Reflections on Yahoo!’s Hack Day

Yahoo! Bangalore recently had a Hack Day – A day where one can Innovate and present Ideas. It’s a competition where people have to work the whole day –make a prototype and present it in the evening.

There were amazingly 92 presentations at the end of the day. Being from a non-coding background does add some handicaps but it thankfully gives a broader spectrum for thinking. I’m saying this after watching most of the ideas done by coders/engineers.

One think that I figured out was that “Engineers design systems for themselves or for other Engineers”… “Geeks designing for Geeks”.

Though they must be very good in what they do; but they forget the basic Principle of Design – Design is for “others”.

Making a process simpler from messaging from Windows to Linux is cool. But there are bigger issues that need to be solved for common people. That’s I guess the basic difference in the Point of View of Engineers and Designers.

Engineering Education should include the aspects of design. The day Engineers change their perception about design…we designers won’t be needed.

And yes my idea also made it through the top 10 :)

Be hungry and be foolish

I wanted to write this blog for so many months. But finally I’m writing it today.

I read a very motivating speech by Steve Jobs (he indeed has lot of VISION as far as design is concern). The thing that caught my eye was a phase in his speech “Be hungry and be foolish”. Reading this and I said “…woow this is so cool…”

Why is it so important…

Firstly, some great ideas are lost because we believe they are foolish.

Secondly, you need guts to be foolish

Thirdly, no one can be intelligent all the time.

Lastly, even if you can manage to be intelligent; it’s so boring to be intelligent all the time.

The hunger to innovate or thing is FUEL that charges a person to create. When you are hungry you are willing to take risk and think out of the box. If you are satisfied you are DEAD.