Product Quest Podcast

Today we will deep dive into the topic of service design with our guest Tim Macarthur. Tim Macarthur is a Service Designer based in Dublin. His career has seen him work in the enterprise such as IBM, in consultancy and in service innovation for various international organizations. Tim co-founded the Service Design Network in Ireland and is a visiting lecturer at the National College of Art & Design in Dublin. Tim is deeply interested in the intersection of Service Design and other disciplines in bringing valuable, delightful services to life. Certainly, a mission we can all get behind.   And here's the reading list we promised:   This is Service Design Thinking, Marc Stickdorn This is Service Design Doing, Marc Stickdorn Orchestrating Experiences, Chris Risdon & Patrick Quattlebaum Designing the Invisible, Lara Penin

This is part two of our talk with Gerry McGovern. He has developed Top Tasks, a design framework that helps identify what truly matters to people. It has been developed over a 15-year period and applied more than 500 times by companies like Microsoft, Cisco, Toyota, and governmental organizations such as the European Union and of course the Irish government and the WHO. Gerry is a highly regarded speaker and has proven it in more than 40 countries around the world, he appeared on CNN, the BBC an various other media. He has written 8 books of which I strongly recommend Top Task a how-to guide, and another one Transform: A rebel’s guide for digital transformation and of course his latest book called World Wide Waste: How digital is killing the planet and what to do about it.

Today we talk to Gerry McGovern. He has developed Top Tasks, a design framework that helps identify what truly matters to people. It has been developed over a 15-year period and applied more than 500 times by companies like Microsoft, Cisco, Toyota, and governmental organizations such as the European Union and of course the Irish government and the WHO. Gerry is a highly regarded speaker and has proven it in more than 40 countries around the world, he appeared on CNN, the BBC an various other media. He has written 8 books of which I strongly recommend Top Task a how-to guide, and another one Transform: A rebel’s guide for digital transformation and of course his latest book called World Wide Waste: How digital is killing the planet and what to do about it.   Referenced on the show: World Wide Waste, Gerry McGovern Top Tasks, Gerry McGovern Transform, A rebel’s guide to digital transformation, Gerry McGovern The Burnout Society, Byung Chul Han

Dr. Min Basadur is Professor Emeritus at McMaster University and founder of Basadur Applied Creativity. He has three patents and a PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. But Min is best known for his creativity system, Simplexity. In the 1970’s, Min developed his method when building upon the work of colleague Sid Parnes. It’s a system… complete with all the essentials for defining problems, for generating solutions, and for selecting the best to act upon. It also considers the dynamics of different thinking styles – and includes an innovation profiler, which we are sure to discuss. This is part 2 of our discussion with Min.   Referenced on the show: The Power of Innovation, Min Basadur Scatterbrains, Min Basadur & Richard Perez Basadur Innovation Profile Simplex, A Flight to Creativity, Min Basadur Why Greatness Cannot be Planned, Kenneth Stanley Design-Centered Entrepreneurship, Min Basadur & Michael Goldsby

Dr. Min Basadur is Professor Emeritus at McMaster University and founder of Basadur Applied Creativity. He has three patents and a PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. But Min is best known for his creativity system, Simplexity. In the 1970’s, Min developed his method when building upon the work of colleague Sid Parnes. It’s a system… complete with all the essentials for defining problems, for generating solutions, and for selecting the best to act upon. It also considers the dynamics of different thinking styles – and includes an innovation profiler, which we are sure to discuss. This is part 1 of our discussion with Min.   Referenced on the show: Scatterbrains, Min Basadur & Richard Perez Design-Centered Entrepreneurship, Min Basadur & Michael Goldsby Basadur Innovation Profile Cognitive Psychology, Neisser

As listeners know, on the show we love to dive deep into innovation and business theories and frameworks. But at the end of the day what really matters is actually building products and services that people want in order to build successful businesses. Well… our guests today definitely know a lot about that, Murat Göker and Francesco Cardoletti are both successful and experienced serial entrepreneurs who have built businesses in diverse industries and geographical regions. This is part 1 of our discussion. Murat has built and operated ventures in retail fashion, concierge services, commodities trading, advising micro-startup for equity and for the past 10 years, he has ventured into pharma. Namely in 2013 he founded Ideogen with his father and brothers: a 360 degrees commercialization platform for specialty therapies (mainly orphan or rare disease) in which he currently serves as Chief Commercial Officer. Francesco has built and operated ventures in the health, telecom, fin-tech, fashion and edu-tech sectors in both the UK and US. He is the co-founder and was the CEO of PawSquad, a company providing telemedicine for pets, which was acquired by IVC Evidensia in 2018. He currently works as Strategy and Product Lead at Unilever Foundry where he works with the best scaleups and startups in the world to launch disruptive innovation on a global scale.    Murat and Francesco have worked together as business partners in the past and as all great teams, they are very complementary in their approach and ways of thinking which is the reason why we decided to invite both of them together on the show!

As listeners know, on the show we love to dive deep into innovation and business theories and frameworks. But at the end of the day what really matters is actually building products and services that people want in order to build successful businesses. Well… our guests today definitely know a lot about that, Murat Göker and Francesco Cardoletti are both successful and experienced serial entrepreneurs who have built businesses in diverse industries and geographical regions. This is part 1 of our discussion. Murat has built and operated ventures in retail fashion, concierge services, commodities trading, advising micro-startup for equity and for the past 10 years, he has ventured into pharma. Namely in 2013 he founded Ideogen with his father and brothers: a 360 degrees commercialization platform for specialty therapies (mainly orphan or rare disease) in which he currently serves as Chief Commercial Officer. Francesco has built and operated ventures in the health, telecom, fin-tech, fashion and edu-tech sectors in both the UK and US. He is the co-founder and was the CEO of PawSquad, a company providing telemedicine for pets, which was acquired by IVC Evidensia in 2018. He currently works as Strategy and Product Lead at Unilever Foundry where he works with the best scaleups and startups in the world to launch disruptive innovation on a global scale.    Murat and Francesco have worked together as business partners in the past and as all great teams, they are very complementary in their approach and ways of thinking which is the reason why we decided to invite both of them together on the show!

Lindsay Zaltman, a consumer insights expert, discusses using deep metaphors to understand customer needs better. Topics include rebranding hearing aids with unconventional designs, exploring subconscious insights of heartburn sufferers, and the role of metaphors in product development and communication. The conversation delves into deep metaphors like balance and transformation, highlighting their implications in innovation and decision-making processes.

Lindsay Zaltman, CEO of Olsan Zaltman, discusses decoding consumer behavior using deep metaphors. Topics include deep thinking in business, limitations of big data, uncovering unconscious thoughts through metaphors, Z-MAD technique for consumer insights, and creating meaningful mental models through customer insights.

This is part 2 of our talk with Jan Schmiedgen. We will talk about all things Design and Innovation. Jan is one of those Duracell-bunny energy level kinds of people, which shows in his career path. Among doing many things he has published and blogged a lot on Design and Innovation in various places. He co-curates the blog thisisdesignthinking.net, is an entrepreneur who had several businesses and now managing partner and Innovation strategist at Codify. There is one sentence on the Codify website that sums Jan up: “intellectual curiosity paired with the strong need for independence”. Jan cofounded Codify, an agency that supports organizations in innovating their innovation management and supports them in a lean and evidence-based way.   Referenced on the show: Codify Design Thinking Article Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning, Rittel & Webber Wicked Problems in Design Thinking, Richard Buchanan