Design
The golden age of design in startups – “Well, folks, your time has come. Not only do you have a seat at the table…you’ve got a starring role. There is no better time to be a designer than right now.”
10 designers who follow the muse of curiosity – Unusual collection of designers.

Startups
By royal appointment: why startups shouldn’t suck up – A look at the attitudes of startups, ending with the line “Don’t suck up to the establishment. Scare them.”
On not joining a run-of-the-mill corporation - From the founder of Ooga Labs. “A big company is not the safe career choice. It’s the risky choice. It risks your mind and your life.”
Tara Hunt on “The unclear path” at TEDxConcordia – Don’t give up.
Hiring rockstars - Good tips on Startup hiring strategies.
53 ways to become a better entrepreneur –  ”No matter how successful you are, you shouldn’t stop learning” and 52 other gems.
Why isn’t there a legitimate “critic” in Silicon Valley for early-stage startups? – Great answer by Robert Scoble.
The most effective habit for entrepreneurs –  Being proactive might be the only effective habit.

Tech
Why our National Curriculum is a National Joke and how teaching of IT in the UK needs an overhaul – Read the comments as well as the article itself- a good debate gets underway. This article is particularly interesting in the context of the recent news that IT lessons in the UK will be overhauled.
The great tech war of 2012 – A thorough look at Apple, Facebook, Google, and Amazon.
Wifi refugees shelter in West Virginia mountains -  At the opposite end of the spectrum: interviews with individuals who are deliberately removing themselves from wifi zones as they believe it makes them physically ill.
China’s strange fixation with IE6 –  Microsoft is pushing to end IE6 (as this indicates). Articles like this show that in reality the end is still a long way off.

Useful
10 completely free wireframe and mockup applications – I’ve been using Balsamiq which is very easy and quick to use but I’m not too keen on the Comic Sans-esq end result. Now I’ve seen this article again I’ll give a few different applications a go.
You are solving the wrong problem - Aza Ruskin (son of Jef Raskin who started the Macintosh project at Apple) has had an unusual life, giving his first talk on user interfaces at age 10. In this article he looks at the way we address problems.

Random
The 45 most powerful images of 2011 – Just amazing.
TEDxKids in Sunderland –  Heartwarming videos from a group of children doing their own TEDx. This video is of Christopher talking about Pokemon, but the other TEDxKids videos are equally excellent.
Time to end the war on drugs – A measured, well written article by Richard Branson.
One girl tackles child-centred marketing head on – “Why do all the girls have to buy pink stuff?”
Kindness boomberang – Just because.

1. Changing it through the website.
Result: no can do.

Me: “Ok sure, I’ll try using the telephone.”

2. Telephoning
Result: no can do (on hold for a Long Time, with no indication of how long much longer I would be waiting. And the BA on hold music is terrible).

Me: “Grrrrr British Airways customer service is terrible!” (p.s. this isn’t an actual picture of me)

3. Twitter
I don’t usually vent on Twitter, but in this case I wanted to make British Airways aware of how annoying the situation was and I had no other way of getting in touch with them today. So:

@British_Airways did follow me, and within 15 minutes they had taken my flight details and arranged for someone to call me. After a further 5 minutes an individual (with all the relevant details to hand) had called me and was able to resolve my query.

Me: “British Airways have redeemed themselves. Maybe I will stick with the airline for future flights now.”

So, making frustration public is sometimes very effective (though not with all companies- @jackgavigan mentioned that O2 are particularly rubbish, for example- which is odd given that their email and phone service is usually very good).

I don’t want to give too much of the book away, but will wet your appetite with some of the intriguing facts discussed in the book and finish with an overview from the author herself (from a TED talk):

Did you know…

Lydians: The inhabitants of Lydia, who spent 18 years playing dice games to get through a famine (they would only eat every other day, and occupy themselves with games when not eating).

Fiero: The name for the emotion expressed when you throw your arms up in the air in celebration- usually when winning a game. (An Italian word, but we don’t really have a word for it in English.)

