119: Planning for the Unexpected in Product Design

With Kelly Schmutte, Lecturer at Stanford d.School

Kelly Schmutte is a dual degree graduate and a lecturer at Stanford University at d.School. She has also worked at IDEO and on product development of many hardware products, including designing and running her own product called PerfectFit, one of the world’s leading professional dance shoes, and is the co-author of the design book Navigating Ambiguity. Today, Kelly is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can understand ambiguity and unexpected circumstances within the product development journey, as well as how to maximize the value of your product through prototyping and testing before going into manufacturing.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• Defining ambiguity – The quality of being open to more than one interpretation
• How does it apply to hardware product design, and how can you plan for the unexpected?
• Framing the problem, then asking why that problem is important
• How do you then go about solving the problem?
• What is some of the academic research around ambiguity in design
• How do you use this in hardware design
• The importance prototyping
• Prototype to learn at first, then prototype to figure it out, then prototype to perfect it and validate it.

EPISODE LINKS

Kelly Schmutte / Navigating Ambiguity Links:

• Website: https://perfectfitpointe.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-schmutte-a29b614/
• Book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/623448/navigating-ambiguity-by-andrea-small-kelly-schmutte-and-stanford-dschool-artwork-by-reina-takahashi-photographs-by-andria-lo/

The Product Startup Podcast Links:

• Website: https://www.ProductStartup.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ProductStartup/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProductStartup/
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ProductStartup/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProductStartup
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MakoInvent

Mako Design Links:

• Website: https://www.makodesign.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MakoInvent
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MakoInvent/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/MakoDesign/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MakoInvent/
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/MakoInvent/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MakoInvent/

Kevin Mako Links:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Entrepreneurs/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/KevMako/
• Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Kevin-Mako
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KevMakoPage/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevMako/

Thanks for tuning in! See you next time.