What Designers can Learn From Other Industries

After spending three decades in the aerospace industry, I’ve seen firsthand how crucial it is for different sectors to learn from each other. We no longer can afford to stay stuck in our own bubbles. Take the aerospace industry, for example. They’ve been looking at how car manufacturers automate their factories to improve their own processes. And those racing teams? Their ability to prototype quickly and develop at a breakneck pace is something we can all learn from to speed up our product development. It’s all about breaking down those silos and embracing new ideas from wherever we can find them. When I was leading the Scorpion Jet program, our rapid development – less than two years to develop a new aircraft – caught the attention of a company known for razors and electric shavers. They reached out to us, intrigued by our ability to iterate so quickly, telling me "you developed a new jet faster than we can develop new razors..." They wanted to learn how we managed to streamline our processes. It was quite an unexpected and fascinating experience that underscored the value of looking beyond one’s own industry can lead to significant improvements and efficiencies, even in fields as seemingly unrelated as aerospace and consumer electronics. In today’s fast-paced world, it’s more important than ever for industries to break out of their silos and look to other sectors for fresh ideas and processes. This kind of cross-industry learning not only fosters innovation but also helps stay competitive in a rapidly changing market. For instance, the aerospace industry has been taking cues from car manufacturers to improve factory automation. And the automotive companies are adopting aerospace processes for systems engineering. Meanwhile, both sectors are picking up tips from tech giants like Apple and Google to boost their electronics and software development. And at Siemens, we partner with racing teams. Why? Because their knack for rapid prototyping and fast-paced development is something we can all learn from to speed up our product development cycles. This cross-pollination of ideas is crucial as industries evolve and integrate more advanced technologies. By exploring best practices from other industries, companies can find innovative new ways to improve their processes and products. After all, how can someone think outside the box, if they are only looking in the box? If you are interested in learning more, I suggest checking out this article by my colleagues Todd Tuthill and Nand Kochhar where they take a closer look at how cross-industry learning are key to developing advanced air mobility solutions. https://lnkd.in/dK3U6pJf

Architects: Are we too unique for our own good? It's time to think differently. All too often, I'm struck by how architects reach out to business consultants, only to let go of them because "they could never understand our business." If we can't find ways to simplify our business and value proposition, how do we ever expect to get paid the value we are worth? Let alone grow that value into something that creates an amazing employee experience that continues to deliver high-performing and award-winning projects. It's time we take a page from other industries that have successfully sought creativity and innovation outside their traditional boundaries. For example, Southwest Airlines turned to NASCAR racing teams to streamline their pit stops and improve turnaround times. This unconventional approach led to significant operational improvements and enhanced customer satisfaction. The healthcare industry provides another compelling example. Hospitals and healthcare providers have collaborated with aviation experts to adopt safety protocols and checklists used by pilots, significantly reducing medical errors and improving patient outcomes. Another example is how the tech industry frequently collaborates with design firms to create user-centric products that stand out in the market. These industries recognize that stepping outside their comfort zones and seeking external expertise can lead to groundbreaking results. As architects, we must embrace a similar mindset. Let's stop hiding behind our uniqueness and explore new opportunities for growth by looking at other fields. Or, at the very least, understand that we are not so special that we can only rely on others in our field to move our businesses forward. Where has that gotten us so far? _____________________ Hi, 👋🏻 I'm Evelyn Lee, FAIA | NOMA I've been on the client side for over a decade and have spent the last five years in tech, helping create exceptional employee experiences while growing the business. Now, I help architects: ⇒ Think Differently ⇒ Increase Productivity ⇒ Create Opportunities

