Anecdotes

A few illustrative experiences

Seeing the problem.

After working with a client and his contractor for a period of time on the development of a complex sensor system product, we were able to define an underlying problem that some felt could not be solved. Redefining the problem, I produced a rough, working solution. The contractor then created a more elegant solution. At a subsequent meeting of the client, contractor and me, the contractor nodded toward me and said, "What did we need him for? WE solved the problem." The client looked at me and smiled.
 

Recognizing what you already have.

A group within the US Air Force wished to develop a system of metadata populated with terms from complex vocabularies——called "taxonomies"—to label digital training resources so they could be discovered for reuse in courses. A group of subject matter experts from different areas were brought together to work on these problems. None of the participants was knowledgeable in the areas of metadata or taxonomies, nor was any attempt made to educate them in these areas to any depth greater than needed to address a concrete task. We defined a concrete task to frame the process of metadata and taxonomy development. In all cases we focused on definitions first, for example, what was the definition of each metadata field that they might find important? This definition expressed a concept. The name of the field, and its relationship to other fields followed. For the vocabularies several fields, taxonomies were needed. Using the concepts of each field, we could discuss what those vocabulary terms might be. To the surprise of all, we discovered that all of the major taxonomies already existed, although they were not referred to as such. The most difficult field, a comprehensive taxonomies of all subjects, was discovered by the participants: all agreed on the use of this pre-existing system, the "TO System," as a taxonomy. At the wrap up of the meeting, I mentioned how good it was that they had discovered this much needed taxonomy as already existing. One of the participants then said, "We knew the answer, you just weren’t asking the right question." For reference to the final report, see Papers
 

The right problem

A client called me, asking that I come in with my pad of paper and pen. They had a biomedical product with a disposable piece, to be used once and thrown away for each test that would be performed many times. The cost to manufacture each new disposable product was $2.10. They would not be able to market the product at that price. I studied the current manufacturing method, which was in a prototype stage; one step appeared to involve the most cost. I sketched out a machine to accomplish this step and oversaw its production. The cost per item dropped to $0.35.
 

Play it again

I was asked to develop a new concept for a histological product by a biomedical company. I went to the major trade show and subsequently performed a market survey in a number of laboratories and hospitals. I made a patent search to ensure originality. I developed a new product concept and a report with its market impact that I presented to the client's board of directors. They were all enthuse about the product, but its development cost exceeded the current budget. A few months later the client asked me to develop a new product concept filling the same need. The new concept was not to involve any of the concepts from the first product idea (for intellectual property rights considerations). Again, I developed a new product concept that performed many of the functions of the first product, used less expensive regent, and was less expensive to develop and manufacture. Working with the client, we developed a prototype that successfully demonstrated the product concept.