Design Thinking exercise on "Reducing Corona Virus Impact on Humans"

The other day I was conducting another exciting Design Thinking exercise in the PGDM class. Even though the class strength was small, we could get a great participation from the students and come up with interesting suggestions on Reducing Corona virus Impact on Humans in a class exercise conducted in the PGDM semester 3 class in Alliance University, Bangalore, India. 

Click here for my earlier blog writing on Effective Brainstorming exercise as proposed by Dr. Roger Sperry of Caltech ..

Click here for an earlier Design Thinking exercise at Alliance University on Improving Retail sales during Covid Times. 

Click here for another Design Thinking exercise at Alliance University Bangalore on handling the crippling drinking water crisis in Bangalore..

The different stages of Design Thinking are Empathising, Defining the Objective, Ideation, Prototyping and Testing. 

The Empathising stage involved asking the participants to introduce themselves by narrating an unfortunate and unforgettable experience in their lives. After the self- introduction, the participants were asked to clearly Define the Objective of the Design Thinking exercise. This was to ensure that all the participants were on the same note and were thinking in the same direction for a solution. 

The next step involved Ideation. This step involves conducting the brainstorming exercise as narrated by Dr. Roger Sperry of California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The human brain is divided into two hemispheres, left and right. The left hemisphere is more rational while the right hemisphere is more creative. The left hemisphere controls the right side of the human body while the right side of brain controls the left part of the body.  (click here for my earlier post on the Brain storming exercise). 

Click here for a Brainstorming exercise on reducing the Traffic Congestion at Silk Board junction in Bangalore.

Topic of Design Thinking exercise : Reducing Corona Virus Impact on Humans

The suggestions that came from the students side is being highlighted here.

1. Regularly doing yoga / exercising

2. Practicing personal hygiene

3. Eating balanced and proper protein and vitamin rich food. 

4. Enable online payment where cash transaction is involed

5. Ensure mask on face

6. Maintain social distancing

7. Purchase in bulk from store 

8. Regular health checkup

9.  Avoid gathering of more than 5-7 people

10. Keeping health accessories like Oximeter at home

11. Avoid close contact (repeats with suggestion 6, an overlook)

12. Avoid shopping in malls which have high customer density

13. Avoid going to restaurants and hotels

14. Avoid touching body parts like mouth, nose etc.

15. Going to for long walks wearing masks more frequently

16. Getting enough exposure to sunlight for Vitamin D

17. Avoid shaking hands and physical contact with others

18. Wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at all times

19. Scheduling the day for proper mental health by assigning times for reading, exercising, sleeping, meditation etc.

20. Wash vegetables/fruits with warm water before consumption

21. Washing clothes after coming from outside / keeping slippers outside

After proper rational discussion among the Brainstorming team members, five suggestion have been arrived at (given in red colour) which would be recommended to the Bangalore Corporation authorities, to enable them take a proper assessment of  the results from the Ideation session of the Design Thinking Exercise.

Repeating the 5 suggestions for correct understanding

1. Regularly doing yoga / exercising

2. Eating balanced and proper protein vitamin rich food

3. Ensure mask on face

4. Avoid gathering of more than 5-7 people

5.  Scheduling the day for proper mental health by assigning times for reading, exercising, sleeping, meditation etc.

After repeated heated discussion among the members of the brain storming session, the top 3 ones (highlighted in green) have been arri

ved at which would be recommended to the Bangalore Corporation authorities for following up.

The team members will also be made available whenever the Corporation so demands to explain the concept better to the decision making Corporation officials.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the 79 years old Director US Centre for Infectious Diseases had the other day come up with 3 simple tips (click here for an analysis of Dr. Fauci's speech) on how to keep Covid away from humans. His recommendations are mostly matching the results of this Design Thinking Exercise too. 

 We do hope that these recommendation will be taken seriously not only by the public health authorities in Bangalore, but also by authorities in Delhi and in different parts of the world.

Click here for the original pdf of Design Thinking article in HBR 2008 which kickstarted the present Design Thinking craze, Tim Brown, Ideo. ..

Another one of HBR's original article on Design Thinking by Prof. Jeanne Liedtka, Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, HBR Sept 2018, Why Design Thinking (click here)

George..

Digitisation and Design Thinking

What is the difference between digitisation and digital transformation? Digitalisation is about applying technology into the existing business. Digital transformation means doing things in a new, digital way. It leads to an entirely new market, as well as new customer and business realities. - www.netguru.com

While going through an article in Medium.com by Robosoft tech of March '19, listing the changes happening in society because of digitization and the challenges of Design Thinking (click here), the promise Design Tyhinking holds for the future in brilliant.

All digitisation interventions of late have resulted in development of society, improvement of productivity and better value realisation from products and processes. We see 

• product companies becoming service companies, like IBM.
• Product companies transitioning to product and service companies, eg. Mercedes and Audi besides selling products also hire their vehicles for longer duration
  
• Service cos becoming product companies, eg. Amazon selling Echo, Kindle e-reader etc
• Digitisation has increased the customer expectations from business, customers demand more features, comfort, safety, security etc
• By flattening the competitive landscape, Digitisation has made barriers of entry low, eg. Amazon.in also competes with Sapna and Higginbothams in India.. 
• Businesses face challenges not just from within the sector but also from across the sector, eg,  Hilton faces competition from not just Sheraton, but from Airbnb, Tesla faces challenge not from other EV manufacturers like Tata, but from the IT giant Apple.
• Any organisation interpreting the customer data finding hidden patterns, drawing insights are able to exploit the data more beneficially than organisations that do not carry out data analytics

are the changes happening in modern society.

How to carry out Design Thinking in the new digitized environments ?

As different from other designing processes, Design Thinking basically is 

• human centered 
• an iterative design process
• helps simplify the customer journey
• adds customer value across business and functions

To better exploit Design Thinking, organisations need to 

• avoid short-term thinking and concentrate on the bigger picture
• manage the different touch points to make it more customer responsive
• build a design culture in the organisation as Design Thinking is not just a product based activity, it is a process based activity too
• Iterate many times over - don't be set on perfection, iterate many times starting with a Minimum Viable Product or Process and then improving upon it based on the customer feedback and data
  

Design Thinking offers humanity better and better options and convenience. For example if we take banking, 

• the old banking needed customers to go to the bank and stand in queues to withdraw and deposit cash or carry other transactions etc.
  
