Tom Peters and Thoughts on Design

Tom Peters has an outstanding post outlining 67 random thoughts on design. I have admired the deliberate way in which Tom uses language from the very beginning of his career. The words we use matter. Words are powerful. As my spiritual upbringing taught me, thoughts are even more powerful than words.

Loving, compassionate, caring thoughts, when harnessed and shared through inspiring and empowering words, can move to a positive transformation. Words can sometimes betray thoughts, too. However, I have often found that it does not occur at random, it happens by choice - by design. The problems I (and I am sure many others) have been experiencing with TypePad for the past two plus weeks, are also occurring as a result of design decisions.

The teams at Technorati, Twitter, and now LinkedIn have all made design decisions that are impacting the function of those sites/services now. There is a reason why we all so like the quote: "if you build it, they will come" in Field of Dreams - it was a design decision that provided the theater for the events that followed. Design permeates everything: design of work, design of team, design of community - design of life.

How do we approach the design of conversations, actions, experiences? Do we let our need to leave an imprint rule the specs? Do we test, fail, learn, implement with others? As you think of that, let me build on a couple of Tom's thoughts:

• "It" works only if it is "a way of life." (Apple. BMW. Cirque du Soleil. Starbucks.)
• "Design-mindfulness." (Design-mindfulness is a universally shared attitude.) The tone, the pitch, the non verbals, the experience, all contribute.
• "It" does not work if it is a "program"! It most definitely is not going to be a campaign. However, if you need to start somewhere, do start by willing to make it an aspirational goal. Be serious about it.
• Don't try to "engineer it"—there is an essential "spontaneity" dimension. (Southwest Airlines.) It starts with that soft stuff called culture. That is not only your company's environment, it is also your personality, what comes across. You can help it change.
• "It" starts with the vendors and the vendors' vendors—and especially includes packaging and delivery folks. (And parking lot attendants. Think Disney and the gum-free Orlando airport.) Obsess about the details. Every single thing is a clue.
• IT IS NOT ABOUT "MARKETING"! (Though marketing is a piece of it—like everything else.) It most definitely is everyone's job.
• Capturing "best practice" only goes so far. Design is a decision made at every level, every moment, in everything you do - and are.

How do you design a life that works?

Comments

[Austin White]

Valeria -
Great post on design. Good design is so important - great design I think should not even feel like an effort was made, it should be natural

[Steve Woodruff]

VM - it seems to me that design starts with a vision - there needs to be a picture in the mind of whomever is leading the charge, and a determination to "get there." Many drift with the tide or just accept what is, but a designer of anything (life, website, product) is always seeing what is not yet.

[jkh]

bright thoughts oby tp.
here are my favourites:

**Beware of engineers! (Said with affection—I am one.) They (we!) are reductionists—design is about wholes. (!!!!!)

**Beware of MBAs (Said with no affection, even though I am one.) Analysis is imperative—but also reductionist. (!!!!!) In "real life," emotion rules—but not at the B-schools!
**"Six Sigma" can be a deadly enemy. (Tighten down too hard—bye bye creativity-spontaneity.)
...
**And don't ignore the subway map. (Think London.)
**Or the public toilets. (Think Paris.)

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Austin - I like the play off your name in the blog, very inventive! It sounds like you don't follow the herd. The best designs are the simplest.

@Steve - what a nice way of putting it, thank you. One of my early teachers when describing the work of Michelangelo, used to say that he could feel the form inside the marble. Then he would just carve out the excess material. That is vision.

@Jens - I thought you might find several nuggets there. Tom Peters can be so incisive with his passion. He's not afraid to use exclamation points, all caps, bolds, and he does so like a maestro.

[jkh]

"...and he does so like a maestro."
-
yes he does.

...found several. - thanks to your lead.

[Jé Maverick]

I don't have anything meaningful to add to the conversation, but I love that description of Michelangelo 's vision so much that I needed to say so. Thanks, Valeria. :)