Innovation

Pink Wii 4/10

I’ve had a Wii since it came out but I don’t think I’ve appreciated more until now. After reading about the Wii’s design process and Daniel Pink, developing a clear vision truly feels like the driving force behind innovation. I grew up playing video games, both my own and my friends, and in general I had access to pretty much every console out there. I do have to say that Nintendo is the one company that I would continue to support and that I’ve spent endless hours playing with. Every generation of friends has grown up with Nintendo and I’ve not found anyone who doesn’t prefer to play Smash Brothers with 10 of their friends rather than play Call of Duty online, even in college.

I’ve always appreciated the innovativeness of Nintendo and the Wii, but until these readings I hadn’t realized how important it was to the concept to come up with a clear idea of what the Wii was trying to do. And not only what it was trying to do but what it would look like and where it would be placed. I can honestly say that I appreciate the Wii’s tiny, sleek design and it’s other groundbreaking accomplishments. I’ve often thought about buying one of the more expensive systems but then I hear about the constant recalls and problems with them. I don’t think I’ve come in contact with an Xbox owner that hasn’t had at least once experienced the dreaded Ring of Death (when the system basically dies for no apparent reason and has to be partially or completely replaced). I’ve never had any kind of overheating or otherwise problematic experiences with my Wii. The controllers never break, the disks never scratch, the connection never fails and it takes 2 seconds to start up, as opposed to either Xbox or PlayStation. It seems like the designers early on mapped out all of the problems with the then-current generation and sought out to make every problem history. Frankly, they did a tremendous job.

Within our project, we found out that first coming up with a physical space would be the most effective way of figuring out what we actually wanted to do. Our building was a direct metaphor for what we sought out to do, which was create an all-inclusive experience where everyone could have everything all of the time. We also thought about how this idea would have to be built on a time-tested structure so we thought about the most formidable and stable buildings of all time and that’s how our pyramid of entertainment was born. Knowing how we wanted people to see our product we could think about what they would and would not expect to be inside, so we threw the whole kitchen sink in there. The vast variety of entertainment for all ages, like the Wii, toes the line between spectacle and serious entertainment but in a way that it gives you the best of both. Like the Wii, it’s not only AV equipment but also an indestructible toy that every member of the family has equal access to.

Developing a clear vision was the most important single step that we could have taken right off the bat and while we didn’t realize at the time we set ourselves a perfect template for innovation and success. 

collaboration 3/27

Collaboration was the emphasis on this assignment and for good reason; it works. Whenever I think about collaboration, I always think quality and breakthrough. The old adage, “two heads are better than one” has always been a mantra of mine so whenever I can, I will seek out input from trusted peers and would gladly help anyone that asks me for help. While there are many smart and capable people here at Notre Dame, everyone benefits from a little collaboration. Not in terms of copying work but in terms of getting the best out of everyone. Within our team we have individuals that could easily do the whole project themselves, but not only do none of us have that kind of time but we also all understand that by helping each other out and brainstorming, we can get ideas that individuals wouldn’t have thought about. We can use each other’s experiences and expertise to look at all sides of the equation and think outside the box. This is exactly what we did within our group. Everyone was able to contribute insightful ideas drawing from their various backgrounds in ways that a single one person could not have.

The problem with collaboration and getting multiple people to put their name and input on a project is that the rewards and recognition are not always divided equitably. Though Teague and Boeing worked together on this project, Boeing will be the one to profit the most out of this situation. Teague gets paid for a job well done but on a much greater scale, Boeing will making direct profits from this particular collaboration. Teague’s work will be recognized but mainly within their own industry. Its safe to say that Teague’s involvement within this project will go unnoticed by the general public, not because Boeing will keep it a secret but simply because Boeing has an obligation to promote its own interests over others.

In the film industry this problem presents itself in the way that the general public sees filmmakers in relation to their films. When people hear George Lucas they think Star Wars. People credit the entire production of the director but there are literally thousands of other people that had a hand in making this cultural phenomenon. There is absolutely no way that George Lucas or any other director could have made such a film on their own. They collaborated with hundreds of talented people to come up with every detail and then produced it. It’s a shame that people don’t recognize the work of the director of photography, or the scriptwriters, or any of the other extremely talented people that work to create these incredible movies. This isn’t anyone’s fault though because studios can be expected to place equal emphasis on every person that worked on this production and frankly the public wouldn’t care about much of it. Within their respective circles though, each of these individuals is admired and criticized so its not as though people are forgotten. This is the perfect example of the problem with collaboration though; the credit can’t always be divided equally but the ending product is usually of much better quality than what a single person could have achieved.

