9 things i've learned since uni

Howdy...

Wednesday, 3 March 2010

I’m a former student of Prof Norman McNally


I live...


here.


which is about...


hereWednesday, 3 March 2010

or here.


but more importantly...


it’s near...


here.


So I work from...


here


or here


Or kinda fromanywhere really...


What do I do?


My job title iskinda hard towork out...


Basically...


I help start& overseebusinesses


as a way to get good ideas out there.


But more onthat later...


For now...


I’d like togo back


to when I wasin shoes similar

to yours...


I’ll talk through


some of thejourney since


as a way to share


some of my learning


hoping to


spark


insight


that will mean this is time well enough spent


This won’t be:


This won’t be:• Heavily Structured


This won’t be:• Heavily Structured• With Bullet Points


This won’t be:• Heavily Structured• With Bullet Points• And 3 key take homes


Instead,I’m hoping for...


moreof

a

ramble


with a l o o s e vibe.


More of anapproach


rather than aresult


I’m calling it:


9thingsI’ve

unilearned

since


So, uni...


I started in:


I started in:

IndustrialDesign


Planning to add:

IndustrialDesign

MechanicalEngineering+


But then...

IndustrialDesign

MechanicalEngineering+


…my uni pinched an idea from Glasgow:


…my uni pinched an idea from Glasgow:

Product DesignEngineering


So I swapped to that.


So I was doing uni...


...and it’s kinda slow


(not manyProf. McNally’s)


So I start freelancing


Logos


Logos

for friendsWednesday, 3 March 2010

Logos

for friendsor friends of friends, or friends of friends of friends...


Products


Products

(for family)


Products

(for free)


Products(or almost free)


Products


Which brings me tolearning #1


1. Learn to fail quickly(& cheaply)


They were small projects



For people that knew me



For people that knew me

Or that I started for free


So they couldn’t break me


How did I go?


Only OK


I wasn’t as good asI wanted to be


So I shipped myself off...


...to GlasgowWednesday, 3 March 2010

(that’s how we picture you guys down there…)


Glasgow School of ArtWednesday, 3 March 2010

GSA product design course had a good

reputation


Which was where I met Prof McNally


Who taught me #2...


2. It’s the questionthat matters


“The mere formulationof a problem is far

more essential than it’s solution,

which may be merely a matter of

mathematical or experimental skills”-Albert Einstein


Engineers are generally great problem solvers.


It’s why engineering is the most common

undergrad degree forFortune 500 CEO’s


But we’re generally not as good at problem defining


I’d thought I was going to Glasgow to learn

‘Design’


And instead, I had myfirst real taste of...


Marketing


Marketing

(although I don’t think Prof McNally would call it that)


The majority ofeach project...


was spent learning how to ask the right question.


We would pullmarkets apart


Looking at themfrom multiple angles


Watching users


Becoming the user


Experimenting on users


And even talking tothem on occasion


Trying to gain...


insight


That others have missed


Now this might be old hat to you guys…


but for a convictfrom down under,it was kinda new…


Like Nits


Or Fruit(my first project back in Oz)


I loved this approach


In fact, thinking about Drucker now...


“Marketing is the whole business seen from the

customer’s point of view”-Peter Drucker


I realised that all projects,


whether engineering, design or business,


should begin with marketing.


So after a year in Glasgow


Travelling loadsWednesday, 3 March 2010

Surfing most weekendsWednesday, 3 March 2010

No matter what the weatherWednesday, 3 March 2010

It was time to turn backWednesday, 3 March 2010

home to Oz


Bang out my last uni years


(trying lots of market maps...)Wednesday, 3 March 2010

Meet my future wife


Bust through some proper engineering work


Then think...


Ehhhh,enough of that


And decided to comeback to the UK...


because mydesign & marketing

skills were notup to scratch


My Glasgow friends had moved to London


So that’s wherewe made camp...


Started applying for jobs


...


And kept applying for jobs...


I couldn’t even get past the receptionists!


So I got a job at a hardware store


Which was around the corner from


Where I would hang at every chance


Soon the surf shop offered me a job


Which was more fun than the hardware store


I kept applying fordesign jobs


And finally got afoot in the door


via a guy a mate played soccer with...


at Industrial Facility


with Sam Hecht


a guy in lots ofdesign books


We did stuff for...