• the Teller mechanism reduced the customer's difficulty 
• Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) simplified much of these transactions
• Internet banking got popular and was carried out through our desktop machines from office or home 
• Mobile banking now that enables banking on the move from anywhere.

The main focus in all these tectonic shifts have been on the customer with numerous iterations that have happened with technology playing the disruptive and value adding role. 

We have explained in the above writing how Design Thinking can be applied for digitization, ie localised digital experience sharing. But can Design Thinking also be applied for the wholesome Digital Transformation experience across  ecosystems ? Indeed it can be, but the experience and effort can be large, engaging and time consuming with potentially rich dividends to be reaped. Banks across the country are going through such a Design Thinking exercise of Digital Transformation of whole ecosystems.

George.

Design Thinking and Innovation ..

Many of us have the impression that Design Thinking is a totally different approach to solving modern day problems and is different from our many different approaches to innovation that has happened in the past.

Click here to go through a 2008 seminal article by Tim Brown in HBR explaining the deeper facets of Design Thinking.

According to the author, Design Thinking is another aspect of Innovation, which stresses more on the human aspect of Innovation, helping solve human related problems with a good understanding of human interactions, feelings, empathy, emotions. It is different from any other innovation exercise that may look at improved value creation, higher productivity, efficiency etc more than the human aspect.

What should be a Design Thinker's personality profile  ?

Tim Brown mentions in his article that a Design Thinker should have mainly the follower character traits

Empathy - the design thinker should be a person who empathises with the customer, understands his pain points, the challenges, view the world from many different perspectives, ie, customer, supplier, manufacturer etc. He has the ability to look at the problem at the minute level and generate insights that can foster innovation

Integrative Thinking - design thinkers not only look at the analytical aspects but have wholesome thinking that helps to understand the problem better or expose solutions hitherto invisible to an untrained naked eye

Optimism - extreme optimism exhibited by the design thinkers go on the thought that there is at least one optimised better solution than the present one that is under practice

Experimentation - incremental advancements do not generate radical solutions, it is wholesome, repetitive engagements and brushes with reality and practice that can generate optimised solutions

Collaboration - it is interdisciplinary collaboration with people from different disciplines, practitioners etc that can help advance design thinking in different dimensions

All DT projects go through three phases

• Inspiration
• Ideation and 
• Implementation 

How can we make Design Thinking part of our Innovation thinking in the organisation ? Tim Brown brings in lot of practical ideas into the cycle to help faster achieve the goals.

• Start at the beginning - let design thinkers do the initial exploration for you on the projects and ideas to work on
  
• Take human centred approach - can bring human insights that were never explored or attempted
  
• Try early and often - try prototypes as early as the first week of execution, try quite often , collect feedback and improvise
  
• Seek outside help - engage with customers and other stakeholders to develop a deep insight
  
• Blend big and small projects - to help keep the motivation going, get small business units take lead in small projects while enterprise wide top leadership can lead large projects that span across departments and functions
  
• Budget to the pace of innovation - be able to easily tweak the innovating cycle to match the budgeting process, to guide through the implementation
  
• Find talent from multiple sources - hiring from interdisciplinary programs from design, biological sciences, mathematics , Physics etc can help bring the much needed diversity of thinking in the DT process
  
• Plan for the practical cycle - practical cycles of implementation in the industry is 15 - 18 months, when employees keep moving in and out. Planning the development and implementation cycle within this time period can see many projects go from initiation to fruition
  

Design Thinking is really an innovation process that brings the creative, inventive, ingenious mindset of humans to the fore to arrive at effective customer oriented solutions.

George.

Design Thinking workshop at Alliance University

David Kelley, Stanford D-School

As part of the Open Forum of Alliance University, today we did an Open Forum on Design Thinking on Friday, 28 June 2019. Click here for the article by Tim Brown in HBR ..

Prof. Sukanya Kundu in the Operations area led the discussion on Design Thinking which was followed by Prof. George Easaw taking over with some explanation and characteristics of Wicked problems. Wicked problems as different from tamed problems, do not have a single, simple solution, it is dynamic and the optimal points can change over time. Mail me for a of my presentation ..

David Kelley of the Stanford Design School is the founder of Ideo and one of the contemporary proponents of Design Thinking. Design Thinking has it's origins from 1951 with JJ Gordon ('61) and Alex Osborn ('63) being some of the earliest proponents of the creative design process.

Design Thinking essentially takes an systematic approach which has five/six stages.

• Empathise
• Define
• Ideate
• Prototype
• Test
• Launch    (though this stage is not popular, it puts the final idea into action).

We straightaway got into carrying out a Design Thinking (DT) project. We had the issue of the Crippling Drinking water crisis in Bangalore as a problem for which we had to target plausible, creative and interesting solutions. 

Empathise : We had a novel approach for the intro to the empathising activity. Every member taking part  had to give a small self-introduction and narrate an unfortunate and sad event of their life. This was done in the introduction stage to instill an empathising and self involving approach.

Different stages in Design Thinking starting with empathize .

Participants of the workshop narrated touching, moving incidents in their life, like escaping from a very serious air accident in Arabia, to being involved in a serious bus accident, to having a serious and crippling low back-ache, novel challenging and professionally threatening work experiences at the first job.

The purpose of the empathising act is to ensure that all the participants are at ground zero and hence are able to carry out the other stages of defining and ideation well. Once the initial empathising preparation exercise was done, the participants got into the shoes of the public and actually defined the problem well.

Define : The issues faced by the people of Bangalore of drinking water actually was defined as the problem of wise usage of water for the daily needs of the citizens.

Ideate : After having defined the problem we next tried to come out with ideas to solve the water crisis in Bangalore through a Brain Storming exercise.  Click here to understand Brainstorming approach developed by Nobel Prize winner Dr. Roger Sperry from Caltech, which is one of the basic components of Design Thinking .. 

The members were asked to give innovative suggestions for solving the water crisis that is crippling Bangalore, saving water in the city of Bangalore.

