Random musings of Scott McGregor

One of my mentors, Ted Nelson, co-inventor of hypertext, is noted for saying: “Everything is deeply intertwingled”.

On May 14, 2010, I personally experienced this kind intertwingling in a profound way. It was as if some sort of quantum entanglement of strange attractors separated distantly in time and space, were suddenly connected in a single moment and place.

This is the story of that experience.

Two seemingly unrelated events, happening half way around the world from each other, occurring within minutes of each other, became connected by a text alert. But the brain being the amazing pattern seeking (and pattern generating) engine that it is, my mind quickly connected these events in several more interesting ways.

The first event
The first event was a blog post by someone I had never had any prior contact with. Writing from his home in Israel, author IAMRONEN posted his May 14, 2010 blog entry, referred to a design exercise I invented while developed my Disruptive Innovation New Product Design course little more than 20 years ago. It was a productive time for me, for my both course and my first child were born that year. Here is what IAMRONEN wrote:

When I was working as a software designer – we would sometimes run into clients that would ask for a “per-screen” quote. My partner would then answer that we aren’t Samsung – we don’t manufacture screens. Usually when people, especially developers, hear “design” they think about screens, graphics, usability, user experience. While all these are a part of design they don’t touch on the most important part of design (which also happens to be the part I do best and love doing). This post may hopefully shine some light on what that is.

If you’re a developer (especially an open-source developer), you’re reading this and you haven’t yet read “The Inmates Are Running the Asylum” then get the book now. It’s easy & fun to read, and may open up new avenues of thought for you. If you were to read only one book on software design – this should be the book!

Update: I came across a comprehensive preview of the book.

Here’s a quote of one relevant paragraph:

“It might be counter-intuitive in our feature-conscious world, but you simply cannot achieve your goals by using features lists as a problem solving tool. It’s quite possible to satisfy every feature on the list and still hatch a catastrophe. Interaction designer Scott McGregor uses a delightful test in his classes to prove this point. He describes a product with a list of features, asking his class to write down what the product is as soon as they can guess. He begins with 1) internal combustion engine; 2) four wheels with rubber tires; 3) a transmission connecting the engine to the drive wheels; 4) engine and transmission mounted on a metal chassis; 5) a steering wheel. By this time every student will have written down his or her positive identification of the product as an automobile, whereupon Scott ceases using features to descibe the product and instead mentions a couple of user goals: 6) cuts grass quickly and easily; 7) comfortable to sit on. From the five feature clues not one student will have written down ‘riding lawnmower’. You can see how much more descriptive goals are than features.”

I am guessing the guys at Diaspora are going to start by building an engine. The question is do they know what kind? For a private car? jet airplane? semi-truck? tractor? generator? Or something else altogether? They’re all “engines” – but they have different purposes and different qualities designed to fulfill their purposes.

How can you know you are heading in the direction you want to go? What do you do to stay on course when you reach an obstacle that forces you to take a detour? You need a lighthouse or a north star – something that calls to you, something that shimmers for you in the dark, something you can look to, something you can aspire to.

You may get there and rejoice. You may get there and realize you really wanted to go somewhere else. You may only get close and realize that is enough for you. You may have to move away from it in order to get closer to it. You may find new places on the way. You may lose interest and decide to go somewhere else. All these movements gain a coherent and supportive context when you have an anchor, something steady to which you can relate, something that can be perceived as getting further or nearer…

The alert message arrives
Although I had never read IAMRONEN’s blog before, this post immediately came to my attention, because I get Google Alerts promptly whenever people post about me and my work. What was particularly unusual about this post is that I haven’t been alerted to any online discussion of my “Name that Product” exercise from my Innovative Product Design course for many years.

So it was really delightful to read IAMRONEN’s blog and to see the author quote Alan’s description of my exercise, and hear that it still excites readers. Even after all these years, it also remains my favorite exercise to run in my classes and lectures, as well.

The second event
But what was even more amazing was the timing, coinciding with the second event. May 14th, 2010 was also the date my first child was graduating from Marygrove College.

Talk about Synchronicity! The alert actually came in on my iPhone while I was sitting through the reading of the names of each graduate and the awarding of their degrees. Now, I think while most parents find the moment when their child’s name is read riveting, the reading of all the other graduates names can be rather boring if you don’t know any of them. So, while I waited for my daughter’s name to be read, I checked out the alert and read the blog article above.

Rosie Rios’ commencement speech
The connection of the content of this post to both the past origin of my course exercise with the commencement speech in the immediate present was eerily meaningful. And the timing of the arrival of this alert synchronized so perfectly with the events that were unfolding at the graduation makes the coincidence of these events all the more salient: US Secretary of the Treasury Rosie Rios, the invited speaker, had just delivered the commencement address to the graduates urging them to take up the challenge to invent new solutions to the world’s major problems and reshape our world and our economy for the better.

The Scots-American Inventor Imperative
That’s the same challenge that my own grandfather urged on me 40+ years ago when he told me that I had an obligation to create innovations to reshape the world for the better. The Scots-American Inventor Imperative he called it. And it is what set me forth on a career devoted to new product innovation.

Moments after receiving the alert and reading the blog, I heard them call out the name of my daughter, Taylor McGregor, who graduated that day with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, Magna Cum Laude. Taylor was an amazing scholar held the college’s presidential scholarship for 7 semesters — a longer tenure than any previous recipient. She had also just won a half dozen other academic awards, and had a very impressive art show. I couldn’t be more proud of her.

The Motor City connection
There was something oddly appropriate about the location too. That’s another interesting part of the intertwingling effect, I referred to earlier.

The graduation took place at Marygrove CollegeDetroit, Michigan — home to the US Auto industry, and the hotbed of innovation 100 years ago. The automobile — in all its variants from family sedan, to truck, to tractor, and even riding mower, are now ubiquitous — which is what made it such an illustrative example in my design exercise.

A tough job market for new graduates
Unemployment is high around the world and around the US. But the local economy in Detroit is suffering even worse than most parts of the country. It is a tough environment for a recent graduate to find a job as a web designer, graphic designer, or photographer. Taylor, has recently won several awards, which should make her job search easier than some of her classmates, but even so, she realizes that opportunities are not as bright as they might be elsewhere, and she’s open to jobs in other cities.

A weakly recovering economy in Silicon Valley
Meanwhile, I’ve now returned to Silicon Valley, the US home to innovation for the last 30 years. But even Silicon Valley and I are suffering deeply in this recession. I’m looking for a new opportunity as a CTO, VP of Product Engineering or Product Management in an Internet company or start up. Things are not as bleak for start-ups as they were a year ago, but they aren’t particularly healthy either. Hopefully, I can help improve the odds of success for my next employer or consulting client.

Reflections
These strange connections have given rise to a great deal of reflection on the enormous changes in the the last 20 years, in the world in general, in my life and my daughter’s life, and yet also the comforting persistence of same basic principles that drive great product design and innovation that remain the same, all the while the products they create morph the world at an ever increasing rate. I see my daughter and I standing on opposite ends of our careers, each facing the same uncertain economy but sharing a passion for great design and an appreciation for the power of education as an enabler of positive change.

Whatever cosmic connection is responsible for stimulating IAMRONEN’S own reveries on this important day, I am indebted to it, and to IAMRONEN, for reminding me on this day how much my contributions in educating others are still timely and appreciated. Whether reading of the continuing power of an exercise I taught to a few hundred people several years ago, or reading of the millions of people who now jump on line to web conference instead of jumping on planes, it is a constant source of inspiration to know one’s past contributions have made difference in peoples lives, large and small. It is why I get up each morning and keep doing what i do!