mondaydots

why dots

A question I get a lot is- why dots? At first the question was tough for me to answer, but after a little introspection I came to a simple conclusion: a dot is such a basic representation that it can be anything.

Dots can be part of larger organizations, or they can go off on their own. Like you and me they have to climb social, political and workforce ladders. And like in the real world, when a dot at the top is angry the news rolls down hill. There are even some dots that you wouldn't want to see when they get angry.

While I think the simple explanation that a dot can be anything is good, I think there is a deeper and better reason.

It was put most elegantly in one of my favorite books, Understanding Comics, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, by Scott McCloud. Scott states "that by de-emphasizing the appearance of the physical world in favor of the idea of form, the cartoon (or in this instance the dot) places itself in the world of concepts." A good expalanation of this statement is found by looking at this set of images (see video above). In this context, all of the images are representations of me. As you progress from left to right the representations get less and less detailed until eventually I am represented by a dot. My picture is the most physical representation of me and the dot is the most conceptual.

While both represent me; they are not equal substitutes for building models, and it is this difference that explains why dots are the best tools for modeling. Imagine if I tried to model a hierarchical organization using my picture to represent each position. First this would be one scary organization and second it is difficult for someone besides me to identify with.

Moving towards a more conceptual representation makes it easier for some people to identify and possibly see themselves somewhere in this organization. This representation also makes it more difficult to judge race, gender, ethnicity, and form prejudices about the individuals.

Yet if we move to a representation of dots, it becomes almost impossible to form any prejudices against the dots; you can only judge that they are round and grey and that there are some dots lower in the organization than others. This is what explains why dots are the perfect way to model complex problems, ideas, and solutions. Because if you can't judge the dot as something that is different from you, it makes it that much easier for you to see yourself, your boss, your employee, your car, your autocompany, your president, your family, your organization, your country in the same situation as the dot or dots; which means the model will be easier for you to understand and apply to your life. This is why I use mondaydots and why I think you should too. Thank you for watching

New Product Development Window Model

The world of new product development is fast paced and can be incredibly confusing to an outsider (sometimes even an insider). Furthermore it is an area of business where a bad decision or a delay in the decision making process can cost a company hundreds of thousands of dollars a day.

Neal Mitchell with Fastworks, a New Product Development Consulting firm based in the Silicon Valley, has done an excellent job explaining the evolution of a New Product Development Project using mondayDots. The direct post can be viewed here: Evolution of a NPD Project

You can view the company blog here http://www.fastworks.us/weblog/

mondaydots "how-to" - basic workflow

I have been asked by a few people to provide a short write up on the process I used to create "The Gamble" model. I think the above video does a better job getting into some of the details, but if I were to explain the process in 4 steps it would like this:

1. Build the model

2. Export the model to a .mov format

3. Import your movie into movie editing software to add voiceover and adjust playback speed to pace with voiceover

4. Post to YouTube

I will be building more videos to explain the more complex animations. I have a model brewing about the instability in Iraq. Stay tuned.

"the gamble" model

I was recently challenged by a friend of mine who used to teach at HBS to read "The Gamble” by Thomas Ricks and build a multi level organization model. The book is incredibly interesting (my favorite Ricks book so far) and really shines some light on the situation in Iraq.

Absolutely fascinated by the maco-level change General David Petraeus was able to impact as a micro-level force; I decided to use the phenomenon of stochastic resonance (most commonly used in examining neurodynamics) to explain how embracing the chaos between stable state organizations uniquely positioned Petraeus to make this change. Every attempt at describing the model in written form felt too much like a book report, so I decided to use Apple’s Keynote to build and animate the model.

As I built the model, my written description got better. As my written description got better, it forced me to improve my model.

I found great power in using simple dots to explain a complex model. Modeling forces you to think about getting from point A to point B, and doesn’t allow you to hide behind bullet points or a static two dimensional graphic/chart.

I will be updating this page with information on how I created this presentation; including a step by step break down of some of the elements. I am also going to use this blog to post other models of complex ideas, problems, and solutions I encounter.