EpsonWednesday, 3 March 2010

MathmosWednesday, 3 March 2010

MagisWednesday, 3 March 2010

Whirlpool & MujiWednesday, 3 March 2010

We did ‘pure’ concepts


That were meant to help explore future directions

for these companies


I didn’t really dig it...


There weren’t enough constraints


It was moreartthan

design


Which helped me realise #3


3. Constraints help define your

opportunities


Constraints in the creative process


With a star designer...


I was working on art,not design (& was a long way from engineering).


All this while(churning out art that we called design)


I was still doing shifts at the surf shop...


trying not to go broke.


There’s some downtime in a surf shop


So I’d try & makestuff for them


Because it was no longer just a sales guy’s

opinion,


now it was an official poster on choosing the

right board for you,


board sales grewaround 900%


It was a fun place to play


After a year...


We got jack of London


So camehome to Oz


I’d done the engineering


I’d done the ‘design’


And I’d realised a core truth...


4. “Life isn’t about finding yourself.

Life is about creating yourself.”

-George Bernard Shaw


I was evolving a better vision of what

I wanted to be...


And it was incomplete.


I wanted to understandthe complete business

process,


and ‘desire’(brands & marketing)

is where I was weakest.


So that was enough of an excuse to...


move to Torquay!Wednesday, 3 March 2010

It was either


It was either

or


I chose Rip Curl for 2 reasons...


1. More Techie (I’m still an engineer)


1. More Techie (I’m still an engineer)

2. Seemed to need more help


I approached, interviewed, was passed on to other managers, interviewed

again...


They liked me, but couldn’t work out the best spot...


The thing they liked most?


My fruit chart


They thought I might help them

think more clearly.


With no perfect openings...


They offered me a low paid accessory

designer role


Which I jumped at!


Hats, belts,jocks & socks...


...I was in.


4 seasons a year


4 seasons a year70 odd products a season


4 seasons a year70 odd products a season

This was fast design


But a perfect way to discover...


5. The Feedback Loop


5. The Feedback Loop(Probably the single most under-

appreciated part o! almost every business)


Designing about 280 products a year,


which eithersold or bombed,


you could work things out pretty quickly...


...but most designers didn’t.


They designed,


then moved on.


They never monitored, reviewed, or debriefed.


Maybe they were worried it would expose a weakness


Or the fantasy just seemed nicer than the reality


But this is scary common


even with engineers.


...


While designing soft accessories, I was getting to know the

equipment guys


Spot


Grab


I was now aProduct Manager

(brand, business & product)


At that point, the division was a factory for

square school bags


Every type of square


Which to me,


seemed adisconnect with...


So that becameour new angle...


Get back toselling the dream


Which was when we hit our next stumbling block...


6. Asking customers is not enough


“If I had listened to my customers, I would have

given them a faster horse”-Henry Ford


The aim becomesto give customers

what they will value,rather than

what they ask for.


From sales reps to existing consumers...


They were asking for better square school bags


MORE sections


BIGGER zips


CHEAPER prices


Yet when I’d go on boat trips through Indo


Or jungle treks through Tahiti

(for research)


I’d watch surfers struggling with a crap pack


So we had to put new ideas in front of them,


& see what connected.


We made progress


Monitored the results


Evolved the offering


& repeated


Sales grew


quickly


Which let our team


Take on a more global role


We weren’t reallyasked to...


But it would let us get more volume behind

our ideas


Which then let us step it up again...


And marketing budget appeared...Wednesday, 3 March 2010

& we even got new titles


But in the surf game...


Bags & Equipmentare not exactly the

lead categories


Boardshortsare what get the love


When marketing a brand in tropical

locations


Boardshortsare often the only

visible product


But Rip Curl’s boardshorts had

stagnated


So I was asked to help out...


Injecting some brand values back in to them


Or as mateswould say...


The issue?


Once again, they had been building what the retailers were asking for,


rather than what the customers had not yet realised they wanted

(a much harder sell)


For most users...


They say the look is what matters


But with boardies,if there is no

functional underpinnings,


the look is undermined


So instead of just building

brighter basic boardies


We decided to tackle 3 key targets

we thought ourbrand could hit...


