Robinblandford's Blog

Press Coverage in The Irish Examiner

robinblandford — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:05:17 +0000

Audio from my 20% Time Question to Eric Schmidt

robinblandford — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 17:21:48 +0000

Eric Schmidt is the CEO of Google. He spoke at the Guardian Activate conference and I got the chance to ask him a question. He had spoken about the Google 20% time programme which allows employees to work on whatever problem they want for 20% of their time. I asked Eric, what he works on in his 20%.

The FT covered it here (spotted by my uncle and aunt).

Thanks to David Scanlon for pointing me in the direction of the recording.

Speaker at National College of Ireland dot conf

robinblandford — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:56:46 +0000

I will be speaking at the National College of Ireland dot conf in association with the Irish Internet Association on Thursday July 22nd.

Delighted to see this time, I'll speaking alongside some great friends too.

Same stage as Eric Schmidt

robinblandford — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 09:27:04 +0000

I didn't think I'd be sharing the same stage and audience as Google CEO Eric Schmidt any time soon. Looks like I was wrong!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/activate

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My Guardian video interview

robinblandford — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:12:49 +0000

Robin Blandford of Decisions for Heroes talks about putting technology to work in the real world to solve real human problems.

Watch Here

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We Need An Iconic Change

robinblandford — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 09:59:57 +0000

I've been searching for a good icon in D4H to symbolize an unsaved incident report. Normally when I do this, I research what others are using in their imagery and labeling so it is intuitive.

I uncovered something interesting I have never thought about. Why do we still use a '3.5 inch Floppy Disk' as the icon for saving? We've come a long way from saving files as you edit them to an external floppy – so why has this icon travelled with us?

Wikipedia says:

Floppy disks are also, unlike hard disks, handled and seen; even a novice user can identify a floppy disk. Because of all these factors, the image of the floppy disk has become a metaphor for saving data, and the floppy disk symbol is often seen in programs on buttons and other user interface elements related to saving files, even though such disks are obsolete

It's interesting though, that tools like Google Docs – which couldn't be further from saving to a floppy disk also use this symbology for saving data in the cloud.

The last consumer floppy disk drives were manufactured around 2007, and for a while before that they stopped appearing in new models. There will come a point (and we're not far from it at all!) where new generations will have never seen a floppy disk.

So will this icon become meaningless?

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Design without physical limits

robinblandford — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 15:54:13 +0000

Many people start designing their digital products within physical bounds of the analog world they are trying to disrupt. A great example is the calculator built-in on operating systems and phones and widgets. It's ridiculous concept to think that by transferring the physical object to the screen, you achieve a good result. Wrong.

Kno thought "Let's replace the text book" and started out with solving the technical problem of two tablets joined together to mimic the pages of a text book. While it's a beautiful product, it's wrong. I'll place a solid bet that the way to disrupt this market it to start re-thinking from the start and the goal.

The goal isn't to have a text book, the goal is to "transfer information" in a method that is linear, but can be referenced later for study. A method that can be used as a study aid for lecturers and teachers, and move at the same pace and format as classes.

If I set you that goal today – with limitless boundaries, you would not come up with a text book.

This product is going to sell itself short – it'll be a mediocre hit. It's not the text books that need to change – it's the method education that needs to change.

-Robin.

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Because it’s there

robinblandford — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:05:55 +0000

The photo above is the 'second step' on the Everest summit block – a fitting image. George Mallory who died on that first ill-fated possible summit attempt on Everest is famously quoted as having replied to the question "Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?" with the retort "Because it's there", which have been called "the most famous three words in mountaineering".

Well, they're becoming the most famous 3 words in technology. Unfortunately.

As the cost of implementation falls, the tech race speeds up. We're now at rates of innovation we've never seen before. It's fast isn't it!

Every day we see more and more and more companies launching products "Because they can". Unfortunately, "Because the technology is there". Before you you even drop a dime into the product development budget (R&D is different – I mean real selling products) you need to ask – "What problem am I solving?", "What pain am I preventing or curing?".

The worst thing you can do, is to say "This is cool" – and then go find a problem for it to apply to. A technology solution "Because it's there".

Today, videos are emerging of the Dell Streak tablet – and you can see in this demo by the President of Communication Solutions for Dell (this is a big deal – this is HIS baby) that he hasn't a clue what it's for. They launched it "Because they could".

He says: "This is the largest device that's an internet device, that fits in your top pocket – and that was really the whole design point.".

It's too big to be a phone, it's too small to do any work on. It doesn't have a place. If you watch that video, the President of the device is having to make up uses for it on the spot – he doesn't even know what it's for.

"Obviously it's a great productivity tool, corporate email, corporate directory – you can get your calendar on there". So this is targeted towards corporate IT depts now? They are to buy these touchscreen keyboard devices for their employees rather than Blackberry's?

"It's a great speaker phone", only because it's too big to hold to your ear. When you've got 100% cell phone penetration, who's going to buy this as a speaker phone?

