Hardware? Not so much. Especially high tech.

So, what is the hardware version of Lean Startup when iteration times are typically measured in days, if not weeks, and the costs involved won’t start much less than $250K to get to a pre-production functional prototype.

My startup (kijanitechnology.com) is about as close to a Lean Startup as you can get in meatspace, I think. We’re developing solar thermal technology for the developing world. The technology is immensely flexible and we can iterate on the prototypes using off-the-shelf parts that I can grab by running up to my local automotive or hardware store. If you’re talking about hardware that requires circuit boards and custom designed enclosures you’re simply adding to the length of iteration and time to market….at least in North America. In China there are whole markets dedicated to supplying all the bits and bobs that can help you iterate very quickly. Solar thermal is also ridiculously flexible in its application. We’re starting with refrigeration, and that market alone has tremendous variations in opportunity that is keeping us on our toes.

Prototype of a solar thermal collector that is made from easily found parts.

I’ve been thinking about this whole hardware as a lean startup thing for a long, long time. I am a strong believer that the current state of business incubation doesn’t even remotely apply to hardware. It is great for the bits and bytes world, but once you cross into something tangible, the rules are completely different. I’d love to talk with you if this is a topic of interest as I have a lot of ideas as to how we can make a successful hardware incubator.

There are so many things I want to love about Maker culture but I can’t get past the fact that the majority of the stuff there is kitschy at best. Now, what The Faire has in spades is fun. It also has clever. The fun and clever mashed together is what makes The Faire worth going to. I also have to take into consideration that other cities have a much richer Maker community based on reviews I’ve read.

The core of the problem that I find with most things like Maker Faire and other tech cultures is that the focus is always on the tech. The why behind the tech is typically non-existent. I am a firm believer that the why behind a product is far more important than the tech. Good tech alone, if it doesn’t tap into why people will love it is…well…kitschy.

So, I walked away from the Maker Faire knowing that my job as a design and innovation consultant is not in jeopardy from the Maker world in the near future. But what does the future hold for the Maker Culture? There is no doubt that technologies like 3D printing will change our world. The irony in all the hubbub surrounding 3D printing is that it is the perfect case study for my comments about meaning. The 3D printing world has been a bustling industry for close to 20 years. The technology has finally reached a point, similar to Desktop Publishing in the 90s, where it is now accessible by the masses. Anyone, literally, can have a 3D printer on their desk.

But why?

As a designer, I know exactly why I need one. I know exactly what value it brings. 3D printing is going to be a geek tech until someone figures out why Mom and Dad need a 3D printer. The other thing that comes to mind as I wander down this thought hole, is that maybe the tech has already found its “why”. It is to enable more garage geeks to invent some cool gadget. There is going to be a lot of crap to sort through, but accessibility to tech like 3D printing in conjunction with things like Arduino can create some great ideas. Making those ideas businesses, that’s a whole other can of worms. I didn’t see that problem being solved by the Maker Faire. But then again, I don’t think it should.

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The reasons I left my old company are a many layered onion. Believe me, I’ve been riding the roller coaster of wondering if I’ve done the right thing for the past four weeks since making the full cut. The reality is that I know, to the core, that I made the right decision. What I want from my life is different from where I was heading. So, what am I doing differently? Well, aside from trying to figure out how to pay the bills from day-to-day on my own with Hurdler Studios, Inc., I am actively pursing my desire to co-mingle my passions for design with my passion for Africa.

When I was in Kenya and Tanzania all those years ago, there was a very poignent moment during the trip that changed my life forever. A moment that I never forgot, but also didn’t realize how important it was to me until recently. The moment was a realization that I am one that sees opportunity in situations that others don’t seem capable of seeing anything but the negative. A couple we were travelling with continually commented about how depressing the landscape was. They couldn’t wait to get to the gate of the next game farm. Where they saw depression and sadness, I saw opportunity and optimism. I’ve noticed this capacity of observation in many other places since then.

Flash forward to recent times and that seed that was planted is starting to grow. I have started a project I call Kijani Technology (www.kijanitechnology.com). It has the grand vision of trying to bring renewable energy to every home on the planet. To do so, we are developing solar technology for the bottom of the pyramid. Radially affordable solar thermal technology is where we are starting. I have chosen solar thermal because it is inexpensive and flexible. We can create a solar collector that can produce hot water. It has the potential to create steam which has a flexibility in and of itself. Steam powered the birth of the industrial revolution. I believe solar has the same capacity to lift millions of people out of poverty in the same manner it did as recently as 100 years ago. Imagine an inexpensive air conditioner that is free to operate and able to be repaired with common tools. It could make working and living in otherwise sweltering conditions palatable. Think of the long term productivity improvements that could provide a lagging economy?  That’s the kind of vision I have for Kijani. I want to apply my 20 years of creating technology for those who don’t really need it and applying it in innovative ways in locations that most don’t even see as a market.

