The Architecture of 2nd Life

Well - its here, its not perfect - but 2nd Life and virtual space (including BIM) apprear to be the next frontier for architecture and planners of all types.

The limitations with the technology restrict design to template approaches. However, there are interesting experiements in this meta-universe exploring design, collaboration, business models and social networking.

"Architecture's Second Life" provides an excellent review (click here) of the potential and current limitations within Second Life. Please take a look at LOL Architects - a virtual business producing real life products.

"Tor Lindstrand is RITS professor and founder of LOL. His research deals with performance, architecture and networks, offline and on. Much of his work is explored through International Festival, "a long-term project that operates between architecture and performance, emphasizing the performative potentiality of space and relations."

Operation MIndshift - Political? Hmmm.

How do we align all of the competing interests; end-user, developer, architect, general contractor, vendors and society? Is this at heart a political operation? Are we able to achieve a system with intrinsic motivation or simply a modification of extreme extrinsic motivation?

"Some designers will argue that we design according to the preferences of our target market; British academic Steven Lukes, who posited the theory of preference-shaping would say that leaders do not merely respond to the preferences of constituents--leaders also shape preferences. (Industrial designers might find themselves using design to reinforce the "maleness" of power tools, for example.)

As design educator Katherine McCoy says, "Design is not a neutral value-free process." ' She contends that corporate work of even the most innocuous content is never devoid of political bias."

"Crucially, good user-centred designers look at a problem from the point of view of the user, not the priorities of the system, institution or organisation. You could say that user-centred design is a political standpoint in itself. Designers observe people in context to understand the complex experiences, needs and wishes of individuals, and are able to represent and champion those needs throughout the design process. "

"Most debates on sustainable design revolve around this question. When asked, many designers say that their job is to do what the client wants. But as Rick Poynor points out, this is an abnegation of responsibility. "The decision to concentrate one's efforts as a designer on corporate projects, or advertising, or any other kind of design, is a political choice."6 If you fulfill the brief, you choose to agree. "

"So yes, design is political. It's about values, power and preferences, about ideologies and consequences. And the good news is that there's a growing breed of designers who are political with a small p. They're not campaigning, but problem solving; they're not "master-designers," but democratic in approach. They're using their skills as designers to illustrate, create and demonstrate opportunities for social change. But the reason for their emergence is that the politics of design itself has changed."

Operation Mindshift begins by uncovering the deeper intrinsic and extrinsic motivations behind all of the value members. As Bill Black pointed out - we need a new lexicon, a new metric and a new way to look in the mirror.

Manifesto for Agile Software Development

I get excited describing to friends the operation we've undertaken. Quite often they say, "hey, that sounds similar to what this group over here is doing." A friend at lunch told me about the Agile Software movement. Thanks to Jason and the wisdom of crowds.

Welcome to the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Click on the above green title and see what they are doing in more detail.

We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.

Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Working software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

Books like eXtreme Project Management and several describing Toyota's culture and process point to these common principles. We may be on the front edge of where our industry is headed but certainly not alone, with several industries and companies who have been blazing this trail for several years.

Visualization - the Wow and Aha!

Bill Black made a statement that has stayed with me this entire trip.

Broken systems track the wrong statistics because performance indicators track the wrong variables.

I started asking what are those right statistics and how can we show a more realistic correlation. We've stripped the capacity of spreadsheets to aid in visualizing our complex challenges. The best we can hope for are X/Y axis charts to show inter-related data or statistics.

We will need truly intreactive visualiztion tools that correrlate multiple data points providing dynamic analysis.

So what could this look like?

Here are a few sites to invest some quality time. Take a comfortable seat, get a choice beverage and prepare to get lost in some fascinating statiscits (no this is not an oxymoron). I spent hours on a site called Gapminder (click on the name). This organizations deals with world poverty and development - however - it provides its software to organizations that want similarly map complex inter-related data.

Imagine potential applications for Operation Mindshift: we might collect data like the linear feet of single use drywall, the waste factor, energy use, timeline, cost of change, waste from changes and then plug in AI walls and visually watch the impact on all of these factors. We might create a similar senario with life-cycle cost providing a dynamic look of reaching break even.

One of these charts, properly defined, could tell the whole story of the difference between a collaborative process vs. the current model.

I'm eager to get feedback on this one.

The Cluetrain Mindsift

1999 - Christopher Locke and three stout Internet pioneers wrote a book about the overlooked significance of the web. While most were absorbed by the technical wizardry these gentlemen pronounced the world clueless regarding the web's power, purpose and potential.

Cluetrain Manifesto is still worth reading. It was, perhaps, the first book to recognize how the Internet changes the following Mindsets:

• Constituents are finding their "Voices"
• These voices are hungry to speak back
• Advertisers have to change from hype to conversations
• Marketers need to shift focus from demographics to people
• Companies need to move from packaging (which is suspect) to transparency
• Clients will avoid push messages and gravitate to those who repond to pull requests

Remember - this was written almost 8 years ago.

The book is now free online (click here).

Sustainabililty - A Strategic Opportunity

I recommend linking to the Mindshift Innovation site to listen to Businessweek's Podcast about corporate sustainabililty.

We've reached a tipping point from several drivers; the need, public awareness, European legislation, $4 trillion in equity funds for sustainability, technological breakthroughs, growing business opportunities for sustainable solutions in developing countries and the lead of several high profile corporations.

Here is a list of the Top 100 Green companies sorted by country (click here.)

Haworth has an opportunity to leverage the learning in Project Mindshift to open doors with these Top 100 firms, Innovest and other firms moving in this direction.

Brainstorm opportunities:

• A Global Sales position focused entirely on companies with strategic sustainability objectives.
• A Global Ideation service helping companies identify sustainable resources and developing holistic metrics to evaluate their efforts.

Innovest is the Canadian company that developed the rating system for the Top 100 Green Companies that Businessweek highlighted. The intriguing service that Innovest provides is quantifying Intangible Values.

One Sentence - One Mission - One Exciting Ride!

Project Mindshift will drive systemic change to the process of designing, delivering and occupying commercial real estate, improving the holistic value by raising the long term environmental, social and financial bottom line results for all all stakeholders.

Be sure to link to the latest installment of
Mindshift Innovation.