</blockquote>
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<br />Deep trust is a critical condition for an ideas-based practice and, as Simon goes on to point out, to leaders of organizations. He states that leaders must provide a safety net of trust, both practical and emotional, to enable the desired broad ranging, creative thought and idea generation to occur.
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<br />On the second point of organizational growth and recruiting, Simon states that the most important characteristic is finding people who believe in what the firm believes. This assumes that the firm, the whole firm, understands what it believes and the reason why it believes as it does. He notes that the search is for people who are "good fits" with the "right attitude", not just those with the skills that are needed. He underscores this with a quote from Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines, "You don't hire for skills, you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills." While this concept doesn't quite fit architectural and engineering skills, what does carry over, is how attitude and beliefs influence what is done with one's skills. Taking it one step further, Simon says:
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<br /><blockquote>"Great companies don't hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire motivated people and inspire them. People are either motivated or they are not."</blockquote>
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<br />Leaders must consciously give motivated people something to believe in, something to work toward that is ultimately bigger and of broader importance than their individual job.
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<br />Like I did in a <a href="http://phourihan.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html">previous post</a>, whenever I'm off thinking about these topics I always come back to Bill Caudill and his TIB's or writings called <span style="font-style:italic;">This I Believe</span>. The following TIB, written by Bill Caudill on January 17, 1977, was called Values -- Values and Goals.
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<br /><blockquote>Goals could lead us to a very exciting future -- provided, of course, we are motivated and dedicated to carry them out.
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<br /><blockquote>GOALS RELATE TO VALUES.</blockquote>
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<br />So what are values? Webster lists seven or eight meanings. I like "relative worth", but that's still too vague. Let me try to tie "value" to goals.
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<br /><blockquote>IF A GOAL IS TO HAVE VALUE,
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<br />1. IT MUST <underline>MOTIVATE.
<br />2. IT MUST <underline>COST SOMETHING -- MONEY, TIME, EFFORT, RESOURCES.
<br />3. IT MUST <underline>SERVE SOMEONE.</blockquote>
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<br />CRS has always had certain values. These are spelled out in detail in the document called Ten General Goals passed by the Board in 1974. Values do change throughout the years, but very slowly. Goals are more changeable depending upon current problems within and outside CRS.
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<br />You can judge a firm by what it values. Same with a person.</blockquote>
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<br />To reiterate the three points made by Bill Caudill, a goal must motivate, must cost something and must serve someone. He links together motivation, inspiration, investment and service or purpose to provide Simon Sinek's 'why'.
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<br />For any organization, this is a reminder to think daily about the vision being pursued, to think deeply about why the organization is doing what it's doing, and to reconfirm the beliefs that drive all decisions.
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<br />What do you believe?
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<br />Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-28243149306734816072011-08-07T15:25:00.003-04:002011-08-07T15:30:44.662-04:00Associational ThinkingA recent <a href="http://blogs.forbes.com/tompost/2011/07/20/the-most-innovative-companies-today-and-tomorrow/">post</a> and article in Forbes, by Clayton Christensen and colleagues, presented results of research on innovative companies. Their focus was development of a method to rank and evaluate publicly traded companies with a measure called The Innovation Premium. But to me, the really important ideas that come from their new book, <span style="font-style:italic;">The Innovator's DNA</span>, and the article, are the five skills of disruptive innovators quoted below. <br /><br /><blockquote> • <span style="font-weight:bold;">Questioning</span> allows innovators to challenge the status quo and consider new possibilities;<br /> • <span style="font-weight:bold;">Observing</span> helps innovators detect small details—in the activities of customers, suppliers and other companies—that suggest new ways of doing things<br /> • <span style="font-weight:bold;">Networking</span> permits innovators to gain radically different perspectives from individuals with diverse backgrounds;<br /> • <span style="font-weight:bold;">Experimenting</span> prompts innovators to relentlessly try out new experiences, take things apart and test new ideas;<br /> • <span style="font-weight:bold;">Associational thinking</span>—drawing connections among questions, problems or ideas from unrelated fields—is triggered by questioning, observing, networking and experimenting and is the catalyst for creative ideas.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />I guess that professionals in architecture and engineering firms might very well think this article is mainly a consideration for corporate businesses, but because we are trained as creative professionals, we think that innovation is really our normal game. However that may be an arguable point. The five skills of disruptive innovators, along with the "3P's" of people, processes and philosophies, frame their understanding of the DNA of innovative organizations and provide a structure for all to assess their real innovation potential. It is a good message to understand.<br /><br />Further on in the article, they ask the question "what does the average company need to achieve in these areas to spark an innovation premium?" They then lay out an answer for architectural and engineering firms to consider.<br /><br /><blockquote>Fundamental change within senior managers (some mastery of the five discovery skills); changes in how their innovation project teams work (processes that support innovation); and changes in philosophies that foster the belief that innovation really is everyone’s job. Rare is the leader who fully grasps how to embed the 3Ps deeply enough into a company’s culture to create a powerful, positive innovation premium.</blockquote><br /><br />The takeaway for me in this innovation story is the importance of associational thinking. Let's take this research from the business world and related industries, and transfer it to architectural and engineering practices as the design industry deepens the growth of innovation and new ideas for the built environment.Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-57298636642588036302011-08-03T18:37:00.004-04:002011-08-03T18:43:03.444-04:00Blog Post Wordle<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cannondesignblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Blog-Post-Wordle1-326x236.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 326px; height: 236px;" src="http://cannondesignblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Blog-Post-Wordle1-326x236.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />I recently created this wordle of a blog I posted Dec. 16, 2010 titled “<a href="http://cannondesignblog.com/?p=3929">Research Opportunities are Everywhere</a>.” I thought it was an interesting graphical representation of the theme and tone of the post.Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3969300157438105923.post-37663507339462185052011-06-02T11:50:00.001-04:002011-06-02T11:54:02.708-04:00Wesleyan Philosophy of PracticeDuring my visit to the gym last night, I happened to pick up of a copy of <a href="http://www.inc.com/">Inc Magazine</a> to read while I warmed up on the bike. I came across an article on corporate social responsibility, which reminded me of our Office Life, Building Life, Architecture 2030 commitment, Open Hand Studio and other volunteer activities that are all part of our social responsibilities.<br /><br />The introduction to the article had a quote from John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement. I must admit I’d never seen it before but was moved by the simple message. Here it is.<br /><br /><blockquote>“Do all the good you can,<br />By all the means you can,<br />In all the ways you can,<br />In all the places you can,<br />At all the times you can,<br />To all the people you can,<br />As long as ever you can.”</blockquote><br /><br />It’s a practice vision from the 18th Century that offers good, simple, straightforward words for us to follow today.Peter Hourihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16162824859716177271noreply@blogger.com0