Bringing games to school: There is a school in New York whose entire setup (including the curriculum and extracurricular activities) is game-based. It’s called “Quest to Learn” and it sounds awesome.

Hacking: The term has its origins in the 1950s, when MIT students defined it as ‘creatively tinkering with technology.’

Crowdsourcing: Coined by the technology journalist Jeff Howe in 2006. It amazes me that it was as late as 2006 given its huge prominence (as a word) today.

Duck island: The Guardian’s Investigate Your MP’s Expenses was the world’s first massively multiplayer investigative journalism project. According to the website there are still 234,344 documents to review…

Gadgetry: Africans are ingenious in using what they have to create gadgets- or “hacks.” A selection of them can be seen here http://www.afrigadget.com/.

Wikipedia: it’s estimated that Wikipedia represents the accumulation of 100 million hours of human thought, which is the equivalent of persuading 10,000 people to dedicate five full-time work years to the project.
- On Wikia, there are more than a million articles on ten thousand distinct wikis- each wiki for a different game.

Epic Win: Defined (on Urban Dictionary) as:
1. An unexpected victory from an underdog
2. Something fantastic that has worked out unbelievably well
3. The greatest possible way for man to succeed at anything
interjection
4. An expression of happiness and/ or awe at a highly favourable (and often improbable) event that has taken place: “Alright! Epic win!”

Misspent youth: By the age of 21, the average young American has spent somewhere between 2 and 3 thousand hours reading books- and more than 10,000 hours playing computer and video games.

… or Superstar experts? By the age of 20 the top performers in any given field (from violin maestros to hockey players to Bill Gates) had each accumulated at least 10,000 hours of practice at the one thing that eventually made them superstars. What have you spent 10,000 hours doing? (There’s more on this in the TED presentation below.)

Magic number: 1000 players seems to be a critical threshold to allow for an online game to get interesting- to ensure enough diversity among players, to have enough participants to tackle missions on an epic scale, and to produce enough chaotic interaction to generate complex and surprising results.

And now, that TED talk…

Dear Whoever-Will-Listen,

What is this Twitter fad? I have no interest in finding out what people had for breakfast or when they walked their dog. I find it ridiculous when a friend mentions they “tweet”, and annoying when a television programme suggests people “follow” it. It’s a waste of time and I can’t imagine how 140-characters could be of any use to anyone.

Yours,
Twitter Sceptic

So, I thought I would respond:

Dear Sceptic,

I used to be one of you. I also thought the enthusiasm for Twitter would fade and didn’t see any benefit or usefulness that could be gained from it. In August 2009 I signed up though- mostly to see what all the fuss was about. I certainly wasn’t hooked immediately, but I now regularly use the tool to find thought-provoking articles, meet people interested in the same topics as me, and keep in touch with contacts who aren’t friends (Facebook) or business associates (LinkedIn). Over time I have come to see Twitter as a valuable news source, a great networking tool, and a frequent source of surprises.

First, let me dispel three of your most commonly believed myths:

1. “I don’t want to read about what people had for breakfast.”
You should view Twitter as a personalised news feed. Or a friend feed. Or a gossip feed. Or even all three (and more) if you want. And it’s not just feeds from your friends; it’s from whoever you want (you want to hear what Lady Gaga, or Stephen Fry, or Jon Snow has to say? Hear from them directly)- and, likewise, it’s not from anyone you don’t want. Is someone telling you about how tasty their toast was? Then stop following them (unless you want to hear about toast, of course). You are in complete control. If you are reading about someone’s fried eggs then it’s your fault.

2. “I don’t want to tell people about what I’m doing.”
You don’t have to. Many people on Twitter just use it as a news source and don’t share their own news. This is fine. No one else will care.

3. “It’s a fad.”
If Twitter’s a fad then it’s a pretty big one; the site currently has over 200 million registered users, and 1 billion tweets are sent a week. It’s taken a bit of time to get here (the first billion tweets took 3 years, 2 months and 1 day) but you can’t deny it’s now growing very rapidly.

