Straight From the Horse's Mouth with Tom Wailes
You Only See the Tip
by Christina Wodtke and Bill Wetherell on 2007/06/19 | [2 Comments]
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Christina Wodtke traveled with microphone to the IA Summit in Las Vegas this year and sat down with some of the most interesting and accomplished information archictects and designers in all the land. Bill Wetherell recorded those five conversations, and now B&A is proud to bring them to you. Thanks to AOL for sponsoring these podcasts.
You Only See the Tip In this cliffhanging podcast, Bill Wetherell wields the mic as he explores how Tom Wailes and his team at Yahoo! turned the normal design process on its head. They were successful, Wails posits, because they worked small and crafty while being inclusive in most useful ways.
If you are in a position where a new approach might reignite creativity and effectiveness in your organization, check out Tom’s thoughtful approach.
We discuss…
Innovation at Yahoo!
Tom talks about how his team at Yahoo! have completely reversed every day business processes to be more innovative and creative.
KISS methodology
Tom talks about the need to keep things simple and small; leading the process so creativity and innovation become part of the team culture.
Being one of the cool kids
Tom talks about the importance of involving everyone who wants to be part of such a team and how “Tiger teams” tend to intimidate preventing the whole team from realizing their potential.
Less can be more
Tom talks about the ice burg theory, how most of the work when creating brilliant design is unseen to the client. The best solutions are often the ones with the least amount of detail.
Is it Bond…James Bond?”
He goes on to describe how some parts of creating a design team involve communicating with everyone about the process; while other occasions merit a more stealth like approach around the office.
Readers' Comments (2)
shel israel
0 Reputation points
Posted 2007/07/02 @ 12:25PM with
Nice job. Very informative.
Austin Govella
491 Reputation points
Posted 2007/07/14 @ 18:14PM with
I totally agree that a lot of traditional documentation is unnecessary, but isn’t that the designers fault, and not the fault of either the process or the traditional document forms?
I’m curious if it’s the documentation that’s bullshit, or if as a culture, designers have adopted a lifestyle of intellectual laziness that lets us focus more on what we like (things that are cool) than on what we do (communicate).