The participants gave very insightful recommendations to solve the water crisis. They are listed here for the benefit of the participants (red indicates the most repeated and important ones as agreed by the participants)

1. Building construction is a cause for water crisis. Stop building construction. 

2. Leakage of water to be stopped from leaking pipes and taps 

3. Deploy Rainwater Harvesting in homes 

4. Washing of cars from municipal / borewell water to be done less frequently 

5. Reverse Osmosis to be made available in all homes 

6. Reclaim / save water bodies  

7. Deploy Rain water harvesting on rooftops in homes

8. Recycling water from kitchen etc 

9. Creating awareness on conserving water 

10. Sensitise industries to use less water 

11. Reduce construction activities 

12. Lakes that have been leveled for construction activities should be reclaimed and allowed to fill with water 

13. Companies should meet their water needs from their personal resources and by recycling 

14. Recycling of waste water by every apartment building

15. Use showers less for bathing, use buckets

16. Use grey water for gardening and toilet uses

17. Have variable capacity flush in toilets

18. Reduce cemented floors to reduce storm water generation

19. Deploy better storm water drainage to allow water to permeate to the ground

If we look at the quality of the ideas that evolved during the ideation session, the better quality ideas we find was because of the initial empathising exercise where the participants empathised with the citizens of Bangalore and understood their problem of drinking water crisis well. 

The quality and quantity of the ideas and the discussion we found was quite good. We intend to communicate this to the city infrastructure and municipal authorities.

Prototyping and testing is outside our control. It will be done later as this is a large wicked problem which does not have an exact solution and can have very dynamic solutions.

George

Elements of Design Thinking process and a case of deployment ..

Design Thinking basically focuses on people. The people focus of the Design Thinking process makes it very practical and relevant in common daily situations.

Click here to read an article, a blog from www.accenture.com, on Why people are at the centre of the Design Thinking process. 

We know the Design Thinking Process has mainly 5 processes or steps and they are Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test.

Design Thinking Process has mainly 5 elements, these elements exhibit the different features of the process as also its importance. 

They are -

1. Human centered -the DT process is very focused on empathy, people centred and understands the needs and desires of humans and suitably designs the product or process

2. Creative and playful - the DT process is carried out as an interesting creative playful activity that fosters creativity of the participants. The playful creative environment ensures the outcomes are equally creative and enjoyable for the end customers

3. Iterative - DT process does not stop after one iteration, the solution is challenged again and again until we are able to come up with an improved value added solution to the problem.

4. Collaborative - people with diverse perspectives work multi disciplinary teams that look at problems from different directions, helping understand it better,  together creating a superior solution

5. Prototype driven - collecting feedback is a great tool to help improve the process or to improve the prototype. The term prototype signifies that the process iterates to come up wit improved value added solutions

Click here to know about Design Thinking in more depth from Career Foundry ..

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Defining a practical example of Design Thinking exercise in www.amazon.in

The great E-retailing company Amazon is known for it's extreme attention to customer service. Here we are carrying out a Design Thinking exercise trying to find out why Amazon customers experience delay in getting their shipments across the country. Sometimes the delay extends to weeks altogether in the city, not to forget about the towns and villages. 

First let us prepare a brief initial execution plan which lists the issues, challenges, constraints etc in the DT exercise.

1. Empathise

Some of the problems faced by Amazon pantry customers

• delay, often running to weeks ..
• some Amazon deliveries take longer delivery time
• broken / multiple deliveries for a single order
• delivery people disturbing office / class attendees by calling at delivery time
• lot of Amazon related packaging material at home every month
  

2. Define

A better understanding of the customer problem

• how can we deliver products quickly 
• how can we deliver products for a customer in a single delivery without delivery splitting
• how can we reduce packing size and still ensure safety of product
  

3. Ideate

 Collect as many practical ideas to find a solution to the problem defined above (in red)

• have supply coordinators across various important cities and towns of India to coordinate supplies from suppliers and ensure single, faster delivery
• have Amazon local dealer network to coordinate deliveries to customers in their network area. These dealers to improve their profitability are free to deal with Amazon products and other products too
• Amazon could move from a pure click model to a click and brick model where customers could place orders via the website and collect goods at their nearest Amazon physical store at the customer's convenience.
• Amazon could coordinate with the India Post network across the country, almost 1,55,015 post offices (90% in rural areas), offering good commission to the Postal dept (60%) and postmen (40%). This is an opportunity for extra income for the postal dept and postmen too. The postal dept should be ready to change with the times.
• have a reliable network of volunteers / assistants across the country (preference to mom and pop store owners), improving the employment scenario across the country to coordinate deliveries to end customers.
• have a logistics network collaboration with the state transport departments in each state to ensure goods are transported across the state fast, cheap and reliably
• 
  

4. Prototype 

Deploy the plans or actions fast and watch results, get feedback and improve

• Employ more people to coordinate and move items from Amazon warehouse to customer premises in the shortest time by providing logistics, fast, safe, cheap transportation 
• build warehouses and Customer Service centres across the country
• ensure safe and fast return logistics
  

5. Test

 See the success or failure of actions to assess future developments and/or deployments

• Test the idea in the field and get customer feedback
• are customers excited and happy ?
• enquire whether any more problems exist
• are the proposed solutions cost effective or expensive 
• are proposed solutions customer focused (highest priority) or employee focused ?
  

George..

 

A Design Thinking (Reverse Innovation) exercise to enable mobility ..

As part of Reverse Engineering of a movable chair for the physically handicapped, paraplegics, Prof. Vijay Govindarajan of Tuck School of Business has reported a very innovative wheelchair for the paraplegics. As part of HBR;s offering on Design Thinking this product was discussed in great detail in the book. 

Developed by the Global Research  Innovation Technology (GRIT) from MIT and Continuum, the wheelchair  is a great example of Design Thinking.

Click here for the HBR article by Amos Winter and Prof. Govindarajan, HBR, July '15.

A very revolutionary and cheap wheelchair design has been proposed by the MIT Design Lab to enable wheel chair patients around the world. There are about 40 million paraplegic patients around the world who do not have access to wheelchairs and of these 70% are from rural areas who do not have access to the expensive wheelchairs in the market, costing about $400 apiece..

A paraplegic is one who is affected with paralysis of the torso, legs and pelvic organs ..

