Shipulski On Design

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Overall, our upward evolutionary spiral toward infinite productivity is a good thing. (More profit with less work – can’t argue with that.) And also good is our Darwinian desire to increase our chances of realizing profit by winding a thick cocoon of risk reduction around the work. But with our productivity helix comes a little […]

I used to believe in control, now I believe in trust. I used to believe in process, now I believe in judgment. I used to believe in WHAT and HOW, now I believe in WHO and WHY. I used to believe in organizational structure, now I believe in personal relationships. I used to believe in […]

The system is big and complex and its output is outside your control. Trying to control these outputs is a depressing proposition, yet we’re routinely judged (and judge ourselves) on outputs.  I think it’s better to focus on system inputs, specifically your inputs to the system. When the system responds with outputs different than desired, […]

There are a lot of complex self-help programs out there to help us reach our potential. These programs are designed to take us to the next level by building on what we have. And they do help. But implicitly the programs assume we’ve got a foundation in place and it’s solid enough to stand on. […]

Not Invented Here (NIH) is ever-present and misunderstood. An operational definition of NIH: Group 1 creates new thinking that falls within the official domain of Group 2. When presented with the new thinking, Group 2 rejects it. It is said Group 2 rejects new thinking because they’re threatened.   But that’s too high level to be […]

Independence for a country is about choice. A country wants to be able to make choices to better itself, to control its own destiny. A country wants to feel like it has freedom to do what it thinks is right. Hopefully, a country thinks it’s a good to provide for its citizens in a long […]

As a subject matter expert (SME), you have more power than you think, and certainly more than you demonstrate. As an SME, you have special knowledge. Looking back, you know what worked, what didn’t, and why; looking forward, you know what should work, what shouldn’t, and why.  There’s power in your special knowledge, but you […]

Some ideas are so powerful they change you. More precisely, some ideas are so powerful you change your beliefs to fit them. These powerful ideas come in two strains: those that already align with your beliefs and those that contradict. The first strain works subtly. While you think on the idea, your beliefs test it […]

If I was a company, the first thing I’d do is invest in my engineering teams. But not for the reasons we normally associate with engineering. Not for more function and features, not for product robustness, not technology, and not patents. I would invest in engineering for increased profits. When it comes to their engineering […]

Creating new products that provide a useful function is hard, and insuring they function day-in and day-out is harder.  Plain and simple, engineering is hard. Planes must fly, cars must steer, and Velcro must stick. But, at every turn, there are risks, reasons why a new design won’t work, and it’s the engineer’s job to […]

We are responsible for our actions, for what we do, for our work, and others are responsible for their response to it. (That’s why they call it responsibility.) Though we know we can’t control others, we still snare ourselves in worry trap: What will they think? Will they like it? What will they say? Worse […]