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Rolf Skyberg - pattern hound

musings on the web, the future, eBay, and humanity

5 lessons for young designersDecember 22 2008

While at eBay, I’ve had the opportunity to cut my teeth being a “designer” on various projects, initiatives, and explorations. Over time, I’ve learned that (like many other things), design looks like fun and is actually hard work.

Here are 5 tips that I wish someone had given me before I started designing anything:

1. know what you’re solving
   Design is the process of creating solutions to problems. More often than not, the problem is actually something different than what it at first appears. Probably, those asking you to do the design are phrasing the question incorrectly. As a designer, it’s up to you to figure out what they’re really asking for. Once you know what you’re solving for, then you can begin researching all the use-cases which you’ll incorporate into your successful design. (And there will be plenty of use-cases that weren’t initially mentioned.)
2. someone has already designed this
   The world seems like a blank slate. Never has a designer encountered these problems before, and you have the chance to create something truly new! Wrong. Your “entirely new” problem is likely one of the age-old problems many systems or products have approached before. The circumstances may be new, but looking to the past at how other designers have solved something like this will help you learn from someone else’s mistakes. If you can’t find something like this before, ask around, and read some books; th
   

optimization is the enemy of innovationOctober 24 2008

Innovation is exploring the “new”; and by definition, the new is unoptimized and inefficient.

Optimization is the enemy of innovation. Or should I say, innovation and optimization usually inhabit opposite ends of the strategy spectrum.

Innovation is the process of identifying the possible, constantly changing and expanding upon what is currently achievable. Optimization, on the other hand, is the process of refining existing processes, cutting them down to the more and more essential pieces for greater efficiency.

Earlier this week I presented at and attended the Innovation Immersion conference in Phoenix. There, my eyes were really opened up to what other organizations call “innovation”. It seems there are as many implementations of innovations as there are different company structures.

While preparing for my presentation, I looked back on our Disruptive Innovation team, and how it fit within the grand scheme of eBay’s organizational structure. While we were far removed from John Donahoe’s statements about disruptive innovation of the organization, I believe we played a small but vital role in the end.

One conclusion I came to was that the desire to have an “innovation team” is a direct response to a perceived lack of internal innovation capability. Whether or not internal innovation is really lacking, perception is reality.

I then sat down and re

platform wars: a brief historySeptember 22 2008

Last week I had the pleasure of attending O’Reilly’s Web 2.0 EXPO in New York City. In addition to meeting many interesting folks and letting them know about eBay’s developer platform, I also got to give a presentation on platform wars. In it I explore some notable platform wars, explain where the wars come from, pitfalls of being caught in one, and how to identify bad platforms overall.

Here’s the session notes and presentation:

Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD. VHS vs. Beta. PC vs. Mac. AC vs. DC. As long as platforms have been a valuable resource, wars have been fought to control them. Eventually, either through trickery, persistence, or legislation, all wars come to an end. By understanding these wars, old and new, we’ll be better prepared to survive the next.

Posted in ebay, platform, slides      

5 reasons why innovation teams are like unicornsAugust 6 2008

After two years on eBay’s Disruptive Innovation team, I feel that I can safely draw parallels between “innovation teams” and unicorns. The comparison may be more apt than you expect.

1) they are supposed to magically cure ills
Both unicorns and innovation teams can supposedly bring you back from the brink of death and are generally a panacea for all that ails you. While innovation teams can help aspects of your public and internal image and process, nothing is a cure-all.

2) everybody wants one
Of course everyone wants one, who wouldn’t want a stable of shining unicorns and a team of innovators? As if to say, “we’re so good at what we normally do, we’ve got resources to spare on even MORE incredible stuff!”

3) you can waste a lot of time trying to catch one
Unicorns are elusive, as are truly innovative product managers, engineers and strategists. The best way you can attract unicorns and innovative employees is to find the very first one, then showcase how well that unicorn innovator is treated and what a big pasture with yummy grass you’ve given it. Those of like mind will come out of the woodwork, from many different lands. Don’t bang your head looking in all the “right” places, often those who have been successful in t

Web 2.0: Lies, Mystery and OpportunityJuly 1 2008

Thought you’d all like a peek at my eBay Developer’s Conference ‘08 presentation.

Enjoy.

And Discuss.