During the Final Four I want to look up rosters, etc while sprawled out on my couch… without a laptop. I thought my BB would make a good input device while using my wifi ipod touch as the browser.
Why? Not a huge fan of navigating sites on the ipod, plus two hands are too many when remotes and beer are involved.
Challenge: Mod the PodBerry in time for this weekend… any takers?
Here’s a handful of books I would recommend to people who like making stuff (w/ links to Amazon):
P.S. I also read two Jimmy Buffet books, two Harry Potter books and Einsten’s Dreams - which might also help you make stuff.
Friends and family often ask “So, what do you do?” “I make Internet,” I tell them. I usually explain how I lead Teams to create interactive web and mobile products for consumers. I use examples like the IM and email products they use everyday. I mention that when buttons are clicked something needs to happen and I’m one the people who helps make those products work.
“Oh, so you’re a web designer,” they reply.
Well, I used to design back in my agency days. I even made bad products look good. After a while, I decided that it might better to focus on making products work so people would enjoy using them. Then things got fun!
Every couple of months or so I document how things are getting made. Products get built differently everywhere you go. Start-ups will build products in a way that’s different than established companies. I don’t think there’s a wrong way to Make Internet so long as you’re thinking and you’ve got a plan. Once you’ve done one or the other, tell somebody.
And no, you won’t need a fancy PowerPoint before you share. That can be a big problem that’s better to get over sooner than later. Since most of the time we’re wrong it’s better to get ideas out in the open sooner to get feedback followed by constant recalibration. If you’re not getting your ideas out early and often enough because you’re preparing a presentation or some big meeting, you’re only increasing the time of each feedback cycle.
What to do? Draw. Then give your drawing to somebody smarter than you (make a copy first). Don’t go to your buddies with ideas because they like you and they’ll want to like your idea too. Go to other folks and get a nice cross-sample of opinions. 2 or 3 should do the trick. Think my plan looks good? No problem, use my plan.
So my idea that I got feedback on was about a way to get ideas out? Exactly. Now you’ve got a plan for how to execute on your ideas. As easy as it is to say to your company, “Hey, why don’t we do something like this?”, you’ll have a lot more credibility when you understand all of the moving parts needed to make things happen.
This is just the beginning of course. I hope to use Make Innovation as a forum for figuring out how to best make stuff, then make it better. In future entries, it’ll be fun to continue down the road of product development to see what we can come up with.
P.S. The items under ‘Products’ will be completed in the coming weeks. This will showcase a handful of products I’ve been fortunate enough to build.
