Monday, April 17, 2017

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.
Posted by at
Labels: , , ,