Paraplegia can occur after a spinal cord injury. It's caused by damage to the vertebrae, ligaments or disks of the spinal column. Paraplegia is the loss of muscle function in the lower half of the body, including both legs. Rehabilitation, medication and medical devices allow many people with spinal cord injuries to lead productive, independent lives.  Source : Appollo hospitals, Chennai. 

Click here for more details from the World Design Organisation (WDO) .. 

 

 

Some of the advantages of the Leveraged Freedom chair are given below.

 

1. Safety - long wheelbase, cheststrap, seatbelt and footstrap

 

2. Cheap to make and repair - the cycle is made from parts that are found in any village cycle shop

 

3. Less tiring - energy required to get the wheelchair moving is not very high as the tyres are made of rubber

 

4. Faster and all-terrain - the chain and sprocket drive train of a standard bicycle and the hand levers help users generate 38% more speed on flat terrain and 53% more torque to cover rough roads

 

5. Versatility - the levers can be removed, thus making it comfortable for indoor use.

 

6. Supportive backrest - helps users to bench press the levers adding more power to the lever movement

 

This wheelchair has been  designed with the final customer in mind, his physical and economic limitations. This makes the wheelchair design a Design Thinking exercise where the ideation phase has given the great possibilities and features in the wheelchair, all at a lower cost.

Recently in the Design Thinking class which we have at our school, I discussed the Freedom chair exercise in the class. I encouraged the students  to empathise with the paraplegics of the world and to come up with additions / enhancements to the Freedom Chair with cost constraints.

I am enclosing the relevant top ten suggestions which may be included in the product in future.

1. Elevation adjustment
2. hooks on the body to hang bags for patiients
3. to ensure stability two wheels at the front
4. mostly women enter with kids. Addition of a barrier / body rest for the baby too
5. chain with hand pedal
6. accupressure points on the foot and hand pedal to ensure better health for patients
7. replace chains with wires as chain can corrode and fail
8. design rear pockets on the chair for patients
9. front and rear light reflector
10. dynamo based lights that can burn with movement of wheels

These suggestions have come from Tejus, Niharika, Greeshma and Ankit, students of the MBA sem 4 Operations class.

George..

 

A role play on Design Thinking at Alliance University ..

Design Thinking comprises of a set of skills by which one is able to solve complex design problems and come up with innovative practical and economical solutions.

Though the process has been developed by David Kelly of IDEO, Professor at Stanford D-school, IDEO CEO has come with an interesting article in HBR in 2008.  Click here for my earlier writing on a Design Thinking Workshop at AU.

This write up is regarding a classroom Design Thinking exercise we had with students of sem 3 MBA on 9 June 2020, through the online mode. These days because of the Corona scare, all classes are happening virtually online through the MS TEAMS setup in AU.

We started with the empathising phase, which involves everyone in the exercise introducing themselves with an introduction, which essentially is the narration of an unfortunate event in the life of the participant till that time. The main purpose of this step is to ensure that the participant is able to recollect realistic situations with the deep meanings in the expressions and narration.

We entered the definition phase by identifying the problem we were going to work on. The issue of traffic congestion in different parts of Bangalore city was the one that came to our mind. We decided to do a design thinking exercise to find out the reasons why traffic congestion is high in Silk Board junction in Bangalore and possible steps to counter it.

In the next phase of Ideation, we embarked on a Brainstorming exercise to find out possible means by which traffic congestion could be reduced at Silk Board junction in Bangalore.

The brainstorming session created about 18 ideas with 3 rounds of 6 teams each, and then we narrowed down into 3 top ideas.

In the Prototype phase, we thought about the different steps that could be taken up to get the plan implemented. Since providing good connectivity between Metro and BMTC was one of the final 3 ideas that came up, we decided to ask govt and BMTC, Metro etc to have dedicated teams that would work to improve the connectivity between Metro and BMTC across Bangalore.

One the Govt accepts our recommendations, we are sure the traffic congestion issue in Bangalore, Silk Board junction will be solved to come etxnet, at least. .

Design Thinking in startups, Uber Eats ..

Design Thinking has been successfully implemented in startups and Uber Eats is one such application. 

Design Thinking involves five steps

1. Empathising - sitting with customers, users, parters etc will help give one an idea of how the present product or servicve offering is not helping meet the customer needs and preferences
2. Defining the problem - there is no better way to define the problem than by living and trying to understand the customer's problem. It helps to understand each step of the food ordering and food preparation process from different perspectives. In the process, the different visible and invisible actions in the process are understood.
   
3. Ideating - Uber Eats encourages all internal and external stakeholders to take part in the ideation process, to look from different perspectives and angles, trying to come up with alternate methods and processes for carrying out the tasks. Virtual Restaurants and Pooled deliveries were outcome of such ideation proces.
4. Prototype rapidly - Most Popular Items was first proposed by Toronto unit of Uber Eats. They believe in the principle to fail fast and improve rapidly from those failures
5. Test and Validate - if the testing done does not actually show the necessary results, it is the time for cross checking and revalidation. If it is not successful in spite of rechecking, start again.

Click here for the Forbes paper on Design Thinking ..

 

A design thinking exercise on improving retail sales during Covid times

Service sector is presently facing great hardships given the Covid protocols of social distancing necessitating reduced customer density at service facilities. 

The famous Little's law gives us the relationship between the number of customers in a facility N, the arrival rate lambda and the average time spent by customer at the service facility, T  by the expression 

N = lambda x T.

The arrival rate of customers lambda is an independent variable, outside our control, while the no. of customers inside the service facility N during this Covid time is decided by the government and health authorities depending on the shopfloor area.

The only variable under the control of the retail management is the time each customer spends at the retail outlet, T. 

Given the random nature of customer arrivals, getting customers to maintain the same spend on products and services (merchandise) at the retail outlet while at the same time reducing the time spent at the facility and permitting only limited customers inside the facility to maintain social distancing norms is the challenge for retail outlets across the world, during this Covid time. The only variable within the control of the service outlet is the time spent by the customer inside the facility and the availability and variety of merchandise.

 

Taking the case of the outlet of a large major all- India retailer in Bangalore, a Design Thinking exercise was done to evaluate the options. The participants were a private group and after the initial empathy building exercises, the participants were asked to brainstorm on ways by which 

1. the individual customer spend could be improved

2.  reduce the time spent inside the retail facility. 

