Show Notes for AppsJack Podcast Episode 6 - Delivering Products and Services

We had a great conversation with some seriously smart and educated peeps about the future of product & service delivery, differences between products and services, virtual reality, robotics, human needs and work.  Listen soon!

• Topic: Delivering Products and Services
• Recorded 4/15/17 in West Seattle, WA
• Guests: Josh Bosworth, Steve Kubacki, Ele Munjeli, Andrew Sengul

Section 1 - Definitions and Examples - Differences and commonalities between delivering products & services - Differences between what makes a product and service themselves

• Eli
  • Beyond staff augmentation
  • Bundling services into a product
  • Services as they interact are discreet
  • Better to think of services as products
  • Can't / don't want to sell "golden handcuffs"
  • "Productized services"
  • Product is the mature interface of the service
  • Cloud is / was abstract and nebulous but truly is concrete and needs to be
  • Virtues of productizing services
  • Have a set price for the service is a key maturity step
  • Continuing to abstract and simplify
  • Mass customization as a goal for infrastructure
  • "Nobody misses the cashiers."
  • We don't idealize servants (people in services) because of democracy.
• Andrew
  • Toil is linear work that doesn't scale
  • Can toil be eliminated?
• Josh
  • Do services necessarily have humans involved?
  • Shovel example
  • Shovel ordering today - digitally
  • Old ways of getting shovels
  • Outcomes of services
• Eric
• Product as a metaphor for maturity

Section 2 - The ideal role for humans in our business and work processes - Functions to reserve for humans - what we should not automate - ethics

• Josh
  • The power of human massage and touch. Irreplaceable?
  • Analysis as part of the sales/delivery process seems to still be appreciated.
  • User reviews the "analog" of storytelling in the digital domain.
• Eric
  • Ripple effects caused by small human interactions.
  • The idea of 'displacement' when people are no longer needed in systems/processes/supply chains.
  • Need to think systematically to plan to pick up the waste and displacement (delta) from a previous change. This has always been a thing.
• Ele
  • Differences between "good service" and just plain service.
  • We don't like to see servants (people in service/delivery processes).
  • "The new paradigm of work."
  • Now mass customization, not mass production.
• Steve
  • The importance of human touch for human development.
  • Need to create and reserve social connectedness.
  • Nature is unique and unpredictable, dynamic.
  • Humans have a draw to uniqueness.
  • Surgical outcomes are dramatically better if the doctor spends time talking to the patient.
  • Not all occupations suit everyone.
• Andrew
• Many automated processes lack storytelling.
• New economy and new job variety is very limited.

Section 3 - The future, the fidelity of virtual reality and the built world

• Andrew
  • The empathy box.
  • Journey the game.
  • A VR world for politicians who love fame but do it safely and virtually.
• Eric
  • Help the politicians by helping them get out of the way.
  • 5 Senses and fidelity: just how complete is the virtual thing?
• Josh
  • Experiences with VR.
  • Desire to see loved ones in VR space.
  • The VR hardware store and associate.
• Steve
  • The power of imagination.
  • We're kind of doing virtual reality in our minds.
  • VR and religion.
  • What do we want to practice in VR?
  • Directly vote through our machines to make decisions.
  • Make the world more diplomatic.
• Ele
• The human brain is kind of digital (neurons fire on and off).
• VR is a matter of fidelity.
• Dreams are a virtual experience.
• Use of VR in Taiwan to build empathy between people.
• VR to extend our humanity.
• VR to "visit your mother" and other loved ones.
• Politicians should be open source robots.
• VR as a place to be safely deviant.

Section 4 - The future of work, employment, toil and coercive situations - ideal jobs - pros and cons of automation

• Eric
  • The coin of automation. What is it?
• Ele
  • Automation as liberation technology; eliminating toil.
  • Automation is your super power.
  • Delegation is a kind of automation.
  • Need to teach automation, its pros and cons.
  • Automation as a spiritual practice. Recognize toil when you come across it. Design and decision-making / project management issue.
  • A personal journey to automate all of our own toil away.
  • Craft is not toil.
• Steve
  • Automation is not necessarily a good thing.
  • Automation creating more and more poor people.
  • The way we're dealing with automation is not working.
  • Does automation always create greater choice for the employee?
  • When things are automated, who are the beneficiaries (goes up to the top and to the automaters).
  • People need merit, accountability, decision-making so it is not toil.
  • Job, work environment and mindset all have an impact on what is toil and gives meaning.
• Andrew
  • Toil and non-toil tasks.
  • The cost of non-toil tasks.
• Josh
  • Toil very subjective and situational. Hard to generalize about it.