Generational Cycles – Judy Blume

Darrell Mann

“I was goddamn lucky those books were part of the usual fare on the shelves of my public middle school library. My sudden guilt at age 33 about omitting [Judy] Blume from my influence list led me to … Read More

Deming’s Fourteen Points & Innovation

Darrell Mann

When there was such a thing, I was a regular attender at British Deming Association meetings and conferences. This was the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Deming’s thinking – in the UK at least – was at … Read More

Biology – Wraparound Spider

Darrell Mann

Time to add more species to the list of animals who have perfected the art of camouflage. Known as the wrap-around spiders, Dolophones is a genus of spider found primarily in Australia and Oceania. The genus contains 17 … Read More

Patent of the Month – Joining Dissimilar Materials

Darrell Mann

Our patent of the month this month takes us to a quartet of inventors at the Battelle Memorial Institute in Washington State. US10,369,748 was awarded to the team on August 6. The invention takes us on a rare … Read More

Measuring Innovation ROI – #1 Big Picture

Darrell Mann

“When we try to pick out anything by itself we find that it is bound fast by a thousand invisible cords that cannot be broken, to everything in the universe.” John Muir

“To demand … Read More

Biology – Fogstand Beetle

Darrell Mann

Stenocara gracilipes, also known as the fogstand beetle, is a species of beetle that is native to the Namib Desert of southern Africa. This is one of the most arid areas of the world, receiving only 14mm of … Read More

Generational Cycles – Jordan Peterson – Hero To Heroes

Darrell Mann

In a polarized world, there aren’t many more polarizing figures at the moment than Jordan Peterson, the man responsible for the publishing phenomena that is, ‘Twelve Rules For Life’. Peterson was born in Canada in June 1962. Which … Read More

Constructed Crisis?

Darrell Mann

The main thesis of last month’s Book of the Month, Crisis & Renewal, is that real change only happens when there is a crisis. This creates a potential problem for innovation teams, because, turning the book’s finding the … Read More

Patent of the Month – Plasmonic Structures

Darrell Mann

We head to the University of Manchester for our patent of the month this month. US10,345,490 was granted on July 9 to a trio of inventors, two of whom are Nobel-Prize winners. Andre Geim and Konstantin Novos won … Read More

EpiPens & Natasha’s Law

Darrell Mann

This is a photo of Natasha Ednan-Leparouse, recently boarded on a plane from Heathrow to Nice in the South of France. Approximately two hours after this photo was taken, Natasha was tragically pronounced dead. She suffered from extreme … Read More

Generational Cycles – Childhood Sweethearts

Darrell Mann

Psychologists from Sigmund Freud forward have generally agreed: our core attitudes about life are largely locked in by age five or so. Changing those attitudes requires intense effort.

Neil Howe and William Strauss took this obvious truth and … Read More

Depression Leverage Points

Darrell Mann

From Matt Haig’s book, ‘Reasons To Stay Alive’ (Reference 1):

We have a project looking at Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at the moment. The Director of the National Institute of Mental Health and the Department of Veterans … Read More

Biology – Polysphincta Wasp

Darrell Mann

Wasps. Subject of four previous ezine features. Wasps break records. Evil records. We’ve had two different parasitic wasps (Issue 148 and Issue 184) and this month we hear about a zombie-making species.

Setting off a startling chain of … Read More

Patent of the Month – Fusion Power (Almost)

Darrell Mann

For the most part, the words ‘nuclear’ and ISIS don’t really belong in the same sentence these days. Fortunately, the ISIS in question here is ISIS Innovation Ltd, an offshoot of Oxford University. I’m assuming the company was … Read More

Boeing 737 Max

Darrell Mann

I worked fifteen years in the aerospace industry at the start of my career. Safety was everything, something that united the whole industry. When planes fall out of the sky it is not good news for anyone. Therefore, … Read More

Generational Cycles – A Star Is (Re-) Born

Darrell Mann

The Star Is Born story has become an iconic one: Fading star discovers and nurtures the next generation star, and then dies. It is a classic Hero’s Journey tale. One with, quite literally, a death of the ‘old’ … Read More

Biology – Spittlebug

Darrell Mann

The froghoppers, or the superfamily Cercopoidea, are a group of hemipteran insects in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha. Adults are capable of jumping many times their height and length, giving the group their common name. They are perhaps best known, … Read More

Physical Contradictions: Solving Or Managing?

Darrell Mann

“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” Albert Einstein

For me, the physical contradiction part of TRIZ/SI still remains the weakest part of the toolkit. Something has been niggling … Read More

Patent of the Month – Strengthening Member

Darrell Mann

We head to the Motor City for our patent of the month this month, to a trio of inventors at Ford. Their strengthening-member patent, US10,279, 842, was granted on 7 May. Here’s what the trio has to say … Read More

The Innovation ‘Golden Triangle’

Darrell Mann

98% of all innovation attempts end in failure. 98% of all TRIZ-originated innovation attempts end in failure. 98% of all Design-Thinking-originated innovation attempts end in failure. The same 98% figure applies to almost every problem-solving tool, method or … Read More