101 Design Ingredients to Solve Big Tech Problems

by Eewei Chen

Tough technology and business challenges face you at every stage of a project. The one-page ingredients in 101 Design Ingredients show you how to solve problems using practical examples you can apply right away. Case studies explain how leading companies combined these ingredients into their own unique recipes to catapult their businesses, and how you can, too. You’ll learn how to mix and match the high-level patterns in this quick, entertaining survey to build your own solutions tailored to your projects’ requirements.

Printed in full color.

One page, one ingredient. 101 reasons to become more successful at solving those big technology problems. 101 Design Ingredients will help your technology team identify problems, share responsibilities, and work better together.

In parts 1 through 4, you’ll find 101 problem-solving ingredients grouped into project stages, to help you apply the right ingredient at the right time. Start at any point and page through the humorously illustrated ingredients until you find one that matches your needs best. The ingredients cover the spectrum your business needs to be successful, with tips on team-building, creating a business model, product launch, productivity, and much more. Each ingredient includes three practical suggestions to get you started right away.

In part 5, you’ll see examples of how companies can blend some of the ingredients used in this book to solve specific business requirements for investment, innovation, leadership, and more. Each recipe shows how a company fine-tuned six of the ingredients to build their own unique solution. You’ll learn how to mix and match ingredients to create your own recipes for success, tailored to your company’s needs.

The ingredients and recipes in this book can be applied by beginners starting out on their first technology project, as well as seasoned professionals who have been tackling the same big problems for years and need a fresh new approach to problem solving.

• Errata, typos, suggestions

Releases:

• P1.0 2013/07/30
• B4.0 2013/06/20
• B3.0 2013/04/11
• B2.0 2013/03/06

Preface

• Recipes For Success
  • A Recipe For Effective Leadership
  • A Recipe For Awesome Employees
  • A Recipe For Social Relevance
  • A Recipe For Keeping It Lean
  • A Recipe For Being Indispensable
  • A Recipe For Evolution
  • A Recipe For Constant Innovation
• Ingredients to Get You Started
  • Identify the Root Cause
  • Understand Customer Needs
  • Promote Your Team
  • Know What You Control
  • Find the Sweet Spot
  • Connect the Dots
  • Know What Competitors Are Up To
  • Start with the End
  • Get Your Facts Right
  • Improve vs. Differentiate
  • Do the Opposite
  • Make It an Adventure
  • Build an A-Team
  • Clarify Roles and Responsibilities
  • Simplify Your Business Model
  • Pitch the Problem
  • Sell It in One Sentence
  • Time It Right excerpt
  • Test Your Biggest Hypothesis First
  • Take a Leap of Faith
• Ingredients to Keep You Going
  • Know What Will Help You Succeed
  • Put It into Context
  • Sympathize with the Situation
  • They Can’t Be Good at Everything
  • Be a Catalyst
  • Perform as a Team
  • Fight Them to Know Them
  • Just Flow with It
  • Train Them Right
  • Make It Easy
  • Prioritize Ideas
  • Slice It Thinly
  • Find the Shortest Route
  • Timebox It
  • Keep It Simple
  • Use the 80/20 Rule
  • Constrain Yourself
  • Be Really Good at One Thing
  • Be Unfashionable
  • Fail Fast, Fail Often
  • Find the Gaps
  • Play a Good Game
  • Look for Commonalities
  • Don’t Improve Only the Obvious
  • Align with Expectations
  • Attract What You Want
  • Don’t Ask What They Want
  • Lead by Example
  • Be Prepared
  • Frame It
  • Focus on the Details
  • Reduce the Options
  • Make It Obvious
  • Take a Walk
  • Celebrate Success
• Ingredients to Help You Cross the Finish Line
  • Make It Personal
  • Don’t Get Distracted
  • Stop Making It Up
  • Surprise Them
  • Check the Data
  • Adapt Quickly
  • Find Allies
  • Keep People Informed
  • Don’t Show Up
  • Don’t Think Too Much
  • Make It Interesting
  • Make It Accessible
  • Tell a Good Story
  • Reward Them
  • Keep It Under the Radar
  • Have an Opinion
  • Be Good
  • Cut through the Bull
  • Make It Emotional
  • Build Up Enough Momentum
  • Create a Tipping Point
  • Execute It Well
• Ingredients to Get More of What You Want
  • Look Outside to Be More Effective
  • Do It Because You Can’t
  • Cast It Far, Then Reel It In
  • Be Unreasonable
  • Crowdsource It excerpt
  • Don’t Do It All
  • Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish
  • Be Childish
  • Get Bored Easily
  • Don’t Expect the Same Results
  • Challenge and Disrupt
  • Let Processes Form Around Needs
  • Increase Happiness
  • Become an Expert
  • Know When to Give Up
  • Don’t Get Lazy
  • Don’t Jump to Conclusions
  • Support It After It Goes Live
  • Risk Getting Fired
  • Make One Last Attempt
  • Get Them Addicted
  • Take the Blame
  • Give It Away
  • Don’t Think You Can Prevent Disaster
• Recipes for Success
  • A Recipe for Effective Leadership
  • A Recipe for Awesome Employees
  • A Recipe for Social Relevance
  • A Recipe for Lean Startup in Large Organizations
  • A Recipe for Being Indispensable
  • A Recipe for Evolution
  • A Recipe for Constant Innovation
  • A Recipe for Getting Investment
  • A Recipe for Doing Social Good
  • A Recipe for World Domination
  • Final Thoughts

Eewei Chen is an award-winning product engineering and design strategist. He previously led design practices at Dell EMC, ThoughtWorks Europe, and British Sky Broadcasting (BSKYB). Eewei currently heads up Design and Innovation at Virtusa Consulting & Services. Eewei loves speaking, mentoring, and running workshops in design, lean startup, technology, and Agile communities. He blogs at eewei.com and he’s @Ultraman on Twitter.

Illustrator Robert André has worked within the creative industry for more than twenty years on everything from paste-ups to product design. Although he believes good design should appear effortless, not draw attention to itself, fulfill a need, and be functional, occasionally something really great grabs his attention and he cannot help thinking: “That’s brilliant, how can I illustrate that?”