💬 UXD Quote #4

“A well-designed product isn’t well designed if the process needed to manufacture it is unrealistic or uneconomical.”

Matthew Frederick 

A brilliantly conceived alternative-fuel vehicle will not succeed without the design and implementation of a refuelling infrastructure over a large geographic area. A cleverly resolved construction detail isn’t clever if it doesn’t leave room for a construction worker to manipulate the tools needed to construct it. A bridge pier that’s well engineered won’t be built without also engineering a process to excavate earth and pour concrete in the middle of a river. 

Remember, there is often design besides the design and a well-designed product isn’t well designed if the process needed to manufacture it is unrealistic or uneconomical. 

📚 Source: 101 Things I Learned® in Engineering School by John Kuprenas & Matthew Frederick

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💬 UXD Quote #2

“Strategy is not a lengthy action plan. It is the evolution of a central idea through continually changing circumstances.”

Jack Welch, General Electric’s reforming ex-CEO

Inspired by writings of Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian chief-of-staff at Waterloo, who in his book On War successfully distilled Napoleon into theory. Clausewitz’s approach to strategy was descriptive rather than prescriptive.

Men cannot reduce strategy to a formula. Some of our plans will necessarily fail, due to the inevitable frictions: chance events, imperfections in execution, and the independent will of the opposition. That’s why having a sound strategy as a beacon driving our decisions is essential, serving as the evolution of a central idea through continually changing circumstances.

📚 Source: On War by Carl von Clausewitz

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