1. The Core surfer2. The aspiring surfer3. The fashion forward surfer (who we were totally missing)


1. The Core surfer2. The Aspiring surfer3. The fashion forward surfer (who we were totally missing)


1. The Core surfer2. The Aspiring surfer3. The Fashion surfer (who we were totally missing)


1. The Core Surfer High Price,High Performance


2. The Aspiring Surfer Fit, Details& Features


3. The Fashion Surfer Connect to creative cats


So here’s a favouritelesson of mine...


Coming in at #7...


7. Understand where your market is


Interestingly, boardies straddle all of these segments


Coresurfers

Averageconsumer

PublicPool


Or if you ain’t the big guy, look to redefine the performance axis


I love this conceptual map...


The way it makes you consider the most

relevant performance axis,


understand how well served the market is,


And consider if there is a chance to redefine the performance axis


...


So I’d got to play with all these areas


We’d got some awesome growth


Travelled the worldWednesday, 3 March 2010

Mixing work & playWednesday, 3 March 2010

(with lots of play)Wednesday, 3 March 2010

But it was feelinga little hollow


My learning had slowed


I was realising that my passion was to...


8. Work on Thinking, not on things


The world is not only changing...


It is changing faster


Accelerating change means...


The things you learn here will me mostly

outdated by the time you graduate


Hopefully the thinking will be your take out


You’ll havelearned to learn


“it is not the strongest species that survive,

nor the most intelligent, but the ones who are most responsive to change”

-Charles Darwin


So just overa year ago


I split Rip Curl


& started some businesses with2 other partners


We call it


It’s kind of abusiness incubator


Where we try to


build value


build valuefrom good ideas


These businesses span 3 areas that we

believe we have insights in...


1. Healthcare & Industrial products2. Web Space3. Step-Up brands


We try to build these businesses:

LeanAgile

& Flexible


Because we have realised a

fundamental truth...


9. The great ideas are usually only obvious in

hindsight


For all your planning, theories & efforts...


...you still usually get it wrong.


Then the little thing you never expected much of...


brings home the bacon.

www.smileyland.com


http://www.smileyland.com

http://www.smileyland.com

My favouriteexample of this...


is everyone’s favourite example of everything...


We all know it haschanged the worlds of Product, Marketing, Business & Brand


And we all knew it was always going to right...?


nope...


When you look in to it...


SEARCH IS COOKED!

Passed over by the bestVC firms in the game


While investorshad poured in to...


Apple’s NewtonWednesday, 3 March 2010

Multi billion dollar satellite phone systems


And American car companies


Great ideas are not obvious(except in hindsight)


So we try not topredict too much

(except in hindsight)


Instead,we build something

cheaply...(except in hindsight)


get it to market...(except in hindsight)


...and then start our real learning.



Learning strong theories is important...(except in hindsight)


But learning to execute well is a whole other game.



So we’re now in this fast learning phase



Making mistakes again(except in hindsight)


And getting some wins(except in hindsight)


We regularly measure, review, revise



And we record or best insights on a crazy

document we call the TOE(except in hindsight)


But that’s another talk...(except in hindsight)


The final thought I want to leave you with today...



Is more of a vibethan a theory



It’s guided by a thought that Seth Godin enunciated well



That when someone hires you or your company...



...it’s more aboutwhere you are going

rather thanwhere you have been



They want to feel that your bus is going somewhere great,



and that they have the chance to come along

for the ride...(except in hindsight)


Yet because you’re Scots(except in hindsight)


it’s all aboutunderstating that...(except in hindsight)


10. Under promise,over deliver(except in hindsight)


Put yourself in areas that you can get excited

about(except in hindsight)


And then get excited(that means work hard)


And then get excited(that means work really hard)


Bud Caddellshowed it well



when he adaptedGood To Great’s

Hedgehog(except in hindsight)


to be relevant for the individual...(except in hindsight)


If you’re working at the intersection of your...


Passion, profit & pride


You don’t need totalk it up.


People will know you’re on a great bus, going

somewhere fast.


I’m done...


Any questions...?


Or perhaps some silence...?


1. Learn to fail quickly2. It’s the question that matters3. Constraints help define your opportunities4. Life is creating yourself, not finding yourself5. The Feedback Loop6. Asking customers is not enough7. Understand where your market is at8. Work on thinking, not on things9. Great ideas are only obvious in hindsight

+10. Under promise, over deliver

9 things I’ve learned since uni


Or view the whole presentation at:http://www.slideshare.net/afallshaw


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9 things i've learned since uni

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