Day 16: Exploratorating
Today we visited the Exploratorium, got some gelato, and grilled burgers!
But first, more book reports
Today was another loosely scheduled day, and as with yesterday, we used the morning to sleep in and get caught up on book reports. Our first report came from Claire, on The Change Function: Why Some Technologies Take Off and Others Crash and Burn by Pip Coburn. I already like the book because the author uses a variety of quotes from Douglas Adams, of whom I am particularly fond. We talked a lot about how technology has a particularly high failure rate (only 5-10% of all products take off in the market), and what the causes of that might be. One of the biggest contrasts we made was between Apple's first iPhone and Google Glass. Both were products that were much different from others products on the market, and both were from major, successful companies. So why did one spur a new wave of technology and the other crash and burn? Some of that might come from the way the company presented the product to the world. When Apple unveiled the first iPhone, they made it known that this was the new thing. It was going to be the end-all, be-all of technology. In contrast, Google released Google Glass slowly, maintaining that it was product testing to see how the technology would be received. Of course, there was the privacy issue of having the camera that could be always on, but I would argue that despite that, if Apple had released the product, people would have picked it up in droves, and now there would be several competing brands of smartglasses. Much of this comes from the company pitch, and the cult following that Apple has. Apple's fan[atic]s stay with the company through every change, even when it seems that design or product decisions aren't the smartest. When Apple got rid of the headphone jack, many commentators claimed that to be a massive mistake that would cost Apple a large chunk of their business. While the 7 didn't sell quite as well, it did sell millions of units. Likewise, now Apple has removed the home button and gone from thumbprint unlocking (which I believe they first introduced) to facial recognition unlocking. Both of these have caused some stir from reviewers, and while Apple has upgraded phones as well (improving the camera, processor, and graphics), they have received much less of a hit in sales than I believe another company would have. Maybe I'm wrong, but Apples does seem to have a magic touch that causes people to buy $40 t-shirts (see "Day 9: Onset and the Spaceship). If anyone could sell smartglasses, I think it would be Apple.
Building a lean, mean, startup machine
Matt also presented today on his book, The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. He took a look at each section of the book and we talked about a few things in each. The first section, "Vision," is all about how to make your first product (notice that first will become important later). This is where you create your minimum viable product (MVP) in order to start trying to drum up sales. The second section, "Steering," is where you get going in the correct direction. Test early, and test often. Whenever you test your product, try to talk to consumers to find out if this is what they want. This is where pivoting occurs. That happens when you realise the need for your product (or a product very similar to what you have now) is in an adjacent market, and you pivot to change your business and product focus into that market. Being able to pivot an important trait for startups, and can often mean the difference between success and failure. The final step is "Accelerate," which is to simply keep innovating. And the best way to do this, in the opinion of our group, is to encourage employees to think about better ways to solve problems, or potential improvements to the product while they work. Paying a group of people to sit around and "innovate" will likely lead to nothing but wasted money. Follow those three simple steps (though you might want to read the book first to get all the information), and you should be on your way to a lean startup.
Exploratorating!
I'm finding every excuse I can to use that word. After the book reports finished, we gathered our stuff and headed off to the Exploratorium (basically a science museum with a bunch of hands on exhibits). The exhibits focused on several different areas, from looking at human perception, to the science behind light, to electrical circuits and contraptions, to biology. It's definitely a great place for kids to go (it was overrun with school groups when we first arrived), but even for adults it can be interesting.
Oh yeah, and I drank from a toilet, kind of. It was really a drinking fountain set into a toilet (which they assured us had never been used). In less strange exhibits, there was one area which had a camera where you could take a picture, then see how you would look if your face was symmetrical.
We checked out the monochromatic room, where everything was bathed in yellow light, instead of normal, white light. I have to say, I'm glad we don't live in a colour-tinted world.
Is it a custard? Is it an ice cream? No! It's gelato!