Still not convinced? Let me tell you about some of the more unexpected ways you can use Twitter:

The Twitter surprises

a.    Trying to find out about a breaking news story?
Twitter is quicker than any other site, and will bring you insights and photos directly from the source of the news within minutes- if not seconds. BBC news consistently lags at least a few hours behind Twitter.

b.    Want to help with a humanitarian crisis?
Along with helping to co-ordinate revolutions and riots (and their subsequent clean-ups), breaking celebrity scandals, and tracking where it’s snowed, when a humanitarian crisis arises Twitter is now one of the key sources of information- both for those stuck in the crisis and those trying to help them. You can read about this in the context of the recent Japan earthquake here, but similar situations are replicated across many other natural disasters and warzones.

c.    Want to complain about something?
As a Sceptic you probably enjoy complaining, so you’re in luck! There are few places better for getting a useful complaint reply than Twitter. Want to let the world know that a company’s service was sub-standard? Use Twitter. Want to connect with a customer service rep without sitting on the phone for hours? Use Twitter. If the company doesn’t answer then their poor service is there for the world to see.

d.    Need a job?
Whatever sector you’re in, and whatever your interests are, Twitter plugs you in to relevant stories and links you with others working in similar areas. For many areas I don’t think there’s a better way to network, and demonstrate your knowledge and interest, than through Twitter. I know lots of people (myself included) who have been offered jobs as a result of their participation in Twitter.

And there’s more; through Twitter you have the opportunity to talk to people you would never have access to outside of the tool (for example, I have had conversations with TV personalities, MPs and well known journalists), you can learn about other cultures and communities (I find people like @kenyanpundit particularly interesting), and you can even book a cab.

So, I recommend this: try Twitter. Not just for an hour, but try it for one month- and use it for a few minutes each day of that month. When one of your favourite radio or television shows talks about following them, do it; join the conversation that goes on between those who have similar interests to you. I’m sure a lot of people will ignore this advice and choose to spend their time in far more “fruitful” pursuits (checking Facebook no less) instead, but for those that do try it- prepare to be surprised.

Yours,
A Twitter Convert

1. It’s not a panacea. As previously mentioned in this series, slapping badges, tokens and leader boards on product or site without purpose or thoughtful design won’t necessarily make for a more engaging experience. Just as IKEA optimizes each of its locations for flow, your design should have a similar direction and purpose.

2. Gamification is not a quick fix. You need to identify which behaviours you’re trying to augment, or which process you’re trying to improve, and why you’re trying to do it. It takes time to figure out. Iterate frequently, learn from your mistakes, and plan for the long term.

3. Don’t go it alone. If you want to have a big impact, this isn’t the sort of thing you can do in house or on the side. Platform providers, such as BunchBall, Badgeville or Rypple, have the long-term industry experience needed to build great games and mechanics – not you. A good gamification strategy is something you need to get right, and you don’t want to get it wrong.

Interested in finding out more about gamification? As a start, have a look at the articles mentioned by Stephanie Schwab under “More on gamification- Game mechanics and examples.” If you have an interest in the public sector the news articles “Gamification time: what if everything were just a game?,” “Gamification for the public good,” and “DotGovLabs opens to the public” describe very recent examples of game mechanics already at play in the UK government.

The ‘Amplify’ conference (a ‘festival of innovation and thought leadership’)- which I’ve recently returned from – therefore made a welcome change. This event certainly still had the familiarity of a conference (reassuring for some), but through unusual twists and integrated additions it challenged the accepted norm and brought internal value and global reach to the week.

For those not aware of Amplify, it:

• Is a 5 day conference organised by AMP for AMP (with a scattering of external attendees), but participated in and followed by people around the world through Twitter and live video streaming;
• Took place in three different Australian cities (Sydney, Parramatta, Melbourne);
• Featured talks by 35 world-class speakers including Andrew Mcafee and Mike Hawley (who worked with George Lucas to invent digital cinema) as well as numerous advisors to Obama and other world leaders;
• Used technology in creative ways (such as the “Amplify effect” used to visualise the festival’s impact across the world) to enable an increase in the reach and scope of the event;
• Included unusual events such as Tech on Tap (an open mic night for PhD students pitching for funding) and iDea iDo iPad (rapid ideation sessions on challenges facing AMP).

