Redesign your thinking
Take a minute to come back in time with me. I want you to picture the exact moment when Thomas Edison realised that his invention, the lightbulb, actually worked. What a eureka moment that must have been!
When you picture this moment, what do you see? Who else is with Thomas as he excitedly flicks the lightbulb on and off?
Most people picture the inventor in a lab somewhere on his own (probably wearing a white coat because they all do). The reality is that Thomas had about 30 research assistants that worked with him all sharing ideas, suggestions and adaptations to the design. And even after the eureka moment, Thomas and his team set about refining and improving the lightbulb.
‘The Dragonfly Effect’ by Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith, is a great book that talks about the need for us to use ‘design thinking’ in business. We need to be able to develop an idea, prototype it, share it with others, keep what works and adapt what doesn’t.
Too often in business we have this misconception that we need to have the perfect plan, the perfect idea, the perfect website. Designers, inventors and creatives think differently, and we ought to take a leaf out of their book.
Whether it is a project you are working on, a new website you are building, or a company strategy you are implementing redesign your approach use the following steps:
- Develop it
- Share it
- Refine it
- Implement it
- Repeat (again and again...)
Remember it only needs to be perfectly good enough!
Darren & Alison
THE GIFT: 'The Dragonfly Effect' by Jennifer Aaker
This week’s gift is a recent article by author of ‘The Dragonfly Effect’, Jennifer Aaker exploring the link between time and happiness. Jennifer outlines five keys to happiness using your time wisely.
Totally agree!
ReplyDeleteRecently I hesitated to put in place an idea for a blog/website I was working on, because I wanted it to be perfect before launching it.
A good friend convinced me to get it up and running first and then make changes/improvements as required.
Extremely happy I made that decision otherwise it may never have got started.
I now try and live by the 5 step design cycle.
Great post. Thanks guys.