Next generation design architecture

I recently stumbled upon an interesting (older) interview from Connected Magazine. The author, Alan McCluskey, interviewed Ron Sanchez (who at the time was Professor of Strategy and Technology management at IMD - International Institute for Management Development - Lausanne). Read through the interview here: Modularity: upgrading to the next generation design architecture for an interesting take on what Modularity is and where it is leading product design.

Party answers

When you hear the word modularity, what do you think about? What image do you form in your mind? Perhaps you think of modular homes, or modular furniture, or perhaps you are a Modular Management Consultant and think about an abstract unit containing a discrete functionality and well-defined interfaces. I would guess that the latter thought isn’t the first on most peoples’ minds though. It certainly isn’t the phrase that comes out of my mouth when someone asks me, in a social setting, what I do for a living. I have to be honest and say that despite the fact that I have been involved with Modular Management for two years now, I still don’t have a good party answer to what it is I do for a living.

What we do as Modular Management Consultants is fairly complex to explain to a layman. When someone asks me what I do, I respond with “I am a consultant.” I’ve found that maybe 10% of the time this answer is sufficient, but most of the time people ask me “so what does that mean?” in some shape or form. My standard add-on information is that we are management and engineering consultants, and that we help companies with their product structures. This response is sufficient for most people with just a casual interest, people who were only trying to make small talk, or just trying to be polite. They still have no idea what I do, but they don’t feel like probing anymore. I’m pretty good about gauging other peoples’ interest levels. I don’t offer much more detail if I am sitting in the dentist’s office, or at a hair salon, but if I am with a group of techies I might just offer the whole load of information without being prompted.

There are a few people in my world who have demanded more information, and in those cases I will typically explain the concepts with a product example they can relate to. I might use the automotive industry and the idea of common platforms as a springboard, or I might use popular brands of power tools to exemplify the ideas. I’ll point out things that are common units, modules that can be used across an entire product platform to capitalize on economies of scale. Of course there is much more to assisting clients as they develop modular architectures for their products, but by boiling it down to outputs most people can understand what our clients are trying to achieve.

I’m fairly used to having party answers to what it is I do for a living. My post-graduate work history involves being a designer engineer, a systems engineer, a product manager, and now a consultant. Most people probed for more information when I responded with any of the occupations I listed above. Sometimes I think my police officer friend has it right when she just lies to those interested only in small talk, since she absolutely hates the questions that follow (have you ever shot anyone? being particularly annoying I’m sure). What is your party answer to what you do for a living?

Toying with lead

Unless you’ve been living under a rock this summer you have heard about the many recalls involving toys made in China. It first appeared on my radar screen with the Thomas the Train lead paint recalls. We had a brief moment of panic in our household when it looked like James was going to have to leave our station, but thankfully our James is older and wasn’t affected by the recall. When I fished James from the train table drawer my four year old heavily questioned what I was doing with James. I gave him a sketchy explanation, and saw the look of terror on his face when I said James might need to leave our house for a while. He was ultimately relieved when I determined that the serial number on our James indicated that he was safe to continue residing in our train table drawer. Soon after the great James Scare (as it is now referred to in our household) we caught wind of a Mattel recall that had the potential to affect more toys in our house. Again we were lucky and our vast array of Diego toys was spared the fate of being shipped back to the manufacturer. However, recently we finally had to remove a lead-laden toy from the toy box. Sarge from the Disney Pixar Cars movie is still sitting in a kitchen drawer waiting for the postage paid envelope to take him back to Mattel.

I am not trying to make light of the seriousness of lead paint in children’s toys, but it isn’t something I lose sleep over at night. Thankfully Sarge was a rather recent addition to my four-year-old’s collection of cars, and he wasn’t played with all that much. I don’t feel the need to make my kids endure lead tests because for the most part they are past the putting toys in their mouths phase of childhood. I do have many friends who are losing sleep over the recent lead paint issues though. I’ve heard a few friends say things like “I don’t want to buy any toys that are made in China anymore.” As evident from articles like this, I would guess that my friends aren’t alone. Mattel is certainly aware of the public relations problems it faces as we move closer to the holiday toy buying season.

I won’t pretend to have the solution to this quagmire, although I will say that I cringe every time it is implied that if we simply add more government regulators we can solve problems like these. The problem with inspectors is that the more you have the fewer problems they catch…certainly the tenth inspector is well assured that the nine before him or her already caught any problems. The problems need to be fixed in design and within the manufacturers’ supply chains before they ever reach an inspection point. Obviously the lure to manufacture in a low cost country like China is strong and necessary for many low-margin high-volume retail producers. So how do they prevent problems like these from happening again? Please let us know what you think.