Shipulski On Design

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When you want to figure out what’s next, show customers what’s possible.  This is much different than asking them what they want.  So, don’t do that.  Instead, show them a physical prototype or a one-page sales tool that explains the value they would realize. When they see what’s possible, the world changes for them.  They […]

Good teachers change your life.  They know what you know and bring you along at a pace that’s right for you, not too slowly that you’re bored and not too quickly that your head spins. And everything they do is about you and your learning.  Good teachers prioritize your learning above all else. Chris Brown […]

When you want someone to understand your new idea, draw a picture for yourself. Set the constraint that you cannot use words on the page.  Shapes, arrows, cartoons – yes.  Words – no.  Once you’re convinced your one-pager captures your idea, set another constraint.  When you show your picture to someone, you cannot speak.  Your […]

For the past two decades, I’ve actively developed engineering leaders.  A good friend asked me how I do it, so I took some time to write it down.  Here is the curriculum in the form of How Tos: How to build trust.  This is the first thing.  Always.  Done right, the trust-based informal networks are […]

Supply chains have taken it on the chin, first from COVID-19 and now from tariffs (or the threat of them).  For the second time in several years, we have objective evidence there is more to a supply chain than implementing the lowest-cost way to meet predictable demand. Tariffs have highlighted the cost of an inflexible […]

Anyone can create a presentation with thirty slides, but it takes a rare bird to present for thirty minutes with a single slide. With thirty slides you can fully describe the system.  With one slide you must know what’s important and leave the rest.  With thirty slides you can hide your lack of knowledge.  With […]

Product simplification can radically improve profits and radically improve product robustness.  Here’s a graph of profit per square foot ($/ft^2) which improved by a factor of seven and warranty cost per unit ($/unit), a measure of product robustness), which improved by a factor of four.  The improvements are measured against the baseline data of the […]

It’s not possible until you demonstrate it. It can’t be done until you show it being done. It won’t work until you make it work. It must be done using the standard process until you do it a much better way. It’s required until you violate the requirement and everything is fine. It’s needed until […]

Demoing something for the first time is difficult, but doing it for the second time is easy.  And when you demo a new solution the first time, it (and you) will be misunderstood. What is the value of this new thing?  This is a good question because it makes clear they don’t understand it. After […]

When you do something for a long time, the physical and mental muscles you exercise get stronger and you get better at that activity.  But where the muscles you use get stronger, the ones you don’t use atrophy and you get worse at all the other things. When you do something for a long time, […]

Here are the top blog posts (in descending order) from the previous twelve months.  The short descriptions give some context for the posts and my intentions for writing them. Thanks for reading. Mike   When You Have Enough… The post describes behaviors that demonstrate you have enough and the benefits of having enough.  And it […]