Most of us think of ourselves as creative people. But we’re really not. In fact, some studies show that our creativity peaks when we are in kindergarten, and takes a steady slide south by the time we graduate from high school. I’d argue that it’s even worse for engineers, as most of our focus never gets beyond meeting minimum requirements at the lowest possible cost. It’s a concept that seems to be in force when we see the latest motorcycles from the major manufacturers, often with nothing newer than paint and decals.
I’m an engineer and I feel comfortable saying the above, and I’m not alone in that regard. Many of the engineering managers I’ve known feel their engineers are not particularly creative. So much so, in fact, that I was asked to develop a course on engineering creativity several years ago, and it’s one I’ve since taught in the US and overseas many times. And in order to do that, I wrote a book covering 16 preferred creativity tools…
Unleashing Engineering Creativity includes a collection of quotes I thought I’d share with you…
Everything that can be invented has been invented.
– Charles H. Duell, Director of US Patent Office, 1899
Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?
– Harry M. Warner, Warner Bros Pictures, 1927
Heavier than air flying machines are impossible.
– Lord Kelvin, President, Royal Society, 1895
The horse is here today, but the automobile is only a novelty – a fad.
– Michigan Savings president, advising against investing in Ford
Video won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.
– Daryl F. Zanuck, 20th Century Fox, commenting on television, 1946
What use could the company make of an electric toy?
– Western Union, when it turned down rights to the telephone, 1878
And my personal favorite, one I’ve heard many times in my life…
We’ve always done it this way…
– Unknown
All this begs the questions:
What’s the next big thing in motorcycle design?
Where it will come from?
Are other businesses or industries are doing things that might make a new motorcycle more fun?
There’s a creativity technique called lateral benchmarking, which involves looking outside your industry for new ideas. Southwest Airlines greatly reduced their turnaround times after studying how NASCAR pit crews worked. Is there something a company not in the motorcycle business is doing that would work well in a new motorcycle?
Kano modeling is another creativity technique in which you identify and assess potential cool features not expressed by the customer, but once experienced by a potential customer cinch the sale. I bought a Corvette in 2004 when I saw its Heads Up Display.
I would have never imagined I needed such a thing, but I worked on the F-16 HUD back in the ’70s, and when I saw it in the Z06 I knew I had to have that car. What’s out there that’s supercool and might be incorporated in the next cool motorcycle?
Hey, do you have any motorcycle ideas? Let us know about them, and we’ll toss them up here on the ExNotes blog for comment.
One of the pages on the ExhaustNotes.us site lists the books we’re written. Surprisingly, since we’ve launched the site, Unleashing Engineering Creativity has enjoyed a nice sales spike. I guess there are a lot of engineers following ExNotes. That’s cool, and thanks very much, folks!
Let’s wrap this one up with two thoughts. First, please add your email address to our subscribers list (it’s the widget in the top right corner of this page). You’ll find out the instant we post a new blog, and we’ll never provide your email address to anyone else. And second…what are your ideas on new features that might entice you to buy a new motorcycle? Let us know!
Measure twice, cut as many times as it takes to get it right.
-Tom Maioli
The way I heard it was “measure twice, cut once,” but the way you describe it, Tom, is what frequently is reality. Our good buddy Rob M. might have a few thoughts on this…
I predict directional exhaust systems. DES would allow spent gases to be aimed in any direction the rider chooses. This breakthrough will forever settle the “noise goes back” argument against loud pipes.
With DES a motorcyclist would be able to use otherwise wasted sonic energy to blast that left-turner into a quivering, deaf, oxygen starved tomorrow.
Hmmmm. You might be on to something there. When I rode the City Slicker, the lack of any noise was a bit disturbing. I think a bike needs to make noise and make itself noticeable. Loud clutches save lives, as the Ducatista say.
One of the most deadly things I see in the real world is people surrounding themselves with “yes” men/women. One cannot have creativity in such a situation. Instead, one needs to embrace opposing ideas and discover/uncover the nugget of truth hidden in-between. Hard to do. But necessary as a team. Corporate America is chock full of teams with little to no diversity (and I’m not talking about races here — I’m talking about differing points of view). Guys like Jobs and Musk know how to assemble such teams. Google will reward you if you can show that your project will fail ahead of time — imagine that! Getting a pat on the back — and a bonus — for failing (fast).
I did not know that about Google, but I think it is a splendid idea. A key risk management technique is to tackle high risk tasks first (which goes against what most of us like to do), so if they can’t be solved the project can be killed before too much time and money are invested.
Great inputs; thanks for your comments.