Disruptive Innovation
I’ve not heard the term before, but read this article. It starts with this question and answer.
Question: what do these companies have in common?
Skype, Spotify, Marks and Spencer, Whipcar, Zopa, Zilok, Kiva, Patagonia, Kickstarter, Café Direct, Taskrabbit, Buzzcar and InterfaceFLOR.
Two of my favourite innovators; Zopa and Kiva are mentioned in the same breath as quite a few companies like, Skype, Spotify and M&S.
If the article has a fault, it’s that it misses out a couple of well known names, who the writer would call disruptive innovators.
I would have thought ARM Holdings and Dyson should be on the list. And I would think that a certain company called Metier Management Systems was one of the first! So we were only a shark in a small pond, but we completely rebuilt the pond.
British Cycling – The Crux Of The Success
If you want to go faster, you have to cut drag to a minimum, as any racing car designer will tell you. But with cycling, it’s just a bit more difficult! Or it was until Crux Product Design of Bristol got in on the act and came up with futuristic streamlined helmets. The story is here on This is Bristol. There are also some great pictures on the Crux website.
It just shows how redesigning something as mundane as a cycling helmet can reap big rewards.
What other simple things need to be redesigned? Or should it be designed properly for once?
This Bus Is Beautiful
Coming home from the Angel late this afternoon, as I was getting on one of the New Buses for London, an attractive black lady of about thirty or so, approached the driver, leaned over so he could hear and said “I just had to tell you, but this bus is beautiful!”
How many times has such a statement been said about a humble bus?
Jerry Strikes Again
I want to replace my washing machine with a washer-dryer, so I have more space in the garage by selling the tumble-dryer there, but it’s not as easy as it looks.
Jerry Strikes Again
As you can see it looks a bit tight. Note the floral monstrosity on the right. It’s an ironing board. Real men like me, don’t iron! We pay someone to do it, or buy a new shirt, we can wear out of the packet!
Note how the plumbing seems to have been bent around the washing mashing and the crude stand, that it is supported on. Here’s some detail.
Crazy Pipework
If you think this is bad, then the outlet pipe is a masterpiece of bodging!
A Masterpiece Of Bodging!
I dread to think what you would have to do if the pump above the washing machine failed and had to be changed.
As it is, I think I’ll have to sort this mess out before I change the washing machine for a washer-dryer. I’ll also need to change the crude stand that holds up the machine.
I also am getting fed up with moving wet washing through two doors from the hall cupboard into the garage to get it dry. currently, if there’s a car in the garage, I can’t really use the tumbler-dryer, as the door can’t be opened.
I can’t abide bad design and workmanship.
How To Sign A Bus!
Yesterday, going to the Olympic Park, I noticed that the New Bus for London, I was on, had this plate on the back stairs.
How To Sign A Bus!
in some ways, this is a modern interpretation of how all London Tube Trains had the maker’s name and manufacturing date on each carriage.
Am I Getting Better At The Waitrose Self Check-Outs?
I seem to be getting at working the self check-outs in Waitrose. Could my left hand be getting better?
I doubt it. But I’m just learning to use it better!
It is certainly more use in typing!
Heatherwick Does It Again!
The cauldron at London 2012 is nothing like I’ve seen at any other Olympics.
And like the New Bus for London, it’s out of the studio of Thomas Heatherwick. Read more about it here.
It enabled a number of promising athletes chosen by our more successful past Olympians to light the cauldron.
I may have found some of the things in the Opening Ceremony a bit naff and politically correct, but I’ll give two hundred out of a hundred for the way the cauldron was designed, built and lit.
Is The New Bus for London A Bus With Presence?
Coming back from the Angel tonight, I caught a New Bus for London from Islington Green. When it was spotted, quite a few people moved from the standard 38 bus in front and walked back a few yards to make sure they caught the New Bus. Obviously, some people prefer it.
But seeing them on the road, it strikes me that the New Bus advertises itself and other drivers get out of the way. It could be that as it looks bigger, although it isn’t that much so, people are wary of it and move over. I’ve not heard of an accident involving a New Bus, but then there are only five on the road. But then since, I’ve lived here, the only accidents reported involved the dreaded bendy buses. I would love Transport for London to publish all bus accidents, so they could be properly analysed.
Speaking as a pedestrian, I always notice a New Bus, when I see it. But then I would hope I notice all other buses, when I cross the road. On the other hand, because the lights on the New Bus are more prominent and probably better-designed, it is easier to ascertain what one is doing.
The New and the Old
The picture shows the New Bus alongside one of its predecessors. Note the bigger and more prominent lights on the New Bus.
Emirates Air-Line – It Was So Good I Did It Twice
The Emirates Air-Line that is!
This time it wasn’t so crowded and I had a gondola all to myself.
As you can see I was sitting on the City side of the gondola. Sitting on the other side should give good views of the Thames Barrier.
It really is good value at £3.20. Although, it was a bit shaky in the wind today and getting good pictures was more difficult.
Who knows, I might go back about sunset on a day it decides to show it’s face.
A Review of the Emirates Air-Line
I think it’s only fair that I put down all my thoughts on the Emirates Air-Line, so that others can criticise what I have said.
Construction and Design
People have criticised the cost of the cable-car, but then they are not buying a cheap cable-car, but a quality one designed for a long life.
As far as I can tell, everything looks and feels right. As an example, the seats in the gondolas are very comfortable and of a standard you’d expect in a quality commuter train. The doors close tightly and there was no noise at all. There was little sway and only a slight downwards movement as the gondola descended into North Greenwich.
It took a lot to get C into something like this, but I think she’d have approved.
Ticketing and Boarding
As I showed here, there was a bit of a queue, when I arrived due to people having to buy their boarding passes.
Because I was using my Oyster card, I was allowed to bypass the ticket desks and go straight to boarding. Whether they will allow this at all times, I do not know, but it certainly meant I got the cheaper Oyster ticket (£3.20 instead of £4.30) and speedy boarding as well.
Freedom Passes
You don’t get the Emirates Air-Line free with a Freedom Pass, but you do get a discount on the ticket if you queue up at the ticket office. Judging by the number of people I saw in their last third of life at the system, it will be popular, as it gives such wonderful views if the city. But let’s face it, the cost is only a pound more than a cappuccino in Starbucks.
On Board
It really was very smooth and probably more so than the system in Singapore, that I travelled on with C. That system incidentally costs £13.0 for a round trip, whereas a return ticket on the Emirates Air-line is £6.40.
I thought you might get intrusive adverts, but you only got the odd subtle ones, like “Thank you for using the Emirates air-line”. I can live with that.
Disabled Access
I saw three wheel-chair passengers in the short time, I was there and one, who I think was from North America with a really hi-tech wheelchair, said it was very good. They also have lifts at both ends to get to the loading point, which means that anybody on crutches or sticks, should have no trouble getting on. There was plenty of staff about, but remember it is early days. On the other hand, the contractor, MACE, is operating the system at present and I suspect they’d like to sell more based on their experience with the Emirates Air-Line.
In Conclusion
With my experience of project management, I’ve seen few projects with as high an overall standard as this one.
Small Problems
There is a major small problem with the overall system and that is that kids will love it. Or mine certainly would have done! So parents might get a bit fed up with being pestered for a ride.
I also think that a few more cafes and restaurants at the Royal Docks end are needed. But that is not really a problem, but an opportunity.
The Anonymous Widower 