Design Thinking Notes

Solving a problem depends on the context in how we think about it.

Engineer Thinking

Engineers solve tame problems with clear, repeatable solutions. Today's solutions solve tomorrow's problems. Engineer thinking starts with a conclusion and then works backwards.

Business Thinking

Business problems don't necessarily have a right or wrong answer, so the goal of business thinking is optimization... increasing revenue, reach, or profitability is the goal.

Research Thinking

Research thinking involves analysis by starting with a premise and then thin slicing it down.

Design Thinking

Design thinking solves wicked problems. The criteria for success is unclear and constantly changing. You won’t know you've reached the right answer until you found it and you can’t reuse it again. These tend to be inherently human problems.

Design Thinking Solves Wicked Problems

iPhone 13 Pro Order Experience

It has been many years since I ordered a new Apple product on launch day. My old iPhone was long in the tooth and the camera on the iPhone 13 Pro is a perfect reason to upgrade. So, I pre-ordered my iPhone, yesterday, and then set this morning's alarm for 4:40 AM PDT.

Yesterday's pre pre-ordering yielded nothing since it couldn't be found, this morning. So, I went ahead and started an entirely new order.

There were plenty of reports from people who couldn't use their Apple Card to make the purchase. Although this wasn't as bad as the iPhone 4 launch disaster, it was still a significant cause of concern since the Apple Card will give you back 3% as cash when you use it for online Apple orders.

After my order was placed with a confirmed delivery date of next Friday, I made multiple attempts to change my credit card payment from my debit card to my Apple Card. That was not a fun experience.

The first CSR I spoke to was amazingly helpful, but she just didn't have the capability, in her system, to make the adjustment for me. She recommended calling back later when my order had moved to the next step, after processing the initial authorization.

About an hour later, I called back. The CSR I spoke to told me that changing payment options wasn't possible. She said that I'd have to cancel my order and reorder the new iPhone 13. That was obviously not an option because I wasn't willing to wait an additional three weeks due the delay from all the orders that had stacked up since the time I had originally placed my order.

Then I tried something that has always worked for me: tweeting to @AppleSupport. Unfortunately, this was the one time they couldn't help me.

Next, I texted Apple via Messages. They recommended that I call Customer Service specialist at 1-800-676-2775. That did the trick. I could immediately tell that the CSR I was speaking with was highly energized and engaged in solving my problem which only took about five minutes. Persistence pays off.

9/11: The Last Thing I Remember

RADM Craig Quigley, Pentagon Spokesperson on 9/11

A key physiological trigger to memory recall is adrenaline which is why people remember exactly where they were on 9/11. Remembering much of anything else, just prior to hearing the news of the attacks, is difficult.

The last thing I remember before hearing the news of the 9/11 attacks was how beautiful of day that late summer Tuesday morning was. I was living in Northern Virginia, a couple miles from Dulles Airport, where American Airlines 77 departed from and crashed into the Pentagon, about 20 miles away. I had just taken my four month old puppy out for a walk and vowed that I could go for a run at lunch because it was too perfect of a day to not do that. But that never happened. After walking my dog, I was working out with the radio on when I heard that a plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers. My initial thought was it was a small plane that inadvertently hit the building much like a B-25 that crashed into the Empire State Building in the summer of 1945. As the news reports continued to flow in I turned on the TV and never left my house for the rest of the day.

Exactly one week earlier, my boss and I were driving to a client site at the Navy Yard, in Washington, DC. We both grew up in New York and, as we drove pass the Pentagon on SR 110, we pondered the question, "Which office building was bigger, the Twin Towers or the Pentagon?" Obviously, we wouldn't have reached our destination if that meeting were scheduled on 9/11, due to the mayhem.