Shipulski On Design

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

When was the last time you:

a

Did real kid stuff with kids?

Got real dirt on your knees?

Went for a walk, simply to walk?

Went outside and counted the stars?

Shut your eyes and listened to birds?

Spent seven days with just your spouse?

Traveled to meet an old friend face-to-face?

Sat quietly in your favorite spot for an hour?

a

What does that say?

The to-do list, whether digital or analog, we’ve all got ‘em.  We cross things off and put things on (mostly the latter); the list evolves – it’s a living thing.We put energy into adding things, tasks, action items. (You can’t go to a meeting without collecting one of them.)

But most telling to me are the tasks that stay on week-on-week, the carry-over tasks. We never do them, but we never take them off the list. What are they? Why don’t we do them? Why don’t we just take them off the list?

For tasks we complete, the fundamental motivating force is fear, fear of not getting them done, the consequences of failure.  The deal is clear: we don’t complete the task, and something bad will happen to us. We know what will happen to us if we fail, we know the consequences of failure.

But the carry-over task is altogether a different beast.  It’s an uncompleted task where the fundamental motivating force is still fear, but this time it’s the fear of getting them done, the consequences of success.  The deal is absolutely unclear: we complete the task, and something good will happen to us.  Though, this time we don’t know what will happen to us if we succeed, we don’t know the consequences of success.

With the carry-over task, we must supply our own motivation, our own energy, to overcome the consequences of something good happening to us us.  Strange, but true.

With success comes visibility; with visibility comes judgement; with judgement comes fear, fear of being un-liked. We will be seen for what we are, and we’re afraid of what people will think.  Some won’t like us, and that’s scary.

The fear of success is real, and it’s a tough nut. Some many not want to crack it, and that’s okay. For those that do, consider this: today, as you are, some don’t like you, so how could success be worse? With success, at least they’ll know why they don’t like you: because you succeeded.

Japan, may you find the strength to move forward.

If you do one thing, click this link. (Or the graphic itself.)  Please.  You’ll be sent to a page where you can watch an animation of US job losses.  I was debilitated after watching the implosion.

Here’s how I reacted to the animation:

Disbelief.  No way.  Not real.  I checked the data.  It’s real.

Fear. Look what happened to my country!

Anger. Why isn’t everyone talking about this?  Why aren’t we doing something about this?  Why are we saying the economy is on the mend?  That’s crap, I-want-to-get-reelected type crap. (To be clear, I think great progress has been made.) Truth is it cannot be mended with the current approach.  It cannot.  If possible at all, it will take a borderline-Draconian approach, where cuts are made and taxes are raised to radically fund innovation, technology, and manufacturing. (Think energy, energy, energy.)  Reinvestment in ourselves.

Sadness.  Our lifestyle, as we know it, is over. The American Way has imploded; we just don’t have the courage to face it yet.

Sadness. This is not good for my kids. (And that’s when I changed my thinking.)

Hope. We can do something about this. It will be exceedingly difficult, but we can do it.  We’re smart enough.  We’ll have to make hard choices, choices where we get less and pay more – a net reduction in our standard of living. It will take sacrifice, real sacrifice.  Sacrifice at the standard of living level, sacrifice inline with WWII-caliber, go-without sacrifice.  Sacrifice to free up radical amounts of money to invest in our country, in our innovation, in our technology, and in ourselves.  I’m talking about self-investment at levels that make the Apollo Program look like chump change, self-investment that makes the war look like a bargain. The toughest part, however, is how to elect politicians on a platform of get less and pay more, a platform of sacrifice, of tough choices.  I’m not talking about talking about tough choices, but actually making tough choices, choices for the common good. I’m talking about a platform that demands true, unselfish behavior by all.

Action.  I will write to raise awareness. I will post to raise awareness.  I will tweet to raise awareness.  I will speak (if not yell) to raise awareness. I will continue to educate on how to fix it. I will reach out to people who can make a difference.  I will pester them.  I will pester them again.  For my kids and yours, I will not give up.

What will you do?

Starting today I will be sending out a daily tweet (five per week.)  I’ll comment on interesting web content or send a short thought.  The content will be in line with my blog posts — innovation, product development, the economy, people, and teams.

To follow me on Twitter and receive my daily tweets, click this link – @MikeShipulski.  Or, click on the small Twitter icon just above my head.

Please forward this note to those that may want to get my tweets.

Mike

A Jobs Page was recently added.   Check it out. (click this link)

Only a handful of jobs now, but more to come.   Send a job description or a link to your jobs and they’ll get posted.  No fee.

Since most folks that visit the website do engineering, product development, and innovation, the Jobs Page is limited to Engineering/Product Development/Innovation  jobs.

Please forward the free Job Page to those you think may be interested.

Best,

Mike

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

Successful Design For Assembly

Each company works with design for assembly (DFA) methods for different reasons. Some companies want to take cost out of their products, some want to make more products in their factories, and some want to simplify the product to increase quality and reliability.

In a growing market, a company wants to reduce labor content to get more products through the factory and to meet demand without adding assembly workers. In a growing market, a company also wants to reduce the floor space required to meet demand without building another factory. Read the rest of this entry »