E-bike update. Here goes:

I strongly believe that consistent excellence in any domain requires a solid command of the underlying principles at work. In fact, I believe this so strongly that when I embarked on my design career I read literally hundreds of books on design theory, human factors and psychology, and eventually wrote one: The Ten Principles Behind Great Customer Experiences.

Principles are great because they give you a starting point for informed decision-making, help you innovate rather than just imitate and lead to more consistent success. Once you know that F=MA, the world is your oyster.

The problem is I know little about the principles at work when it comes to the design of a bike, e-bike or motorcycle chassis. Enter Tony Foale’s Motorcycle Handling and Chassis Design — The Art and Science, which I read last week. 

A bit heavy going — maths and physics are not really my strength, and it is hundreds of pages long — but I was able to take the first vital step of transitioning from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence. From here at least I know which questions to ask and research further.

Also, a little lesson for anyone else embarking on a new project: tell people. 

My post about the project last week — intended to increase my “luck surface area” — brought plenty of new connections, DMs, advice and offers of assistance from a diverse cross section of people at minimal effort. This is a key idea in Mastering Uncertainty and as with the rest of the advice in the book, it works. 

Duh. :)

See this post on LinkedIn