This is a diversion from the notes on Ben Zander’s Art of Possibility but since I have just seen it for the first time today, it’s worth a look as an imaginative way to present an argument succinctly.
How to communicate
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Category Archives: Technology
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
Social Media Realities
I found this one on the Herrmann International Blog with a reminder that we have to change our way of thinking about social media – and we also have to think about how it affects us personally. The growth rate portrayed here is interesting, but the presentation doesn’t even begin to think about what to do about it and its implications for education, society, economics and culture. Those aren’t part of the numbers game but they are the real challenges. If we let them simply wash over us we will have only ourselves to blame in terms of the consequences.
Back from Power Point World
I was surprised to see how long it has been since I posted last. Three trips in a few weeks will do that to you – and since they involved traveling coast to coast to do presentations at three major conferences, I have been preoccupied with getting there, being there, and catching up in between.
What happened? While these are governing bodies, the majority of their time was taken up with presentations from a national level like my own rather than decision making. And all of them relied heavily on Microsoft’s ubiquitous product. One of the things that amuses me is that these offerings are always called “Power Point Presentations” or even “Power Points” – never just “presentations”. They actually assume that the viewers are illiterate because a presenter virtually always reads the entire contents of each slide. Let’s imagine the same thing happening with documents or spreadsheets. The new scenario is “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am now going to proceed to read aloud to you an entire Word document of 20 pages which you already have on the screen in front of you”. Or even better, “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, I am now going to read aloud an Excel spreadsheet,line by line, which you can also follow along on the screen”. Still awake?
Another thing was curious. About 100 people flew or drove to Cochrane, – a northern Ontario town with a population of 5,200 people in Northern Ontario – home of the Polar Bear Museum and some wonderful conference volunteers. The first morning watched an hour long video and viewed the talking heads of several people – nearly all of whom were already in the room. This was supposed to be background on some of the issues to be addressed. But if it were background, why didn’t it get sent out to watch in advance on You Tube? The conference planners were adamant that this was to be a green conference where they would not send any printed documentation and instead they put everything on the website. But just about everyone present had printed it out themselves. Great cost savings but poor end results. We’re still in our infancy in thinking through the use of technology.