There was a lot of cool things at the museum that I either didn't get pictures of, or were too interactive to capture through pictures. Eventually though, we decided we were too hungry to not go find sustenance of some sort. So after washing our hands to get rid of the germs of thousands of children's noses (I can only imagine where their hands have been), we decided to head out to find a snack, as well as pick up materials for dinner tonight. So after ascending and descending several hills, we found ourselves in Little Italy for gelato (basically an Italian ice cream that is much heavier).
I wish I could actually tell you the name of the place we got it from, but I don't know if it even had a name. The only sign we could find said "Italian Delicatessen," so I guess that's the name of the place. It's across the street from Gelateria Naia (where we were planning on going, but it was closed today). It was tasty (like most things I've enjoyed on this trip).
Tourists being tourists in San Francisco
After getting our gelato, we headed off to pick up groceries in the most touristy way possible: street car trolley. We ended up getting on a car that was full, so we hung on to the outside (which made the ride even more fun).
After we took the streetcar, we took the metro back to right across from Safeway. It has been incredibly nice to have a major grocery store a short walk away from our house. Once we got there, we picked up supplies for a group dinner. We ended up grilling burgers (veggie burgers for Anna) and having chips with a variety of dips. Once we finished up with dinner, we finished watching volume 1 of RWBY (seriously, I can't recommend the show enough. If the animation quality bothers you for the first season, it gets so much better every season).
It's an early start tomorrow, and we're actually having meetings, so look forward to that. It's going to be hard to back on an organised schedule after so many free days.
But first, more book reports
Hence, we were exploratorating (which is totally a word)
Building a lean, mean, startup machine
Matt also presented today on his book, The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. He took a look at each section of the book and we talked about a few things in each. The first section, "Vision," is all about how to make your first product (notice that first will become important later). This is where you create your minimum viable product (MVP) in order to start trying to drum up sales. The second section, "Steering," is where you get going in the correct direction. Test early, and test often. Whenever you test your product, try to talk to consumers to find out if this is what they want. This is where pivoting occurs. That happens when you realise the need for your product (or a product very similar to what you have now) is in an adjacent market, and you pivot to change your business and product focus into that market. Being able to pivot an important trait for startups, and can often mean the difference between success and failure. The final step is "Accelerate," which is to simply keep innovating. And the best way to do this, in the opinion of our group, is to encourage employees to think about better ways to solve problems, or potential improvements to the product while they work. Paying a group of people to sit around and "innovate" will likely lead to nothing but wasted money. Follow those three simple steps (though you might want to read the book first to get all the information), and you should be on your way to a lean startup.
Exploratorating!
I'm finding every excuse I can to use that word. After the book reports finished, we gathered our stuff and headed off to the Exploratorium (basically a science museum with a bunch of hands on exhibits). The exhibits focused on several different areas, from looking at human perception, to the science behind light, to electrical circuits and contraptions, to biology. It's definitely a great place for kids to go (it was overrun with school groups when we first arrived), but even for adults it can be interesting.
Don't worry, it's clean
Left Devin... or right Devin?
Because if I felt blue, I'd be green
There was a lot of cool things at the museum that I either didn't get pictures of, or were too interactive to capture through pictures. Eventually though, we decided we were too hungry to not go find sustenance of some sort. So after washing our hands to get rid of the germs of thousands of children's noses (I can only imagine where their hands have been), we decided to head out to find a snack, as well as pick up materials for dinner tonight. So after ascending and descending several hills, we found ourselves in Little Italy for gelato (basically an Italian ice cream that is much heavier).
From the Italian Delicatessen
Gelato gang
After getting our gelato, we headed off to pick up groceries in the most touristy way possible: street car trolley. We ended up getting on a car that was full, so we hung on to the outside (which made the ride even more fun).
No, the streetcar wasn't named "Desire"
It's an early start tomorrow, and we're actually having meetings, so look forward to that. It's going to be hard to back on an organised schedule after so many free days.
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