This conference- which happens every two years (partly due to the face that each one takes 18 months to organise)- is not only a great testament to those involved in organising it, but- importantly- it’s also an amazing reflection on AMP as an organisation. There are very few- if any- other corporations that invest so much time and effort in broadening the thinking and knowledge of employees.

As with any workshop, event or conference, however, the hard work didn’t stop when the final day came to a close (in this case- with a beach-themed Expo and a ‘spark’ cocktail party). AMP’s CIO has stated her aim to see the conference ideas ‘mould into real world benefits for AMP, our customers and our stakeholders’ so the desire to sustain (or ‘echo’) Amplify’s impact is certainly there; to really take advantage of the stimulated minds and renewed energy will not be simple, however. AMP will need to sustain the embrace of innovation, and continually assess the change in employees’ thinking, the direction of the company, and the reaction of customers. If successful, the AMP model of a ‘corporate compromise’ conference could be replicated within businesses across the world- with a potentially fantastic impact on collaboration, agility, and the culture of innovation.

Useful links

Recordings of all the Amplify talks.
Annalie Killian- ‘Catalyst for Magic’ and Amplify’s producer.
The blog of Amplify’s blogger-in-residence Ralf Lippold.

The Innovation Superstar is an individual who recognises the importance of focusing on the higher objectives of the innovation programme as a whole and does not get diverted by the intricacies or technicalities that other innovation teams will be distracted by (and which they will later use as reasons for their failure). He/ she understands, for example, that creativity will often be needed to overcome the funding hurdle and appreciates that support from the top may not be a given at first. Likewise, he/ she regards failures as an important part of innovation and something to be learned from (rather than give excuses for), and that resources are just tools to be worked with- they can be very useful and instrumental, but should not be the determining factor in the success of the initiative.

Being an Innovation Superstar doesn’t just involve running a project from the business side; a lot of people can deliver, but few are able to remain almost universally respected and well liked whilst doing so.  This talent- an unusual one in the corporate world- is often achieved through a mixture of business success (with a proven track record) and that oft hard-to-find characteristic “likability.” The prevalence of this virtue in Superstars isn’t a coincidence; it’s not easy to implement an innovation programme, and the individual understands that the most effective route to long term success is by making friends, asking favours and co-ordinating their Superstar team rather than burning bridges.

Companies will often not realise how instrumental this individual is, and fail to see that it is the individual rather than the tools that is the cause of any success (thereby assuming that the loss of a Superstar is not a problem as they can achieve the same effect whilst now saving money). If a Superstar is completely unsupported or leaves an organisation, however, it will not be long before the innovation programme is floundering and the excuses begin. Superstars are often amazing individuals but they can’t enact amazing change by themselves; for those companies that do recognise the importance of these individuals, trusting in the Superstar (understanding that some of their working practices will be unconventional, giving them time, and not expecting every venture to be a success), engaging with them (keeping an open communication channel and involving them in wider opportunities- both internal and external) and recognising what they’re trying to do (by both giving them space and highlighting their work when appropriate) can go a long way to help ensure the Innovation Superstar is able to continue doing great work.

“When we were working on our own startup, back in the 90s, I evolved another trick for partitioning the day. I used to program from dinner till about 3 am every day, because at night no one could interrupt me. Then I’d sleep till about 11 am, and come in and work until dinner on what I called “business stuff.” I never thought of it in these terms, but in effect I had two workdays each day, one on the manager’s schedule and one on the maker’s.”

You can read more of the article here.

(With thanks to Hutch Carpenter for spotting this.)

