189: The Power of Your Team in Building Hardware Innovations

08/18/23 • 18 min

Paul McEnroe is the creator, developer, and leader behind UPC barcodes for IBM. The work he did is still the standard over 50 years later on almost all products worldwide. Since then he has been the head of engineering and eventually President for hardware companies, and sits on a number of boards and educational institutions. Today Paul is going to share some valuable knowledge for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on the type of team you need to build for your hardware product, how to manage that team, and how to ensure smooth communication so that your team can make sure your new hardware product is a big success.

Today you will hear us talk about:

When you see someone that has a huge part of the market, and they aren’t doing it well, you know there is lots of opportunity for new innovation.
Innovation and execution does not happen overnight, it can take years to get it built, then to market, then to scale.
The power of team in building a new hardware product
Ensure you have a great technical team in building a hardware product, especially as a hardware.
Have experience in fields that you do not have yourself.
What do you want to do with your product, and how does that bring about a team?
Each team member can not be focusing just on themselves, they need to recognize the power of the whole.
What do you want others to do?
Communicate openly, in both directions
Individual Skills, Whole goal, and communication.
You have your people, the designers and engineers in the shop,
Explain it in simple terms to people that have the money, or are buying the product.
To improve your business communication among your team, learn some of the skills of a college debate team.
Put your mind in the place of the person you are communicating with, not just your own perspective.
Ensure that everyone on your team is in full understanding.
Help out the quieter people in the room, as their insight is potentially just as important.
Make yourself, as the leader, as available as can be.
If someone comes up with an issue, do not let it bubble up, especially interpersonal issues.

Paul McEnroe Links:

LinkedIn | Book

The Product Startup Podcast Links:

https://www.ProductStartup.com/

Mako Design Links:

https://www.makodesign.com/

Kevin Mako Links:

Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter

Partner: PTC’s best-in-class software solutions Onshape: The only cloud-native product development platform that delivers full-featured computer-aided design (CAD), integrated product data management (PDM) and enterprise analytics in a single system, and Creo: 3D CAD solution that provides designers with the most innovative tools to build better products faster, such as generative design, additive manufacturing, real-time simulation, IIoT, and augmented reality.

Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer ...

Today you will hear us talk about:

When you see someone that has a huge part of the market, and they aren’t doing it well, you know there is lots of opportunity for new innovation.
Innovation and execution does not happen overnight, it can take years to get it built, then to market, then to scale.
The power of team in building a new hardware product
Ensure you have a great technical team in building a hardware product, especially as a hardware.
Have experience in fields that you do not have yourself.
What do you want to do with your product, and how does that bring about a team?
Each team member can not be focusing just on themselves, they need to recognize the power of the whole.
What do you want others to do?
Communicate openly, in both directions
Individual Skills, Whole goal, and communication.
You have your people, the designers and engineers in the shop,
Explain it in simple terms to people that have the money, or are buying the product.
To improve your business communication among your team, learn some of the skills of a college debate team.
Put your mind in the place of the person you are communicating with, not just your own perspective.
Ensure that everyone on your team is in full understanding.
Help out the quieter people in the room, as their insight is potentially just as important.
Make yourself, as the leader, as available as can be.
If someone comes up with an issue, do not let it bubble up, especially interpersonal issues.

Paul McEnroe Links:

LinkedIn | Book

The Product Startup Podcast Links:

https://www.ProductStartup.com/

Mako Design Links:

https://www.makodesign.com/

Kevin Mako Links:

Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter

Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer ...

Previous Episode

188: Use Inventor Narrative to Design Great Hardware Products

Suresh Sethi is a Professor in Industrial Design at the University of Illinois. Prior to that, he ran a product design studio for 15 years, and before that, was a VP and Design Director at Whirlpool, among other high-level design roles at various companies. Today Suresh is going to share some valuable knowledge for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on why customer storytelling is so important in the early development phases of designing a new physical consumer product invention, and how to best maximize the success of your product through the findings from his Ph.D. thesis on this very subject.

Today you will hear us talk about:

Creating products is about connecting to the business world.
Feasible in terms of cost and the ability to sell in the market.
Optimized material for the least waste in designing the product.
Remove ego from design.
Understand the client’s story and the meaning of the product.
No product designers work in isolation, so you create an ecosystem that works together.
Ability to understand and communicate.
What leads a designer to love the form of their design?
By focusing on the story and making a better product to fulfill that story, you will inadvertently create a more profitable and marketable product.
It is the connection between people and the opportunity of the product.
Evoke emotions
Building a connection with your product
People remember stories, not products
People remember experiences, not products
Creating a product that people want.
Communicating clearly
If your product doesn’t make a profit, your story doesn’t work either.
Products come out of your own life experiences.
Use narratives to design and build a product to
Think about the business, not just the product.
Connect emotionally with your customers.
Create a name that is memorable.
Design simple and timeless forms.

Suresh Sethi Links:

The Product Startup Podcast Links:

https://www.ProductStartup.com/

Mako Design Links:

https://www.makodesign.com/

Kevin Mako Links:

Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter

Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as o...

Next Episode

190: Ethnocentric Design for Your Invention

Thomas Ask is a Professor of Industrial Design at Penn College, which stands as a sibling institution to Penn State. With extensive experience spanning over three decades in the realm of hardware product development, he has also played pivotal roles in nurturing two hardware startups. Thomas's academic journey culminated in the acquisition of a PhD in Industrial Design, further enhancing his expertise. Today, Thomas is going to share some valuable knowledge for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on what ethnocentric design is, why it is valuable for a hardware startup, and the process to ensure you do a great job at getting inside the mind of your customer so that you can best achieve both design and sales success for your invention product.

Today you will hear us talk about:

Defining what ethnocentric design
Different cultures
Different demographics
Subject matter expert
Inventing something and inventing something for someone
A lot of design and invention has ego, but you should take out the ego. Instead, look at data.
Identify the problem.
Develop empathy for the user. What is going on in their life.
Interview your customer, or prospective customer types.
Formal ethnographic techniques.
Processes, understand the user, ideation, feedback.
Ideation is where you create ideas to match and infuse them to what you have learned from your customer.
Cultural consensus questionnaire
First, ensure your end customers are the correct people.
A structured questionnaire.
Human observation.
Many people don’t want radical change from traditional methods, even if it is better.
If it doesn’t work well and it is not intuitive, people will not use it.
A dynamic feedback loop ensures success.