Vol. 2  No. 8   

Newsletter of Menlo Innovations 

December 2003

The Innovator's Solution.   When it comes to technology, forget about stuff like demographics and market size data to determine what's best for your customer.  Focus instead on what job your customer is trying to accomplish.  This is at the heart of Menlo's High-Tech Anthropology®practice.  Read an excerpt from Clayton Christensen's new book the Innovator's Solution that explores this concept in detail.

What makes a genius?  Is the brain a blank slate?  Researches are beginning to think that some folks are born with a brain with preinstalled "software."  We are talking about the radical idea of "the genetic transmission of knowledge."

Is your website easy for Maude to use?  Menlo uses the concept of "personas" to make sure that a given technological solution will in fact meet the needs of a certain type of user.  This is a key component of High-Tech Anthropology®.  Read about how persona-based design is changing the way companies build websites.   

A special Human Interface Design workshop. Menlo is pleased to present a special two hour workshop on human interface design and development. Facilitated by David Feldt, this event includes a 28 minute video introducing 10 core principles of interface design, discussion of strategies, developmental aspects, cognitive psychology, example interfaces, and other topics of interest. Come ready to learn and interact. The goal is to collect ideas for a more complete course in human interface and ergonomics. Pizza and drinks are provided. Click here to register. It's Free.

"Change our software specifications? Not us!"  We hear it time and time again.  "We do a thorough job of getting the software requirements right up front and we just tell our customers that they can't make changes."  Well, the real world doesn't stand still for anyone.  All sorts of outside forces can change the course of a project.  That's why Menlo uses an agile software development methodology.  Read about how the new design of the $20 bill has caused havoc in the self-pay lines at grocery stores.

Computer processors at the speed of light! At Menlo we are always on the lookout for disruptive technology.  Read about how an Israeli start-up has developed a processor that uses optics instead of silicon, enabling it to compute at the speed of light.

Classes, Classes, Classes.  The Menlo December and January class schedule is out.  Time to buckle down and learn how to really apply those use cases, manage those projects, and deliver systems successfully! 

Can you afford to train 100 people? YES, with Menlo's new TRAIN THE TRAINER Program you can.  If you have bright and intelligent people on staff with the appropriate interests and skills, we can teach them to teach you.  Our TRAIN THE TRAINER Program lets you develop your own in-house training capabilities to teach Menlo's core curriculum.  For a fraction of the cost of an external training program you can train internal trainers, customize the curriculum, and launch an effective in-house education program.  Call us at (734) 665-1847 to find out more.

Indiana Jones in a business suit.  Menlo is not alone in bringing the value of anthropology to the business world. Read about how traditional anthropologists are now spending time "focusing on the corporate culture of Amazon.com rather than tribal culture in the Amazon rain forest." (registration req'd)

Significant job growth expected.  "The University of Michigan, in its annual forecast on the American economy, predicts national economic output next year will hit 5.1 percent – the highest rate since 1984 – which will prompt employers to add 5 million jobs over the next two years."  The future looks bright for those of us in Michigan too. 

About Menlo

Are your Executives having these conversations? 

"We are about to purchase a million dollar software solution and we're not sure if it's the right thing to do." 

"We’re about to approve a $3.5 million dollar budget for a new custom software project and we don't want this one to fail like the last time." 

"We have an old piece of software that no longer meets the needs of our business, but we're not sure how to modernize it without disrupting our current operations." 

"We are a software product company concerned that our user's experience is silently killing our market share."

"We have a great idea for a new product, but need our first stable production version launched in less than 3 months." 

Menlo uses High-Tech Anthropology to define the user experience and discover the highest priority business needs.  It is applied at the critical beginning stages of a new endeavor and then iteratively during the entire project, leveraging the Menlo Software Factory to construct early-stage functioning prototypes to confirm initial findings and then carry the project to completion. 

For those who wish to transform their own organizations, we also teach these methods to our clients at The Menlo Institute. 

Created in the spirit of Thomas Edison's Invention Factory in Menlo Park, Menlo is passionate about inventing software that makes a positive difference in the everyday lives of businesses and their employees. 

To find out more, contact us, or attend our free 90-minute success seminar.

The Menlo Briefs is a permission-based newsletter.  If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter please visit our subscription page.  If you have received this newsletter in error please accept our apologies and use the link below to unsubscribe.

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