Product quality, creativity and innovation,design, the nature of technology, working with the hands, and people— what do these have in common? First of all, I am very interested in all six of them. I have spent a large amount of time and effort studying, teaching courses and writing about, and consulting with industry on the first four, am a firm believer and practitioner of the fifth, and am constantly fascinated by the last one. I can tie them all together in many ways. As an example, any company these days trying to establish a satisfying future should be working on improving the quality of their products. Improving the quality of products involves design and often technology and organizational change—all implying creativity and innovation. I firmly believe that working with the hands gives one the ability to truly understand, respect, and appreciate craftsmanship, which is a critical element of product quality. Finally, the actors in this play and the audience for the result are people. See? It’s not all that difficult.
I intend to simply throw what I consider to be interesting and related material on each one of these factors into this blog, hoping that it will help you think in different ways about how we homo sapiens and the things we make interact, and perhaps how these things could serve us better. The overall goal is to discuss product quality. That's why this blog is titled "People and Products". I will of course give you my thoughts from time to time, with which you are certainly free to disagree. One of my main purposes for writing this blog is to help myself think about the relationship between us and our stuff. I am eager for your input.
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