Chapter 1: Scene setting
Three months ago I had never used a Mac except in PC World, and that was just for the novelty. I was a firm cynic, holding fast to the commonly-heard line that I was used to Windows and just wouldn’t be able to work as effectively with anything else. Don’t get me wrong- I’m certainly not a Microsoft evangelist and I’ve even dabbled with Linux in my time, but I was so used to PCs I just didn’t envisage the switch being simple.

Chapter 2: A change
Two and a half months ago, however, with a change in job, a bit of press-ganging from colleagues, and the necessity of carrying something lighter than a brick, I decided to go for it and switched to a 13″ MacBook Air for work.

Chapter 3: The first experience
“Oooooh the box” (someone at Apple puts a serious amount of thought into packaging) and ”Ooooooh it’s so thin” (it is really thin) were my very first reactions. When I actually got down to using it, however, I’ll admit there was some confusion. This can probably be summarised as the ‘top 4 things most Mac newbies ask’:

Q1. How do I install things when there’s no CD drive?
A: Most things I needed were already installed, and there hasn’t yet been a single occasion when I’ve needed a CD drive. And if I really needed one I could buy an external drive.
Q2. Eugh, the connections are all wrong… how do I connect to an overhead projector or ethernet cable?
A: There were convertors hidden under a secret panel (ok not that secret, I just didn’t look properly) in the laptop box. It is a bit of a pain having to use convertors, but it’s certainly not been a deal breaker.
Q3. Where’s my right click gone?
A: A Mac-savvy colleague showed me how to configure the laptop to turn right click on.
Q4: How do I cope without Outlook?
A: At the moment Outlook calendar doesn’t sync with Google calendar. Microsoft say this issue will be resolved by June 2011, but in the mean time there are workarounds. A popular choice is PostBox with BusyCal for your calendar, though I’ve decided to stick with Gmail and use Nested Labels (enabled through Gmail Labs) for folders.
Q5. How do I connect to the wifi? (A 5th question just for me as I was being a bit special.)
A: It’s simple. The problem was that my internet wasn’t working.

Chapter 4: Time passes…
I’ll admit that it has taken me some time to get used to a few of the Mac quirks (such as the occasionally vibrating laptop case (according to the Apple Geniuses this is quite normal), the missing keyboard keys (what was the logic behind removing “#”? Probably the same logic that blocks Flash on iPhones…), Microsoft software’s lack of acceptable integration with Mac (I would avoid the software if I could, but there are certain products I need to work effectively with my colleagues), and the lack of a task bar (I’m still finding the Apple system slower to navigate than a PC)).

These things aside, however, I have found the Mac quite beautifully simple to pick up. No User Manual needed (which is good, because there’s isn’t really one)- just switch on and go (literally. It takes about 20 seconds for the Mac to start up). Neat features like Exposé and Spaces are great to show off (Linux offers similar features but for some reason Microsoft hasn’t yet deemed them necessary), and the little things like sound effects and bouncing dock icons amuse me (though I’m sure the novelty will wear off).

Chapter 5: Secrets (or, A few gems I’ve found along the way)
There are a few nifty workarounds and pieces of free software that I’ve discovered or been recommended in the last few months that I’ve found really useful and which have made the transition to Mac that bit smoother:

Hidden goodies included in the Mac
Grab- located in Applications/ Utilities. Amongst other things, this allows you to do a timed print screen shot- i.e. screen image is taken 10 seconds after you say go.
DigitalColor Meter- located in Applications/ Utilities. This pinpoints what RGB colour something on your screen is. Very useful for photo editing or design work.
Auto-arrange doc and folder icons. It annoyed me that document icons weren’t lining up automatically.
Stickies- nothing new with these- they’re post-it notes that show up on your dashboard. I missed them when I thought they weren’t included though.

Useful add-ons
Chrome, and Awesome Screenshot for Chrome. Really handy screenshot programme.
Skype (for telephone calls), Spotify (for music), and VLC (for watching films).
DropBox. I keep all my files in DropBox so I can access them from anywhere, including on my phone.
WINE + PlayOnMac. Useful if  you need to test websites in IE6 and don’t have an additional Windows machine or want to install Windows on your Mac.
TextWrangler- a simple programme for looking at code.
TeamViewer. A great little programme that enables our company’s remote support to access and control my computer and tell me what I’m doing wrong!

