Meryn Stol

In Common Good: Meryn Stol voted up an answer. Jacob Wheadon There are a number of methods that product designers employ when trying to come up with new ideas. Most are fairly similar and all have to do with observing people. My preferred method is the Jobs-To-Be-Done approach used by Innosight, an innovation consulting firm based in Boston. It basically entails thinking of products not as things that people own, but as things that people hire to do certain jobs. When you observe people and their interactions with products in that light, you quickly see that many products aren't completely aligned with the job the person is hiring them to do. You may find that many people doing different jobs are hiring one product to do them all (and none of the jobs are getting done as well as they could). This provides opportunities to offer a new product that more specifically addresses the job. This same type of observation will also help you see people that need a job done but don't have the... - Meryn Stol

In Common Good: Meryn Stol voted up an answer. Steve Poland Everytime you do something, write out the process you just went through. How can you make it simpler and more user-friendly? Consumers may not complain about a process, but that's not to say they wouldn't like a simpler one -- they have merely come to accept the existing process. Keep track of these processes and "why" questions in a notepad or document. Square, Inc. has questioned the purchase process and is tackling to make it simpler for consumers. i.e. "When I purchase something do I have to go into my wallet, pull out a credit card, swipe a credit card, wait for a machine to tell me I'm approved, wait for a receipt to print, wait to be handed the receipt from the cashier, sign the receipt, hand over the receipt, be given a copy of my receipt." See question on Quora - Meryn Stol

In Common Good: Meryn Stol voted up an answer. Xanthe Matychak from a design-thinking perspective, the key is to focus on human problems as opposed to tech problems, and be sure to have access to the people you are designing for so that you can design with them. See question on Quora - Meryn Stol

In Common Good: Meryn Stol voted up an answer. Sean Smith Travel in the developing world. See question on Quora - Meryn Stol

In Node.js: Meryn Stol added an answer. Meryn Stol Command line tools. Dekstop apps (using node-webkit). See question on Quora - Meryn Stol

In Self-Improvement: Meryn Stol followed a question. 6 Answers See question on Quora - Meryn Stol