Events back in the northeast

My new Mac Pro arrived -- just as I was about to attend a DMI Webinar.

I used Jack's laptop (easier for the conferencing connection) and set up my recording equipment: external microphone, not one but two tape recorders, in addition to the

old fashioned watching & listening & taking notes with pencil and paper. Brian Matt was talking about Innovation versus Design Thinking. He spend more than half the time on conceptualizing relevant innovation -

from the ideation process through three criteria of (1) alignment with the company, (2) differentiation as the source of competitive advantage, and (3) experience creating consumer relevance.

His comments on design thinking were brief: the word "design has been misused, even by designers. Design thinking is too vague, average marketing people don't know how to identify "design." For a trained person it is OK, an untrained person cannot talk about it. Design thinking is a process, relevant innovation is what you (as a designer) do with that process.

The presentation is supposed to be posted to the DMI web soon, so maybe I won't need any of my own traces!

Back to unpacking my new mac, following the instructions to set it up -- first power, second internet, third transfer files ... I haven't completed this part yet. Instead I admired my new purchase in its case (in front) and lamented the amount

of discarded materials.