Innovation

It is June 29th, 2007, however this is not another blog entry about the iPhone.

This week I was clicking through a presentation on ITIL v3 from the ITIL V3 Global Road Show and paused on a section discussing the importance of design.  If you've been reading my blog at all since I started writing well over a year ago, you will know I am a big fan of design and simplicity. There are some great quotes on one slide (64):

“Design is so critical it should be on the agenda of every meeting in every single department.” -- Tom Peters
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” -- Steve Jobs

“Good design is the most important way to differentiate ourselves from our competitors.” -- Samsung CEO Yun Jong Yong

“Your products run for election every day and good design is critical to winning the campaign.” -- Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley

“Design's fundamental role is problem solver” -- Fast Company

Design may not be the first thing that engineers think about, but iit is a characteristic that many if not most innovative companies share. I read this article in Business Week about Steve Job's central and very personal role in Apple's successful design-driven business strategy.  Click the link on BusinessWeek/Boston Consulting Group's list of The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies, and you will see many names that I have referenced in this blog: Apple, Toyota, Microsoft, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, IKEA … The article quotes designer  Thomas Meyerhoffer (who evidently designed the Apple Attachmate PDA??) who makes clear that Apple’s success is “about the whole experience, the whole interface.” The article rightly reasserts that "good design is not just skin deep". The 'interface' is not just a screen, it is really spans all points of interaction with customers.

PS - Check out Meyerhoffer’s surfboards.