 

Government regulations are presently in place where not more than 15 customers could be allowed in the said retail provision and veg/fruits facility at any time. The facility works in two shifts from 6 am to 2 pm and 2 pm to 10 pm and has about 6 staff in each shift. The staff man the counters and weighing centre, besides taking stock of inventory and arranging replenishment of depleted shelves.  Replenishments come mostly in the morning. 

Maintaining less human density (hence increased social distancing) inside the store while at the same time ensuring faster flow of customers though the facility, thereby spending less time at the facility and enabling more customers within the 12 hour open window of the store, is the only option for the store management to ensure it remains profitable even during this Covid time...

The many suggestions to improve customer spend and reduce customer time inside the service facility that came up during the brainstorming session of the Design Thinking exercise is given below.

1. make employees more customer responsive thereby offering more customer service 

2. better visible arrangement of merchandise on the shelves

3. availability of large, comfortable, well maintained carts

4. better display of notifications and areas earmarked for specific items of merchandise

5. create more space for stocking items by reclaiming part of the frontage of the store

6. keep staple items at the rear and fast moving items prominently displayed at the counters at comfortable heights which ensures customers get a view of the stock and revise his/her purchase plan

7. increase check out counters so customers don't queue up at the exit

8. increase the warehouse heights so that extra items can be stocked, enabling faster replenishments when stocks get depleted

9. as far as possible ensure a uni-directional flow of customers within the premises to prevent customers intersecting others' paths

10. improve the indoor colour shades and aesthetics

11. classify vegetables and fruits in organic, healthy and economical (value for money) sections 

12. pre-packing of fast moving staple items like potato, sugar, onions, tomatoes into convenient packages of 2 - 3 kgs each to enable faster movement of customers from staples area

13. exhibit posters requesting customers to ask or help in case they are unable to find particular items of merchandise 

14. improve cubic utilisation of store shelves  

15. smaller items could be placed in drawers attached to the racks than be placed in the open 

16. maintain a fixed layout without much of change at least for 6 months so that repetitive customers can shop faster

17. keep dedicated staff at busy areas like vegetables, staple food item shopping area 

18. make provisions for self-weighing and sticker generation by customers 

19. more staffing at manual weighing counters

20. air conditioning to provide comfort to customers shopping 

21. increase the alley space to reduce the feeling of congestion inside the store 

22. a new metric rack ratio which is the ratio of storage floor space to total store floor space in the store is to be deployed to ensure effective utilisation of floor area. 

23. have welcome staff at entrance and exit to guide and direct urgent customers to the racks and enable faster ckeckouts,

After these 23 suggestions have been generated, it is being discussed with the store management, who will take valuable suggestions and do a quick deployment on the shop floor. If this prototyping is found effective, it will be deployed not only at this store, but across the county.

The quality of the ideas generated at the brainstorming session was what added lot of value to this design thinking exercise.

This note has borrowed ideas from a Harvard Business Review article from Robert Schumsky and Lawrence Debo, What Safe Shopping Looks Like During The Pandemic, HBR, July '20 and the author acknowledges the authors of the HBR paper.

George..

The rise and fall of Apple ..

The rise and fall of Apple ..

How had Apple Inc survived all these years and what is ailing it now ?

The growth and fame of Apple is largely attributed to the legendary entrepreneur and designer duo, due to the undaunted efforts of Steve Jobs and the Industrial Designer-in-chief, Jonathan Ive who together brought in many revolutionary products for the IT world.

This article is trying to look at what were the specific characteristics of Apple Inc.and its founders that made the products world famous. The paper continues with the present leadership of Tim Cook and looks at what has gone wrong where and whether Tim Cook can ever revive the company from its old name and fame, even though the company stock is doing well on the stock market.

Apple's growth has been phenomenal over the years. It has set the product design for many an IT product to start with the desktop computer.  When the whole world was looking at stared computing and main frames and minis, Steve jobs comes with the first Apple Macintosh, the table top personal computer. He set the direction for the evolution of the IT revolution in the world.

The author was fortunate enough to work on the Apple Mac during his PG college days at the Govt College of Engineering, Goa which also had a NELCO Unix Mini computer during late 80s (and on an IBM Mainframe for the first time at the Govt College of Engineering Trivandrum, Kerala during the early 80s). During the days of 80s and 90s, only government engineering colleges existed and had public funds for these govt colleges.

Regarding Apple, what were the focused reasons that contributed to the success of Apple since the early 80s ?

First and foremost point regarding Apple, is the innovative work culture which focuses on New Product Development. Steve Jobs had a disciplined focused approach which nurtured innovation.

Leaders at Apple, Ive was the Chief Industrial Designer till 2019 ..

The design process used to start initially with 10 ideas which used to be filtered to three in the second stage and finally to one in the last stage.

In the process of accepting the last design, there used to be paired meetings between the product development group members who met on Tuesdays to come up with an innovative approach and used to test it and discuss the outcome of the tests by Thursday. ie. prototypes used to be tested very frequently and this testing process was quite intense.

It was followed by Pony meetings with senior managers once in two weeks so that the senior managers were also aware of the general direction the new product development and design process was taking.

The uniqueness of Apple Design and Manufacturing Operations can be summarised in the following points :

1. No market research

2. Small core design team of max 6 members

3. Apple does not outsource any aspect of the system, it owns the entire supply chain

4. instead of focusing on an entire stable or products in IT area, Apple used to focus exclusively only on certain key products

5. the design team had a maniacal focus on perfection

6. the focus of the design team was always on new product development

All through the design and product development process Apple's focus was on

1. new product development, not process or service

2. Sharp focus on the product being designed by attending to even the minutest detail of the product and material

3. have a thorough understanding of the customer and market and design products that will entice the people and product that never existed before

4. have the right group of people in the organisation and reward them well

At the age of 56 in 2011, we saw the untimely demise of Steve Jobs fighting a losing battle to cancer. Jobs resigned from Apple six weeks before his death, Tim Cook was appointed as his successor. Tim did not have the charisma or the intense focus that Steve Jobs had.

What ails Apple now ?

Just like Xerox and IBM declined after their initial spectacular growth and rise in the early sixties and seventies, Apple too had its ups and downs. Apple is already lagging behind its rivals in new product development.

