McColgin #11

Kaizen is the flushed out version of the concept that a good design is continual redesign. I had always taken it that the redesign concept meant that you would spend forever developing a product and then when you thought it was perfect, redesign it again. However, as quoted by Joe Kraus, "perfect is the enemy of the good." If you know that you are going to redesign something and make it better, then why not create a product that is good enough that benefits users and is initially simpler, then as feedback comes in, develop the product and refine it continually after it is produced. But if the product never reaches the consumers hands, there is no way to help the consumer nor is there any source of income.

My group tends to slip into the technology centered design mindset easily. One example of something we thought of was the concept of a smart table that had a built in menu. When someone clicked on a food item, it became a life size image of the food as well as vents on the edge of the table would release the smell that the food would release. Both of these were cool designs, and we kept running with the ideas trying to develop more and more technology and interaction with the users. Now, after thinking about the concept of Kaizen, I believe that a lot of these features could be stripped away. One of the first things that could be stripped away would be the smell the meal before hand feature. Now, while the restaurant was being produced the company could be doing research on how to make that easier, but if the entire restaurant is delayed in coming out due to one small feature, then potential money is being lost, as well as money for the project is burning up and the restaurant might fall under before it could even begin.