"It does Youtube, and Facebook, and Twitter – in realtime while you're traveling" Hold on, I thought you said Corporate Email? Anyway – my phone already does this.

"It's absolutely a Kid Magnet as well, with great games and TV shows, and pull up different 'stuff'." – are you telling me a kid would prefer this over a game console (or iPhone/iPod Touch)? And what is stuff?

He even gets asked at the end, "Can you give a specific application for this device?" with a response of (let me who you some more technology), "What I think it's really cool is this front facing camera."

For people to be motivated to take their wallet out and buy something – it has to hit a need (even just a need to be cool or trendy is fine – but a need). There is zero product design or user experience thinking been put into this – the tech department rolled something out, who handed it on to the product design department, who handed it on to the marketing dept, who have handed it on to the sales dept.

Where these companies go wrong is it needed to start with the Sales & Design Dept's. and end up in the Tech Dept. trying to find a way to build what will sell. Oh yeh, it'll be around $630 too.

Take this as a failure lesson learnt and ask yourself about your product – have we started with the 'Sales Dept.' rather than the 'Tech Dept.'?

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Step 4. Create your passion filters.

robinblandford — Tue, 04 May 2010 10:17:23 +0000

AWESOMENESS METHODOLOGY – Ok, so where were we. You've got your notebook and it's starting to fill with ideas. You're reading a lot and taking notes. Keep it up, you're doing good. The next step, step 4, is to create your passion filters.

Let me explain – you're going to live your business, breath your business, eat your business, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. For the long-haul, it has to be something your passionate about. Something you want to talk about all the time, something that you can build up massive enthusiasm for.

When seeking for ideas you need passion filters to make sure you don't go down the wrong route and find yourself doing something you really don't care about. I for instance couldn't build mediocre corporate software, because then I'd have to chat with mediocre corporate people on the phone every day all day who don't care about their job – and soon I wouldn't care about mine.

I knew my passions, and I had longingly talked about having a job that combined as many of them as possible…

Technology
Internet/Communication
Outdoor/Extreme Sports
Rescue/Medical
Volunteering/Helping
Expeditions/Leadership

So I applied these filters to every idea I thought of, it got rid of a lot of the faff very quickly. Now every day, I speak to people on the phone who are passionate in the same things as me. We have phone conversations about jumping out of helicopters and quick sand rescues… rather than tax codes and compliance.

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My Country My Call: The Right to Entrepreneurial Leave, like Maternity Leave, but for giving birth to ideas.

robinblandford — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 23:45:04 +0000

The following is my submission to Your Country Your Call and I'd be gracious of any votes. While there are many ideas (8,000+) submitted I was very curious that many didn't take the spec into consideration. The competition is designed to find proposals that, when implemented, will transform our economy – or significant elements of it – by creating jobs and opportunity. It’s about creating something that will have a long-term positive impact on the Irish economy. It’s about helping to create sustainable employment and prosperity, whilst at the same time generating hope, confidence, and positive thinking. I would like to think, the following proposal by me, covers all of these bases. See Official Entry.

–

If you become pregnant while in employment in Ireland, you are entitled to take 26 weeks maternity leave. The entitlement to a basic period of maternity leave from employment extends to all female employees in Ireland. The Maternity Protection Act 1994 and the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004 provide your statutory minimum entitlements in relation to maternity at work including maternity leave.

I call for Ireland to introduce Entrepreneurial Leave for all employees in Ireland. The right to leave work for an unpaid 26 week period to give birth to an export focussed business – a 'little idea baby'. The employee should have this right, with the guarantee they may return to their full time employment if the idea does not work out after 26 weeks.

- This has the effect of creating export businesses, which will bring money into Ireland from abroad.

- Thousands of small businesses in many sectors will form a more sustainable economy than a couple large businesses from abroad.

- Small businesses will create significant employment, especially self-employment, and a requirement for more professional services such as accounting, legal, and finance.

FOR THE ENTREPRENEUR

- The biggest factor in starting your own business, is not the availability of support or finance. It is the risk of cutting the career and the thought of no-return on the job you have already worked hard to progress in. The will alleviate that risk for people.

- They must try to start an export focussed business.

- They may only take entrepreneurial leave once every X years or X employment's (X should be researched during implementation).

FOR THE EMPLOYER

- The employees company who gives leave gets paid or given tax-breaks to the equivalent of new start-up's paid tax for the first 3 years. This gives them a buy-in and a reason to support the start-up and entrepreneur, maybe with their contacts or resources. If a start-up did very well, the sponsor business could do very well too. This is key.

- The employer, in tough times when work loads are lower than employed resources, gets a 26 week break in salary payments to the employee.

FOR THE STATE

- Revenue see no difference. The tax of the start-up is paid to the sponsor, rather than the state, so it's as if the start-up didn't exist anyway for the first 3 years. Except for the other services and employment they create.

TO IMPLEMENT

- Easy and cheap. All we need is a legislative change, and more support for Enterprise Ireland to approve entrepreneur's ideas are export focussed – we have all the other resources.

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