• In the case of the curved phone. Samsung is clearly 2 years ahead of Apple in this field. Also in the case of bringing smartphones with interesting smart apps, Apple through it's Siri device is clearly lagging behind the industry leaders Amazon and Google in Artificial intelligence apps.
• Though Apple has a 25 % share of the wearable market, competitors like Huawei are catching up fast with growth almost 5 times as much as Apple.
• After the introduction of ipod, the itunes was a service offering which was not a major success across the world, with challengers like Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, Netflix etc.

If Apple is to survive in the new scenario of the modern world it has to introduce an entirely new product line which customers never ever thought existed before. This product will have to entice the customer like never before.

Without innovation, and the rate at which Google and Amazon are going behind Innovation, it really scares any Apple executive. Apple can only survive trying to understand the customer needs, wants and desires, ie. only through DESIGN THINKING.

Click here for a free case study doc on Apple prepared by the author for the benefit of the student and teaching community of the world..

George..

How is Disruptive Innovation different from Break-through Innovation ? The 4 types ..

Innovation is the watchword for all management gurus the world over.  Gary Hamel in his famous HBR article of 2006, The Why, What and How of Management Innovation, spoke of the different aspects of innovation that was very path breaking. (click here)

Gary Hamel say that Management Innovation creates long lasting advantage when it meets the following three conditions

• 
  the innovation is based on a management principle that challenges management orthodoxy
• it is systematic encompassing a range of processes and methods and
• it is part of an ongoing program of Innovation where progress is compounded over time
  

Greg Satel in 2017 by his paper in June 2017 HBR (click here) tries to illustrate the major types of innovation based on two dimensions, how much one knows of a problem and of the skills domain

Disruptive innovation at first disrupts in a small way, often offering a very low quality alternative. But over time it improves and finally overtakes the original product in quality and captures the whole market.

Examples are many (click here..)

Steel mini mills, smartphone cameras, video streaming services etc are examples of disruptive innovation.

Disruption describes a process whereby a smaller company with fewer resources is able to successfully challenge established incumbent businesses - Christensen, Raynor, McDonald, HBR Dec., 2015 (click here).

Disruptive Innovation we find thus happens when the problem is not well defined but we have enough awareness of the domain. It is placed at the bottom right in Greg Satel's Innovation matrix. It starts in undeveloped markets initially and matures to disrupt the market leaders and finally dislodges them. 

Nobody thought the video streaming services would disrupt the CD industry as such, but slowly by delivering sustained better service over years, the video streaming industry dislodged the CD industry. Similar push we see in the area of smartphones, now phablets (phone+tablet), they have already displaced the desktops, slowly are into displacing the laptops too. 

Referring to Greg Satel's Innovation matrix, we find Basic Research happens when we have low knowledge both of the problem and the skills in the domain needed to solve it.  Basic Research is thus left to academic research labs and for research grants to look into. There may be promising results but more often than not, the final picture is not all that rosy and promising.

Breakthrough Innovation happens when the problem is well defined but the domain has not, thus the problem is hard to solve. It helps expose the problem to diverse skills domains.

Sustaining Innovation on the other hand happens when the ecosystem is very open and clear, the problem is well defined and the domain is also well defined. Traditional labs fall in this domain.  Design Thinking exercises can be extremely successful if both the problem and the domain are well defined. (Click here for some excellent Design Thinking exercises we have done in the class in Alliance University in Bangalore, India with students)

The awareness of the different types of innovation happening around helps us to have a deeper understanding of the Innovation landscape and what contributes to each type under what conditions. 

Disruptive Innovation is more like a snake in the grass strategy. The snakes waits in the grass unnoticed till it gets the right opportunity to hit at it's prey. Disruptive Innovation idea is like a snake in the grass. It waits for the opportune moment and strikes at the leader dislodging him from the position and in fact, toppling an entire industry even. 

An awareness of these types of Innovation thus helps us to observe an organisation to understand at what stage it's Innovation process is and what needs to be done to get it on track, to help put it on track to problem and domain definition maturity, sustaining long term innovation. This feeds the next set of innovations.

Fakes are better than the originals - Jack Ma

In this world of outsourcing, we were used to only outsourcing of services. But what can outsourcing of products do ? It can damage brands. But do brands matter ?

Click here to read the news ..

Kickstarting a debate on originals and fakes..

Fakes are not products inferior in quality, but they are products made by the outsourced manufacturing partner but without the branding.

There are two question of ethics here, is the outsourced factory carrying out unethical activities or is the company outsourcing the products to other manufacturers carrying unethical activities ?

Let us take an example of Apple and Foxconn to illustrate this ethical question better.

Apple does the design and outsources manufacturing to the Chinese company Foxconn to manufacture the products in China. Apple, is only designing the product, looking for the right vendors to buy parts from, to manufacture and marketing the complete product produced at a low cost by unknown vendors at exorbitant costs to innocent, gullible customers around the world. The customer buys the product thinking that the same superiority in design of the Apple product is ensured in its manufacture by Apple itself. Little do the customers know how they have been taken for a ride by Apple. The customers individually do not have power to challenge Apple for committing this breach of trust

Taking the other side of the outsourced company, Foxconn for instance here, it gets the design from Apple, has the manufacturing expertise to produce it in large numbers at good quality and low cost in China. Outside the agreement, if it tries to sell the same product, as a Foxconn or other branded product, rarely people would buy. This duplicate product is also of good quality, but may differ from the original Foxconn product (Apple) in a minor feature .. In this discussion Jack Ma refers to this as the duplicate product.

Both the original designer and the outsourced manufacturer are ethically in weak grounds, but both are able to reach the right customers at the right price.

If the customer does not mind buying Apple products manufactured not by Apple (thereby Apple committing a breach of trust placed by the customer on Apple) but by Foxconn in China at a high price and is comfortable with the thought, the customer also should not bother buying products of the same superior design of Apple at a lower cost ( again foxconn committing breach of trust placed by Apple on Foxconn).

Apple customers around the world are not aware of how Apple is breaching their rights to get original product manufactured by Apple in its manufacturing facilities and duping them in the process.

I am sure Jack Ma's statement will raise a debate on outsourcing manufacturing of products by major companies (breaching the trust placed by the customers on the companies). Jack Ma presently running the largest business organisation in the world overtaking Walmart a couple of months back, has every right to raise this issue and make the public aware on how they are being fooled by big organisations like Apple.

george..