Ever notice how groundbreaking ideas often come from people with little experience in their field? It’s not a coincidence; it’s a mindset. And it's one you can steal. Here’s the secret: Beginners approach problems with fresh eyes. They aren’t burdened by “the way it’s always been done.” They ask questions that experts stopped asking years ago. I like to call it The Outsider's Advantage This is what allowed Melanie Perkins, a university student with no design background, to create Canva. It’s how James Dyson, an art school graduate, reimagined vacuum technology.  And it’s why 11-year-old Mikaila Ulmer, who didn’t have a business degree, built a multimillion-dollar lemonade company centered around saving bees. So, how can you tap the Outsider's Advantage without changing fields? 1. Challenge industry norms and core assumptions rather than blindly complying. Consider designing around previously held truths, asking what conditions need to change in order to unlock progress.  2. Borrow from other industries. Outsiders excel because they're not set in their ways. Are there moves being applied in a different field that you could borrow to gain a competitive edge? 3. Forget perfection, prototype early.  Beginners aren’t afraid to test ideas long before they’re ready. Treat every project as a chance to learn instead of a final performance. If you rely on prior knowledge alone, you risk becoming blind to better ways of doing things. But when you approach challenges like an outsider, you can tap into endless creativity and opportunity. Innovation doesn’t demand mastery—it demands curiosity. The real question is: What would you do if you didn’t know the rules?

The next great idea, innovation, or opportunity may not come from your field/professional area. There are amazing ideas that others are using that could be the thing that makes a trajectory change for your work. When I was leading a fairly young team of instructional designers, we ran a book club about writing better. Through it, we took turns leading various chapters, doing particular exercises. One that I remember to this day was to take a picture and describe it. This process is much more of a creative exercise than one in writing instructions or scripts for tutorial videos. However, the creative process allowed me to write in a way that was descriptive, maybe more flowery than I had, but it opened up ideas to my understanding of using language for more than I was in the work that I was doing. Now, as my role is primarily in marketing - I continue to learn from our folks who send out emails, write blogs, and create copy for the website. Mostly it's not intended to be instructional - but they do some things really well, including looking at and using data. Driving decisions based on action not hunches. And the tools they use are often amazing at allowing them to connect with their audience and help guide their audience along a path of action. And isn't this what people are doing in learning? But I don't think this is about passively learning from other fields. I think there needs to be an active approach to taking on and seeing what others are doing that will raise the bar for your work. What can you learn from IT, QA, Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success? I had the awesome opportunity to talk with Mike Taylor & Bianca Baumann on The Visual Lounge Podcast by TechSmith about learning from marketing. They shared a ton of great ideas and it's well worth a listen. Podcast & video links are in the comments. #Learninganddevelopment #training #marketing #customereducation #podcast

Manufacturing Automation – Groupthink When "Innovation" becomes the buzzword in Automation! -- Whether from Automation Providers or Automation End-Users, conventional wisdom is ... well ... CONVENTIONAL, and to spice it up, the word INNOVATION is often attached to it. Of course there may be some innovative 3rd order attribute involved, such as a new pneumatic cylinder seal that reduces Stiction, applicable and needed in some applications, or perhaps an algorithm that speeds an output's reaction time when most applications can do just fine with a mechanical relay ... but embedding these features in any/all final Automated Systems adds little value and apart from increasing COSTS and COMPLEXITY ... hardly "innovative". Mostly unnoticed until unveiled, Innovation is the result of boring, un-glamorous iterative work of design, build, test, modify ... repeat ... until SUCCESS is achieved and we can then safely say that innovation in Automation is RARE but "we recognize it when we see it", in an APPLICATION SPECIFIC embodiment, informed by DOMAIN knowledge and the UNIQUE process ... increasing PRODUCTIVITY. When "Innovation" becomes a buzzword in Automation! -- "In Summary: While necessitating perhaps a longer on-boarding and training process, building a machine design and integration team that’s composed of competent, interdisciplinary and multi-industry experience yields unexpected and not easily quantified Innovations in the development of unique-to-the industry equipment and process development.  This is accomplished by tapping into the erstwhile inaccessible pool of “best practices” from a different industry which has, for unique reasons of that industry, developed common-to-that-industry, yet relatively unknown in our industry, designs and methods that can be readily ported and applied in our application, in a way that provides a competitive advantage. This “cross-pollination” seldom happens organically as engineers typically stay within their industry and if this potential reservoir or innovation is to be tapped … it takes a conscious effort to build this type of a team!" -- How do you keep your Automation Innovative? Your thoughts are appreciated and please SHARE this post if you think your connections will find it of interest. 👉 Comment, follow or connect to COLLABORATE on your automation for increased productivity. Adding value on the WHY, WHAT and HOW of Automation! What are you working on that I can help with? https://lnkd.in/enBx9cCs #industry40 #automation #productivity #robots