Category Archives: planning

Rule #6

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Rule number sis I’ll won’t comment on the length of time between posts and just get on with Ben Zander’s next chapter. It’s called Rule Number Six.

He relates the story of the company president who asked interrupting employees to remember this rule. A visitor was impressed and asked what it was. The president replied ” Don’t take yourself so g-damn seriously” The visitor thought this was an excellent rule and wondered what the others were “There aren’t any!’ came the reply.

It’s a good reminder for all of us. We become wrapped up in our own worlds, taking offence when we are interrupted or when our views meet disagreement head on. Many years ago I worked for a president who took herself very seriously. The issue was a name change of a choral organization and the discussion had gone on much too long. We were looking at the acronym since all organizations seem to like calling themselves by their initials. Ontario Choral Association sounded too much like the Ontario College of Art. Ontario Association of Choirs sounded too much like the funding body, Ontario Arts Council. A wag at the other end of the table started circulating a memo by hand and each reader collapsed into repressed giggles. It finally came to me and I did the same. I was sitting beside the president who was in the chair. Should I pass it on? I did – and the discussion ended. The suggestion was “Federation of Upper Canada Choirs”.

Humour has a wonderful way of bringing us back to earth. In any discussion our over-involvement in our own immediate perspective can work against us. Rule #6 can help us with that.

Kinect – and the HBDI

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Before Microsoft could develop “Kinect Adventures,” the game that ships with Kinect for Xbox 360, it had to get innovative with its design process. For that, Microsoft Game Studios and the Good Science Studio team turned to Herrmann International’s Whole Brain® Thinking approach to assemble the right team, generate the best ideas and develop a product that would appeal to everyone, not just the traditional gamer audience.

“Microsoft’s goal was to create the Kinect pack-in title with broad appeal and something for everyone,” says Ann Herrmann-Nehdi, CEO of Herrmann International. “And in that way, it’s fitting that ‘Kinect Adventures’ is the first time a Whole Brain® framework and Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument® (HBDI®) data has been applied to the product development process from start to finish.”

“Based on the research, we know that innovative design requires a Whole Brain® process and team,” Herrmann-Nehdi says. “We also know that we live in a Whole Brained world. So if you want to appeal to a broad audience, you have to first understand how different people think.”

Shannon Loftis, head of the Good Science Studio, brought in Herrmann International consultants to work with the team as soon as the project began. To ensure all thinking styles were represented as they staffed up to meet development needs, the team was structured based on the results of the 120-question HBDI® assessment, which evaluates and describes the degree of preference individuals have for thinking in each of the four brain quadrants, as depicted by the Herrmann Whole Brain® Model.

The Whole Brain® Model also served as a filter for evaluating every aspect of the game as it was being developed. During the consumer testing phase, the team used criteria based on the each of the thinking styles (analytical, organized, interpersonal and strategic) to make sure the activities and game elements would have broad appeal.

“Our research has shown that you can use clues to diagnose the thinking styles of potential customers and then identify product features and benefits that will appeal to different preferences,” Herrmann-Nehdi says. “The development of ‘Kinect Adventures’ is a great example because they took this approach and used it to produce something that really is for everyone.”

Microsoft Game Studios believes that from the way “Kinect Adventures” was designed to the features it showcases, the Whole Brain® Thinking approach helped them create entertainment for a Whole Brained consumer base, just as intended.

Herrmann International is the originator of Whole Brain® Technology and the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument® (HBDI®). Founded in 1981 on research into how thinking preferences can affect performance, the company develops Whole Brain® products and solutions that help organizations better understand and engage internal and external customers, get more from their collective intelligence, and achieve a significant competitive advantage.

With Whole Brain® Thinking and the HBDI® – the highly validated assessment tool used by nine out of 10 of the Fortune 100 – clients gain a proven, practical method of harnessing the brainpower of the entire organization to improve productivity, creativity, teamwork, sales and other business results. Clients include American Express, BMW, Cisco, GE, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Shell Oil, US Navy and Wharton School of Business. More information: http://www.hbdi.com. You can also find out more about it at our website

Ready for Halloween?

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The folks at Herrmann International certainly are. Here is how your HBDI profile shapes up in terms of all four quadrants. Better get a little of all these quadrants into your preparaion whatever your actual thinking preferences. After all, the game is to use each one in the appropriate situation, and you will benefit from all of them.

NJA

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Robert Genn is a highly successful visual artist who has written a twice weekly newsletter for many years. Recently when he was painting on Moraine Lake in the Rockies, some American visitors noticed him and remarked that his style was very like the celebrated artist Robert Genn. Had he ever heard of him? Yes, he thought he had and actually thought he might still be alive.

But today in response to a visual artist who complained about her addiction to internet images, he offers some advice for artists of life as well as other media:

“It’s all about procrastination. Hanging out at a cabaret or hanging on to a computer, artists will do anything to avoid going to their room and going to work. Fear of failure and fear of success are just two of the issues that lead to escapism. With the quality and variety on the Internet, today’s painters face a hazard like never before.

Net Junkies are the new alcoholics. Artists who allow the Internet to take them where it will, throw in the towel of creative individualism. Too much non-directed exposure to the work of others humbles, discourages, and sullies our own best efforts. The result, if you stay at it long enough, can be rudderless dilettantism. But there’s help. It’s called NJA.

Net Junkies Anonymous knows that artists procrastinate in the name of research. They get hooked. The solution is to make research a process-driven activity. It starts with the easel station. Attend to your easel before you go near your machine. As you think of your needs, put notes beside your easel. Let your work tell you what you need to study. When the time is appropriate, take your list to the machine. Be efficient and cagey. The Internet is a great slave but also a cunning master. You have to go there on your own terms.”

And yes, of course I allow Robert’s regular communications to enter my world. But it is very rare when they are not worthwhile. You can catch him at the Painters Keys or on Facebook.

Hyper-thinking

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One of my favourite images of the year is one a padded post – to keep smart phone users from bumping into it and banging their heards. I have no idea whether it has been staged, – purportedly it exists in London England, but it strikes me as a great message for how we are evolving.

Ann Herrmann CEO of Herrmann International uses it as an example of what she calls Hyper-Thinking, – multi-tasking to the extent that we lose all contact with the real world of which we are a part. I see it in my children and grandchildren. I see it in myself from time to time.

Stanford University researchers confirm that multi-taskers perform much more poorly than they think.

The solutions

– Face the fact that complex issues need focused attention
– Plan time to work without interruption; schedule such time and commit to it
– Recognize that your own experience may provide as many insights as Google and let nature influence you at least as much as technology
- Try doodling as an alternative to surfing ( incidentally Mind Mapping with images is a great form of doodling)

Ann also recommends Herrmann International’s Thinking Magnet. It looks like a great tool. More on that later.