Innovation creativity exercises..

Nobel Laurete Dr Roger Sperry's (Calif. Inst of Tech.) Split Brain theory 

Yesterday in the MBA classes on Operations Strategy, while taking the topic of Innovation, we were playing an innovation game on creativity.

The class exercise is on a product. The brainstorming creativity exercises can be applied equally well to processes and services too.

The topic given to the students to motivate them to think creatively was " Additional features one would like on his/her mobile phone to make it more feature rich "

There were some really creative and high quality suggestions which came up in the class. 

Some of them are being listed here.

1. Technological

a. 3D virtualisation of the called party

b. use of mobile as a virtual laptop

c. inbuilt card swipe

d. Industrial process controller

e. mobile working on solar energy

f. using mobile as universal remote

2. Financial use

a. using mobile to provide financial intelligence

3. Security

a. voice recognition of criminals

home security

b. QR code home security

4. Features

a. virtual book

b. mobile GPS health monitor

c. GPS health bracelet

d. anti-theft cloud storage

e. make up kit

f. satellite phone

g. drone mobiles

h. mobiles that never go out of power

i. IOT interface to control industrial and domestic processes

j. 3D gaming with sensors

k. retina scanning security

l. automobile monitoring with google apps

Copyright 2017 Alliance University, Bangalore.
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The initial creativity exercise is a very important step in promoting innovation in organisations. By means of brainstorming, after generating the ideas,(keeping only the right creative hemisphere of the brain working), top three or four ideas are selected which are feasible and tractable (keeping the left rational hemisphere of the brain working ). Teams are assigned acording to skills to oursue these three four creative ideas with a particular time period for design and execution and with limited funds.  

In a lean exercise, ideas are generated but funds are not provided for improvement, that is how innovation is different from lean thinking and continuous improvement.

An extension of the creativity exercise is done in a slightly different way.

Product : An item of common use is shown to the students and each of them is asked to list out five to ten additional uses of that product other than the one for which the product is being presently used. This thinking exercise motivates the participant to relate applications from different fields to the product in question.

Service : In the case of a service setup like a hospital, the participant is asked to list out five to ten new applications of the service which benefit the user in the long run with high utility, but which does not involve heavy expenditure and promotes good health in the long run.

Once the participant is made aware of the great innovation potential of creative thinking and the benefits it can bring to the participant and the society in general, the learning is permanent. The participant will employ this strategy throughout his lifetime as and when opportunities arise.

george.

Copyright Alliance University, Bangalore 2017

Top ten managerial capabilities and strengths for modern day managers

While going through literatue I came across the top ten managerial skills needed for modern day managers to be effective in their work area.

• Design Thinking & Problem-Solving: Approach challenges creatively and find innovative solutions.
• Agile Project Management: Adapt to changing needs and deliver projects efficiently.
• Leadership & Influence: Inspire and motivate others to achieve a shared vision.
• Communication & Collaboration: Effectively convey ideas and work seamlessly with diverse teams.
• Negotiation & Conflict Resolution: Find win-win solutions and manage disagreements constructively.
• Strategic Planning & Decision Making: Set clear goals, anticipate future trends, and make informed decisions.
• Change Management: Guide teams through organizational transformations and embrace innovation.
• Emotional Intelligence: Understand and manage your own emotions and those of others.
• Global Business Acumen: Operate effectively in a complex and interconnected world.
• Social & Environmental Responsibility: Make ethical decisions and contribute to a better world.

These ten skills are invaluable and can catapult a business school sstudent to great heights.

George..

Qualities of AI Resilient Careers

 The Qualities of AI-Resilient Careers

- Generated with Gen AI..

 

Artificial intelligence is reshaping the labor market. From customer service chatbots to automated legal document review, tasks once performed by humans are now executed by algorithms—faster, cheaper, and often more accurately. As AI becomes more capable, the question is no longer whether jobs will be affected, but which ones will survive - and thrive. AI-resilient careers are not randomly immune to disruption; they share identifiable qualities. Understanding these traits is key to future-proofing your career.

 1. Human-Centered Interaction

AI is good at processing information, but it lacks emotional intelligence. It can’t build trust, intuit unspoken feelings, or respond empathetically to human behavior in real time. Jobs that rely on interpersonal nuance—such as therapists, social workers, nurses, educators, and managers—are less likely to be replaced by machines. These roles demand more than data analysis; they require emotional connection, cultural awareness, and interpersonal judgment.

Take therapy, for example. AI might offer scripted mental health advice, but it cannot replicate the deep, trust-based relationship between a human therapist and client. Similarly, nurses must interpret patient behavior, provide comfort, and make judgment calls that go beyond symptoms. These human layers resist automation.

 2. Creative and Original Thinking

AI can mimic patterns, remix existing ideas, and even generate original-looking content. But it lacks the ability to create in the human sense—to invent something truly novel, to break rules intentionally, or to understand subtext and cultural nuance. Creative roles in writing, design, branding, filmmaking, and the arts remain more resilient.

A brand strategist crafting a campaign does more than generate slogans—they understand market trends, human psychology, and cultural context. A playwright doesn’t just assemble dialogue; they reflect social issues and emotions in ways that resonate with human audiences. AI can assist, but it rarely originates ideas that move people or reshape conversations.

 3. Problem-Solving in Complex, Unpredictable Contexts

Many professions involve making decisions with limited information, unclear rules, or changing circumstances. AI thrives in structured environments—where inputs and outputs are clearly defined—but it struggles with ambiguity.

Entrepreneurs, consultants, emergency responders, and project managers often operate in unpredictable terrain. They balance trade-offs, shift strategies on the fly, and deal with unique variables. Consider a firefighter: no two emergencies are the same, and split-second decisions can be life-or-death. AI might support with data or risk assessment, but human judgment, improvisation, and experience still lead.

 4. Skilled Trades and Hands-On Work

Despite all the hype about robot arms and warehouse automation, many physical jobs are harder to automate than desk work. Plumbers, electricians, carpenters, and mechanics often work in varied, unstructured environments. Every repair, installation, or construction site is different. The tasks require dexterity, real-time problem-solving, and adaptation.