Here’s my ask…. If you know of somebody that has a similar desire to help build something ballsy I want to talk to them. I need help getting the first phase of funding off the ground. This is a big project that I have broken down into bite sized chunks starting with market validation. I have partners waiting in Ghana to help me get this going. I need to find out, first hand, what the true needs are of the region. What materials are available to build the first product and to plan the future products. An ideal example of someone I’m looking for is a corporation that is seeking Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) investment. Similar would be an individual that is seeking investment in something that could elicit real change and affect lives directly. Even if you don’t know someone directly, please pass this along. Have them get in touch with me through this website, Hurdler Studios, or Kijani Technology.

So, I’ve reverted back to the basic theme which sucks to look at right now, but it allows me to post. Which, I believe, is more important.

A long, long time ago I walked on to the Purdue Track and Field Team. I am pretty confident that none of my teammates at the time thought that I was going to make the team. My underrated moment came at a time trial late in the fall not long before the winter indoor season began. The look on the faces of my teammates after that time trial is indelibly inked into the back of my brain. The underrated walk-on dude just beat out two or three full scholarship athletes to make the travelling team.

Between that moment twenty four-odd years ago and last week’s declaration of underratedness by my friends I’ve had many other moments of being considered underrated. I don’t know where it comes from. Part of me thinks I should explore that more. Maybe if I change my behavior in some manner I will stop being considered underrated and will begin being considered a leader. But I don’t believe in the idea that one can write their own story. I am pretty satisfied with seeing the look of surprise on people’s faces when I end up proving them wrong.

Now, let’s not ignore the fact that there have been plenty of moments along the way that have proven the doubters correct. I’ve had my share of screw-ups and let downs. When I look back at those moments, there are very few of them that I haven’t recovered from. I’ve corrected the problem or bounced back and learned from the screw up.

Which leaves me where I am now. As of last week, I am no longer a partner in a company I helped found. It was completely my choice. I made the decision because I started believing I was not capable of doing what I thought I was capable within the constraints of my current career path. I needed to regain that swagger I’ve always had that I believe, to the core, that I am capable of doing things I never imagined I was capable of – let alone surprising everyone else around me. The only way for me to do that again is to start taking risks. To put myself out there without a safety net and just run my ass onto the team just like I did twenty four years ago.

What I am doing with my new company (aptly named Hurdler Studios) is helping people get past the barriers that are preventing them from getting their new product idea to market. I feel that after twenty plus years of doing that with my own life, it is time to start realizing the value of what I’ve been doing and start helping others figure out how to surprise the world around them.

There are some serious flaws in the use case from top to bottom of the electric vehicle (EV) that I don’t think most people think about when talking about how amazing electric vehicles are. The first is purely the convenience of use for the end user. At the end of the day, a vehicle is an object of convenience. Until batteries are able to be topped up in 5 minutes or less like a traditional gasoline engine is capable of, it will always be a novelty. Five minutes might be a bit too low of a tipping point, but it absolutely has to be less than 10 minutes. We’ve all been trained for the past 50 years or so that if that if I’m running late for a meeting and that fuel light comes on, I can swing into a gas station and be on my way again in 5 minutes. Even faster if I don’t fill the tank all the way.

The next issue to overcome is infrastructure. This is where the EV has an advantage over hydrogen fuel cells. We already have a solid distribution grid that is able to fuel up our soon to be herd of electric vehicles. But can it handle the load? Imagine it dinner time rolls around and 25 electric vehicles pull into driveways up and down your block. Every driver jumps out and the first thing they are going to do, after they shake the kids off their legs, is plug in their vehicle. That is 25 high amperage charging stations pumping from the grid all at once….on your block alone. Imagine this is happening on every block in your neighbourhood, in every neighbourhood in the city, in every city in north america. Trust me, I am no electrical engineer, but I have enough understanding to see the flaw in the plan here.

The charging station I saw was at Thompson Community Centre in Richmond, BC. It was just sitting there in the corner of the parking lot. It felt a bit random. I’m guessing that there must be someone in the neighbourhood that owns an electric vehicle and it made some sense to have it there. But the humor I found in the situation was that the two parking spots that could be serviced by the charging station were occupied by two not-so-economic vehicles:

What I found the most intriguing about the set-up was the company behind the charging station. They have an interesting business model. The company is called Charge Point and they are building a charging station platform. They’re less focused on the hardware of the charging station, and more focused on the monitoring and data that is extracted from the charging station as it is being used. Their website graphically shows all the locations of the EV charging stations they’re hooked up to, and how many times they’ve been used. I have to admit to being a wee bit underwhelmed at the usage. At quick glance, the highest number of charges one of their stations has had was 962 at the time of writing. Considering the amount of vehicles on the road, that is a VERY small percentage for usage.

Alternative fuel is fantastic in principle. I want to see us all driving around in vehicles that don’t cough ozone depleting emissions into the air with every kilometer. But we are much further from alternative fuel Utopia than I think most people realize. We’re currently rushing towards a world that is going to have a gazillion electric vehicles sitting as status symbols in garages with nowhere to go because it simply isn’t as convenient to drive as my gas guzzler.

