Ideas Maverick Blog by Preetham Venkky

The battle shall go on for time immemorial as shall the debate of Designers vs Engineers, Women vs Men, Vaio vs Laptops, Cufflinks vs Buttons. While most would prefer to have both (form as well as function), constraints in the real world categorise products into having either one of the features and rarely, both.

Which one of the attributes is suitable and when? This is a dilemma most entrepreneurs have to deal with when making a mass audience (B2C) offering (product or service). The answer lies in understanding the Repetitiveness Factor at core-user-interaction levels. What do I mean by that? Simple. Let’s take the instance of a stereo system (big speakers, amplifier, sub-woofer, the works!). The user interacts with the system on multiple levels; at the first level he interacts with the system only visually – he glances at it as he passes by each morning and evening; at the second level he interacts with the system with a sense of touch – he rotates the knobs or presses the buttons on the remote; and finally, at the third (core) level he interacts with the system by listening to the quality of sound produced by it. Since, the user interacts with the stereo more repeatedly at the first level than at the core level, it is clear that the Repetitiveness Factor (Rp Factor) at the core-user-interaction level is rather small.

The solution is quite evident. On a broad basis, it would be sound advise to incline towards Form, if the Rp Factor at the core is lesser than the Rp Factor at any other level. And it would make sense to concentrate more on Function, if the Rp Factor at the core level is more than at any other level.

The explanation can be used to better understand the runaway success of Wii game console despite having stiff competition from contemporaries such as Sony’s Playstation and Microsoft’s X Box 360. Users interact with the Wiimote more repeatedly at its core level (they toss it, swing it, slam it, shake it, spin it) than at any other level; which is probably why the Wii console and the Wiimote look very simple & un-bevelled but pack quite a punch in the ‘function’ department. The same principle can be extended to understand the choice of Google during the launch of its search service (Hint: Function over Form).

As a closing note, I would request the reader to NOT employ this analysis during the prudent selection of a mate *winks*.

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There probably couldn’t be a worse time for anyone to start a blog. After the most recent attacks on India, our newspaper publications don’t know how to appropriately title the recent terror attacks in Mumbai. For the Americans it was nine-eleven (9/11), for the Brits it was seven-seven (7/7) – how can you get around titling a terror attack spread across three days? Unless, you STOP calling it a terrorist attack and call it what it is – WAR.

This blog post was never intended to discuss the events of the past week, but instead, I wanted to discuss the ideal path to greatness (or martyrdom) without going kaput. There is a reason to it… While it’s easy to reward those who died in the line of duty, I am always at a loss to understand as to why is it that all those other men (and women) in the line of duty not rewarded in a similar fashion. Is their service somehow less potent because of the lack of one unfortunate attribute – DEATH? While the ways of the world continue to puzzle me, there is a savvy way to achieve greatness without having to sacrifice one’s life. Just follow the simple three-step plan below:

1. Choose a VALUE proposition,
2. SACRIFICE all other options, and
3. Be CONSISTENT.

Whether it was Mahatma K Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr. or Cyrus Broacha for that matter, they have all achieved greatness by following the above 3-step plan. Cross-referencing each step with each personality, we get the following analysis:

VALUE - MKG: Non-violence, NM: Anti-apartheid, MLK: Civil-rights, CB: Bakra-chap
SACRIFICE – They all sacrificed options to be an engineer or a lawyer or  a doctor.
CONSISTENT – They have never wavered from their ideology and have never been ‘confused’.

The three-step plan isn’t limited to just individuals, but can be extended to organisations, groups or communes. In place of the personalities above, please feel free to insert, Apple, BMW, Mont Blanc etc. They are all great ‘brands’ and have achieved their greatness one step at a time. Martyrdom sans death.

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Content is from my original post at ‘Idea Couture’ on TypePad.

In the beginning, there was Heaven and ‘Earth’!

Most books start with a prologue, an introduction, a foreword, a preface or an exordium; but I’d rather choose – the alpha (first greek alphabet), to start my blog with. While most blogs turn out to be subject (or discipline) specific, ‘Ideas Maverick’ will inspire people in all realms of knowledge. Whether it’s internet, philosophy, sociology, science, business, networking, branding, marketing or plain old common sense, everyone will find something they can relate to, on this blog.

While you can understand the author behind the blog a little better by going through my ‘About‘ pages, I would still like to confess that only unique ideas, innovations and inspirations will occupy the pages of this blog. The practices, processes and strategies of various brands may come under critical scrutiny, and for that I sincerely apologize in advance.

Lastly, I would like to emphasize that sheer ‘common sense’ and its practice shall be the sole objective of this blog. If readers find that I am deviating from such a purpose, I would urge you to mail me a howler, or even better, send me a rotten banana in the mail.

Please feel free to share your comments, your screams, your frustrations, your joy, your elation or any other feelings you might have; I would only welcome them with an open keyboard.

I would like to leave you with a very interesting video which educates us on the happenings at CERN. Admittedly, it’s quite enjoyable to learn facts about the world’s largest particle accelerator (Large Hadron Collider) with a rap tune, and at over 2 million views it has made quite a flutter. And if you’re still reading this, then quite obviously, the world hasn’t come to an end. So, with a random collision of blog and anti-blog, I present to you – Ideas Maverick.

Photo Credit - Damien DeBarra

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