Even with advances in robotics, replicating human motion, tactile feedback, and spatial reasoning remains costly and technically difficult. These trades, often overlooked in discussions about the future of work, are among the most AI-resistant.

 5. Ethical and Strategic Oversight

As AI systems make more decisions, someone must design, monitor, and govern them. Ethicists, compliance officers, legal experts, and policymakers play a growing role in defining how AI is deployed and held accountable. These roles require a deep understanding of human values, legal frameworks, and societal impact—areas where AI has no true competence.

An AI system might detect fraudulent behavior in financial data, but determining whether a system is fair, biased, or in violation of laws requires human oversight. Strategy professionals also evaluate not just what’s possible with AI, but what’s desirable and sustainable in the long run. These are judgment calls that can’t be offloaded to machines.

 6. Multidisciplinary Expertise

Jobs that span multiple domains—where success requires integrating knowledge from different fields—tend to resist automation. AI may be good at siloed tasks, but careers that combine technical, social, and strategic skills are harder to replicate.

Consider product managers in tech. They need to understand user needs, manage cross-functional teams, interpret data, and shape business outcomes. Their value comes from bridging technical and human factors. Likewise, a climate policy advisor needs knowledge of science, economics, politics, and communication. The more a role involves connecting the dots across domains, the more resilient it becomes.

 7. Adaptability and Lifelong Learning

Perhaps the most critical quality isn’t tied to a job title, but to a mindset. AI-resilient careers are often filled by people who adapt quickly, learn continuously, and reinvent themselves as technology evolves. The shelf life of skills is shrinking. Static job definitions are fading. Workers who thrive will be those who stay curious, reskill regularly, and remain comfortable with change.

This quality applies across industries. A marketing analyst who learns to use AI tools will outlast one who resists them. A teacher who embraces adaptive learning platforms will stay relevant longer than one who sticks to a rigid curriculum. The job may change—but those who evolve with it maintain their edge.

 What AI-Resilient Doesn’t Mean

Being AI-resilient doesn’t mean a job won’t change. On the contrary, most of the roles mentioned above will be deeply influenced by AI. Doctors will rely on machine diagnostics. Writers will use AI to brainstorm. Managers will use data-driven dashboards. But AI will *augment* these jobs, not *replace* them—if the human brings something essential to the table.

The point isn’t to escape AI—it’s to coexist with it. The safest roles are those where human value is irreplaceable, and where humans and machines complement each other rather than compete.

 Conclusion

AI-resilient careers aren’t defined by luck or tradition—they’re built on specific qualities: emotional intelligence, creativity, judgment, dexterity, ethical reasoning, and the ability to adapt. These roles draw strength from what makes us human. As AI spreads, the challenge isn’t to fear it—it’s to develop the skills and mindsets that keep us ahead of it.

The future of work belongs to those who double down on their humanness. Machines will take over many tasks. But careers that rely on empathy, originality, complexity, and constant learning will remain not just relevant, but essential. The key isn’t just to work harder—it’s to work smarter, more creatively, and more human.

Playing the Paper Folding SOP game in class ..

Playing games influence learning in the management business school ..

On Monday 20th of March 2023, I engaged the topic of Standard Operating Procedure with the fourth sem MBA operations students of Alliance School of Business  Bangalore through a game. Playing games can have several positive effects on learning in management business schools. Few ways in which games can influence learning are given below :

1. Increased engagement: Games can increase student engagement and motivation by making learning more fun and interactive. When students are engaged in a game, they are more likely to remember the information they are learning and apply it to real-world scenarios.

2. Active learning: Games can also promote active learning, where students are actively participating in the learning process instead of passively listening to lectures or reading textbooks. This can help students better understand complex concepts and retain information.

3. Decision-making skills: Many games require players to make decisions based on limited information and in a limited amount of time. This can help students develop critical thinking and decision-making skills, which are essential for success in business and management.

4. Collaboration: Some games require players to work together to solve problems or achieve a common goal. This can help students develop teamwork and collaboration skills, which are important in business settings.

5. Simulation of real-world scenarios: Games can simulate real-world scenarios, allowing students to practice and apply their knowledge in a safe and controlled environment. This can help students prepare for future management roles and develop skills that will be useful in their careers.

Overall, incorporating games into management business school curriculums can be an effective way to enhance learning and develop important skills for success in the business world - OpenAI.

As usual this time in the Lean Operations class we brought in the activity style of pedagogy to teach an important concept in lean operations - Standard Operating Procedure.

Standard Operating Procedure - A standard operating procedure is a set of step-by-step instructions compiled by an organization to help workers carry out routine operations. SOPs aim to achieve efficiency, quality output, and uniformity of performance, while reducing miscommunication and failure to comply with industry regulations. Wikipedia

On Monday 20th of March 2023, we introduced the topic of Standard Operating Procedure with the fourth sem MBA operations students through a game. Earlier I had introduced the topic of Kaizen and continuous Improvement with the straw game.

Since the class strength was about thirty I asked for ten volunteers who were asked to stand with A5 paper in the different corners of the large classroom. It was the paper folding game. 

• Initially the students were intentionally given vague instruction on folding the sheets of paper and tearing off the corners. 
• The results were highly variable, we got as many as 5 separate designs with each design taking not more than a frequency of 3. 
• The high variability in designs progressively got reduced from 5 to 4 to 3 as I gave more detailed instructions to the volunteers in different stages of the game. The students and volunteers were eagerly waiting to see what would happen next
• Finally in the last and fifth stage the volunteers were clearly explained the terminology, what was meant by corners, edges, long edge, short edge etc and when the instructions were properly given, all the 8 volunteers gave an identical uniform design, ie. zero variability.
• This led to high uniformly consistent quality of output

The learning from the game was that if proper Standard Operating Procedure is given and followed by the workers  (if all the terminology in the SOP is properly understood by the workers), 

• there is very less probability of workers committing mistakes errors or defects
• all the output will be similar with zero variability, leading to high quality uniform output 
• zero costs are incurred for rectifying defects, leading to high profitability
• uniformity in output leads to great customer acceptance and satisfaction
• high customer satisfaction leads to repeat orders and business growth 

There was no other way to practically demonstrate to the students other than through this practical insightful simple game on how SOPs can bring quality to the process and enhance customer satisfaction.

George..