Chapter 6: A conclusion
I certainly wasn’t a convert to Mac straight away, and did find it very useful to be able to ask questions to Mac gurus during the first few weeks. The “aaah” moment for me came after about a month, when a plane I was due to travel on was delayed and I was able to whip out my super-light laptop and be working on it within 5 seconds; since then I think it’s fair to say that I have (much to my own surprise) joined the gang who “go Mac and never go back.” Without wishing to turn this in to too much of an Apple Fan-girl blog post (well, more than it already is), I do understand why I’ve never met a dissatisfied Mac user (or one who “did go back”). I can certainly say this- if I need to use a PC in a future job I will be grumbling about it!

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If anyone else has made the transition and has other tips and tricks that would be useful to newbies please share them in the comments. Likewise, if you’re thinking about making the switch and have any questions get in touch- I will give a balanced view (honest!).

1. Management


Set innovation targets.
Highlight results at the top level of the organisation, and have retributions if targets aren’t met. Though this will sit uncomfortably with many and take effort to implement, formalising innovation is the quickest and help ensure it actually happens.

Don’t leave employees’ ideas hanging.
Have a process for capturing ideas and feedback from all levels of the organisation, and be honest and open (ask yourself ‘why can’t I say this’ rather than ‘can I say this’) in your responses to them. Give justifiable explanations for both no’s and yes’s.

Engage employees with the whole change, decision making and delivery process, empowering employees to develop and test ideas themselves. Consider creating a skunkworks team to better enable this, and link the team to a formal process so that potential successes aren’t lost.

Give rewards.
Rewards don’t have to be financial; often recognition is enough. Rewards will visibly verify the acceptance of change (therefore encouraging it further) and demonstrate the type of change the organisation is looking for.

Encourage employee movement.
Encourage moves both within and outside (for example as loans or secondments) the organisation. Changing employees’ physical environment will speed the impression that change is acceptable, enable employees to develop cross-organisation and sector networks, and encourage fresh viewpoints in different business areas.

Don’t punish employees who do things differently.
Channel their creativity. Having innovation ambassadors (who can advise and coordinate) in different areas of the organisation can help align employees’ creativity with the organisation’s strategic goals.

Make employees comfortable with what is happening, and give them options.
The organisation is about to go through a lot of upheaval, and employees will be understandably concerned and averse to rocking the boat. Make them comfortable with making suggestions by formalising the process and setting examples, and if people will need to leave make the process as painless as possible. Be prompt with information, honest about what is happening, and creative in alternatives. Some organisations, for example, offer employees grants to start their own business if they take redundancy.

2. Employees

Put yourself in the shoes of someone who has just joined the organisation.
Question everything. Accept nothing if it doesn’t make business or logical sense.

Have side projects.
Work with people inside and outside the organisation. Don’t be concerned if nothing comes of them; the networks you build and additional knowledge you gain will be invaluable.

Don’t fight the dinosaurs (at least not at first).
Long-term employees of the organisation may be averse to change at first. Work with them rather than against them; their knowledge and insights are likely to be invaluable (as written about previously).

Embrace opportunities
Say yes to everything- try new things, create new networks, don’t be afraid to leave your comfort zone. If the organisation is truly committed to change then it is those who aren’t afraid to adapt that will do well. If they aren’t really committed then question whether it’s somewhere you want to work.

Push things, but don’t burn all your bridges (or if you do- have options)
Innovation isn’t all about disruption; work- at least some of the time- within the innovation processes the organisation has laid out. They are often more likely to ensure that the idea or feedback is actually taken on board. A certain amount of rule bending is usually necessary… just make sure you have a back up plan if you decide to push it as too far.

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Do you have an example of an organisation that has attempted this sort of culture change? Please tell me about them if you do- I would love to hear about success stories as well as those that haven’t worked so well.