Jonathan Brun

Design down, making more with less

In the continuing series of blog posts concerning detail driven decision-making. I read the book, In Pursuit of Elegance – Why the Best Ideas have Something Missing by Matthew E. May. It is a short little book with some great examples of design that saves time and money.

A few of the neat designs he discusses include:

A refrigeration system using clay pots that costs about 2$ to make and allows rural Africans to store food safely. The design is extremely simple, you place one clay pot inside the other and fill the gab with wet sand. As the water evaporates, the interior pot cools, very basic thermodynamics. More info on Wikipedia

Another neat design is small houses that feel big. Sara Susanka is the author of The Not so Vig House: A blueprint for the way we really live. Her architectural approach focuses on using all the space in a house, as opposed to wasting it on a fancy sitting room and dining room you use twice a year. By reducing the unused space and properly designing the rest, you can build a 2000 square foot house that feels like a 3500 foot home.

The book also discusses Lance Armstrong’s training methods, fractal geometry and Eat-N-Go burger joints (that have 4 things on the menu). All of these examples tie back to a concept of removing as much as possible from a design until there is nothing left to remove. Basically, Matt May tangibly demonstrates how to apply Occam’s Razor, which states, “entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity” (entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem)”

Carl Sagan on Religion & Knowledge

Carl Sagan was one of those great minds that we lost far too early. Take a look at this great video that covers religion, knowledge, despair and hope.

Chief details officer – make a big impact with little budget

Of all the recent TED talks, one stands out above the others. Ad-man Rory Sutherland explains a new job position: Chief Detail Officer. This person would be responsible for identifying low-cost items that can have a big impact on an organisation’s performance. These items include great signage, online banking tips and better traffic lights.

Please watch the 12 minute talk below, it will be worth every second. Inspired by his clear presentation, I will be posting some items that I have seen over the years that could have a big impact on performance for little to no cost. Details are the most important part of a product; they show the level thought that went into it. Again, be sure to watch this video.

Innovation under pressure

Innovation is not restricted to laboratories, universities and rich countries. Even the poorest innovate to make the lives easier and more efficient. We should do everything possible to encourage innovation, it is certainly the only way out of poverty. Watching someone pick rice in a paddy field in Asia is almost as painful as the activity itself – the labour is so time-consuming and so little paid, one wonders if there might not be a better solution.

In my view, the most valuable thing on the planet is time. We are running against a countdown and every moment wasted in labour that could be accomplished more efficiently is wasted. If something can be automated it should be automated. Do not confuse that with the statement that “everything should be automated”. Humans should focus on what they do best: artistry, innovation, and creativity. Redundant back-breaking work or putting pegs in a hole on an assembly line is an insult to the human brain. Each one of us carries the most powerful computer in the world, but only a small fraction of our population uses it to its full potential.

The mind is a muscle and if it is not exercised, it goes soft. We should constantly be asking ourselves, “Can this be done better and faster without compromising the quality of the work?”. We should not automate to the detriment of quality, we should automate only when it frees time to invest in other, higher level skills. That being said, humans are programmed to enjoy manual labour, to want to touch the earth and flex our muscles. We are animals, so some things should not be automated to the point of removing all human contact.

It is said (I cannot find the source) that the Luddites, who travelled industrial England destroying machines were not protesting automation of human tasks. They were protesting the reduction of the human into a machine. The former weavers who had to make complex mouvements to create fabric were now performing basic tasks that required no creativity. In a certain sense the Luddites were actually for technology, as long as it was not to the detriment of the human mind and spirit.

Here are a couple good links on innovation in the developing world.

AfriGadget

India Innovates

Sick beats

Watch all three, the whole way through. Via 3quarksdaily