Listening to: Gangland - Iron Maiden

I have been reading The Elegant Solution: Toyota’s Formula for Mastering Innovation - a book about the innovation process they use at Toyota. The book is overflowing with great lessons about a very pragmatic and sustainable innovation process.

One of the things that I found most interesting was the parallel between the Toyota process and the current thinking in software development - that you get something out there and then you iterate and iterate. In the language of the book… you avoid the temptation of trying to hit for the fence, but rather you build a game of single runs. One doesn’t look so flashy, but in the end it is far more sustainable.

It is always reassuring to see a MO replicated in very separate industry.

Listening to: Nothing - Paul McLaney

Found this over at Salon:

…the 10 executives, representing major utilities, aluminum and chemical companies and financial institutions, said mandatory reductions are needed and that “the cornerstone of this approach” should be a cap-and-trade system.

The officials, expected to elaborate on their plan at a news conference later Monday, include the chief executives Alcoa Inc., PB America Inc., DuPont Co., Caterpillar Inc., General Electric Co., and Duke Energy Corp.

Listening to: Running Up That Hill - Kate Bush

I am a huge fan of Parallels… it has transformed the way I look at computing. This CNNMoney article has some really interesting background info about the company.

Listening to: Postcard - Zillionaire

Last year I had some close dealings with a holder of some massive directory properties. These guys had this glint in their eyes when ever they talked about their directories. In the context of their portfolio and it’s other constituents this was a real education. It showed me how valuable these companies are. These are super valuable assets that provide long-term strategic advantage. I’m glad that Rod has spoken out about how foolish the sale of the NZ Yellow Pages is.

Listening to: Minority Report - Jay-Z Feat. Ne-Yo

David Sobotta’s essays on Apple makes for a good Apple reality check every now and again. His latest post is on the current options problem and how certain attitudes at Apple are encouraged.

Listening to: See - The Kleptones

Well one of the joys at least, is that it doesn’t feel bad when you’re told that you really don’t know what your talking about.

After months of navel gazing and prevarication R&D (it was actually very very productive time… but fighting the desire to BUILD really got to me sometimes) we have gotten to the very exciting logo stage. We’re really fortunate to have a designer who has been responsible for one of my favorite NZ brands doing our work. He presented the design to us last week and I rapidly fell in love with it. Towards the end of the meeting I foolishly (you know… one of those moments where you know stupid words are about to come out of your mouth) requested a change. I was politely told that I wasn’t the designer.

Sometimes your own advice is the hardest to take…

Listening to: Rosa Parks - Outkast

… it now provides free wifi. Thank goodness! Apparently we have Sam Morgan to thank. In which case… thanks Sam.

Listening to: Ready For Love [2000] - India.Arie

The WSJ has a great interchange between Dave Winer and Robert Scoble. Their topic of discussion is MS and whether or not it can innovate. Both have some really great points - it is well worth a read.

My take… Microsoft does innovate, but rarely delights - meaning that people often discount their innovations.

Listening to: New World In My View [2005] - King Britt

In April I posted about the idea of using tradition wrapping techniques to reduce waste. The Japanese Ministry of the Environment also posted a Furoshiki instructional document:

When you look at how prevalent those awful pink bags (I forget the name of the shop… some horridly generic girls clothing store here in NZ and Aust)… you can see that this sort of thing, if done right, has global applicability.

src: Make:Blog

Listening to: Before The Breakthrough - The Mutton Birds

This will be well worth keeping an eye on: http://www.xero.com/