I’m not writing this to say that EVs are a bad idea or that we should stop developing them. What I hope is for people to realize that there is far more work to be done to make these vehicles a wide spread reality than just better battery systems or more vehicles. I want to see more companies like Charge Point solving the infrastructure from a human centric perspective beyond doing it in an “If we build it, they will come” manner . Building another vehicle to plug into the full system is the easy part. How we solve the real problems of distribution, that’s the hard part. As a designer, I also believe that’s the fun part.

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The Woo, in the context of business, is the product that creates a moment of magic for the user. There are examples all over the place. I remember the first time I put on a pair of headphones and listened to a Walkman. That was a Woo moment. So much so, that I can remember where I was and what I was listening to. The opening of Queen’s “The Game” poured out of those odd foam covered discs that I pressed against my ears. Sounds hopped from one ear to the other and Freddy Mercury sounded like he was singing right there on the street with me. I could still hear the birds and cars in the background. It was magic.

Too much time in corporate world is spent playing the equivalent of a prevent defence. Some might argue that The Woo is brought because you saved the win. But in reality, nobody brings The Woo trying to save the win. Nolan Richardson, ex-Coach of the Arkansas Basketball Team, summed up Woo with the analogy of “Forty Minutes of Hell”. He coached his teams to bring The Woo every single game, for a full forty minutes.

I’m seeking The Woo. I’m trying to remember the last time I brought The Woo and I’m struggling…which is a bad sign.

When was the last time you either experienced The Woo, or brought it yourself?

I’ve always been a believer in the basic thought process behind Design Thinking (DT). The fundamental premise behind DT is that the user is the focus of the design process not the technology. Human centric design is what designers have been circling around for a long time. The truly successful designers are the ones that have figured out how to find the clients that are ready to let go of the sales driven methodology of features and benefits which seems to drive very quickly to a focus on the product and/or technology. Addressing how the product is created based on asking what the users want from the product as opposed to basing the development on research that dives into how the device fits into a user’s life.

On the surface, the difference is quite subtle. You can, and many do, argue that there is no difference. Both are looking at the end user’s needs. Where the difference lies is that Design Thinking is based on observational research of how people interact with a product or service and use that research to inform how improvements can be made that, ideally, will surprise the user. This approach eschews the belief that it is the technology that creates the desired “surprise”. It is about the experience of the product and how it fits into a person’s life that brings meaning to the product. Not how many items it has on a features and benefits list or because it uses some “cool” technology.

What makes this methodology powerful is that it is now possible to design more than just a product. You can now design services and processes on top of the products that may fit within those services and process. As soon as you wrap your head around this subtle difference, you will start to see where the value lies in the having design on your side.

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What is good?

Does it reach you? Does it touch you?

That’s the most important part.

Instead, I ended up choosing a retrospective on the making of “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins. Phil Collins has always been my favorite musician. Between Genesis an his solo albums, he’s been a part of my life ever since a junior high school field trip introduced me to him when a classmate played “Abacab” on an old school boom box. It is strange how moments in your life are so clear. I remember hearing the music and everything else went away. I was instantly a fan for life.

I just get bored. I don’t like working on things for a long time.

What I found watching Phil for an hour, I never realized how much of a kindred spirit we seem to be. The way he described his creation of “Face Value” was eerily close to how I feel I go about anything creative I do. The main thing seems to be that “Face Value” was born out of angst. He states early in the documentary that the album was a glimpse into his mind after his divorce. “In the Air Tonight” was complete improve based on a mood.

Some of the best work I’ve ever created came from moments of complete uncertainty in my life. Moments when my mind was lingering on the edge of depression or burning with some kind of anger. There was definitely that undercurrent throughout that album and was confirmed while watching the documentary.

My attention span is kind of…limited in terms of “let’s do this and move on”. As opposed to…”let’s do this until we’re sick of it. But it’s perfect.

That last quote is the one that left me gobsmacked. It sums my creative process up. I’m not a perfectionist. I’m one that can find a moment of perfection in the imperfect. For me, that’s what “Face Value” has always brought to my life.

He was there when I arrived in Vancouver at the age of 24 and because he was so familiar, I never thought twice about the fact that I had just moved thousands of kilometers from home. He was simply part of my life.

Now, he’s gone and I am surprised at the affect his death has had on me. I didn’t realize that he was an inspiration with his heroic approach to his disease and life after cancer (treatment). It is a special kind of humility that allows you to put yourself in front of millions without a jaw and all the cosmetic oddities that come with it.

I never met him. I never really paid attention to him beyond knowing that I could generally rely on his movie reviews to provide me a good landmark for choosing what movie I’ll go see. Take care, Roger. I’ll show your humorous and inspiring TED talk as my thank you to a lifetime of unrealized stability.