Observation 4.

Every dorm has a laundry room. And every laundry room has an electronic terminal to pay for each of the machines. In the Knott laundry room, where I spend most of my clothes washing time, the are 7 washing machines and 10 dryers, but only about 60% of them work at any time.

The university wants students to use their electronic pay system as opposed to paying with cash. They do this by giving discounts if you use your domer dollar account. To use domer dollars you have to go online and make an electronic deposit into your Notre Dame account. This is actually really convenient and does save money. By using this electronic system the university also saves on collection costs.

So once you have sufficient funds in your account you can approach the electronic terminal and choose your machine. I personally put my clothes on the washer first, and then go to the terminal. It’s quite a gamble because not all the machines are guaranteed to work. If I were to choose I would choose the washers closer to/ more direct to the dyers. 

Using the terminal is sometimes frustrating because it’s been broken for a while and they just haven’t bothered to fix it. This particular one is not fully connected to the wall, so it shakes every time anything touches it. The magnetic stripe reader works about 1 out of every 5 swipes, so I personally have to swipe an average 20 times per laundry session. Once the machine accepts the swipe it asks you which number machine you want to use. You select the number and press “Clr.” For some reason the system prompt you to hit “Clr” twice after you swipe your card. After clearing out of the options there’s nothing else that needs to be done except go up to the machine chosen and select washing/drying options.

I always choose the “Brights” option on the washers because I don’t separate colors and whites. When the washing cycle starts the machine will begin a timer starting at 31 minutes. In reality it can take from about 25-45 minutes and there’s just no way to know for sure. Once the cycle starts, it can’t be stopped in any way.

For the dryers only: if the dryer in question is out of order then the terminal will say “machine not operating” and prompt you to choose another machine. Which might sometimes mean having to switch machines. Before using he dryers you have to take the lint collector and clean it out. I actually don’t know if you actually have to do this, but I do it every time. This stage takes 60 minutes but the machines can be opened at any time in between and resumed if necessary. This is helpful if you have to get somewhere and can’t wait for the full cycle to end before collecting your clothes, or if it’s a small load and a full 60 minutes are not necessary.

At either of the machines, if you or someone else neglects their laundry for too long, there are unspoken rules that allow you/them to remove the clothes from the finished machine and placed to the side so that other people can use the machine.

One way I would make this process more efficient would be to pay for the machine before I start loading clothes in. That way I can know if a machine is functioning before I load it up.

One way the system can be improved would be to make sure that the terminals are working properly, all of the time.

A recent addition to the system is the ability to check online on the progress of the machines. This addition saves people the trouble of going to the laundry room before their cycles are over. Since the timers on the machines are less than reliable, this new feature has managed to save people a lot of inconvenience. 

Observation 3.

TheClymb is an online retailer that offers daily deals on outdoors gear and performance apparel. If I could, I would buy everything they offer. Everyday. All of the time. What makes TheClymb such a good site is that they only offer a few promotions each day, so on any given day you can find all sorts of performance gear for 30-50 percent off.

Because the selected promotions expire in a bout a day or so, it’s imperative that you check the site everyday and they facilitate this by sending daily emails to your preferred device. Daily emails are usually a bad idea but with TheClymb you can easily see the promotions being offered and simply clicking on the picture will directly send you to the promotion page. Another interesting feature of the site is that you can invite friends through emailing a quick link and if they buy anything, you get a $10 voucher. They also have a flat rate shipping schema so you can bundle as many things as you want for one low price.

While most of these services are not in themselves revolutions, they are when it comes to expensive performance gear and clothing. You never want to go out and buy gear on a whim, especially safety gear like ropes and harnesses, but TheClymb uses the one-day promotions on leading brands to encourage spontaneous shopping. I personally wait eagerly for the climbing ropes when they come on sale because TheClymb always offers the best in the business for 40-50 percent below retail prices. But I know that these companies are really good at what they do so I don’t hesitate to take a sale when I see one. This model also gives credibility to brands that I’ve never even heard of, just based on the fact that TheClymb would offer them next to the leading brand names.

My only pet peeve with the service is that it takes a while for my purchases to arrive. TheClymb website explains that their prices are only possible because they deal with overstocked products so it takes a while to fill out the orders. Then again the extra wait really isn’t all that bad and the money I saved more than makes up for it. On the same note, the wait is just long enough that you might forget that you ordered something in the first place, only to be pleasantly surprised by the mail fairy a few days later.