Don't Jack With The Banana Bowl

Those of you who know me well know I have a mild case of OCD. I'm aware, and I'm okay with it. I've learned to accept that things that don't bother other people have the ability to make me all kinds of crazy.

There are a few of these tendencies that I've been made aware of recently:

• All clothes must be hung on hangers so that all of the clothes and hangers face the appropriate direction when hung in a given closet. This varies based on the closet, which leads to a kind of test hanging process every time I stay in a hotel.
• I'm a creature of habit. Things have to be done in the same order every time they're done. The more often I do something, the more I have to adhere to the habits. Screwing with my showering habits can ruin an entire day for me. I don't think having to shampoo my hair, then wash my face, then rinse everything, in that specific order, is too much to ask. After all, who would rinse their face before shampooing anyway. Craziness.
• I'm big on things being symmetrical. For instance, I see no reason that the bowl of bananas on our kitchen can't be perfectly centered on the island. This only seems logical from a safety perspective. The safest place for the bowl IS the farthest from any given edge, which happens to perfectly center the bowl on the table. If the bowl should move, I find myself centering it again. First, on one axis, then the other, and finally a re-check of the original axis. I've also found that the bananas can't be parallel to any particular axis. This goes against my general rules of symmetry, but I see no reason to try to make a bunch of bananas look symmetrical. It's just not aesthetically pleasing.
• There is no substitute for a properly molded pillow. It takes me months to get a pillow to the shape and condition that I prefer. This isn't really all that odd given the freakish size of my head. It would seem reasonable that a head so demanding in size should demand a very particular pillow layout. There are benefits to a static pillow arrangement though. The concept rules out silliness such as pillow fights, the random pillow fluffing, and changing of pillow cases. I fear the day that I'm forced to purchase a new pillow, so I actively try to not bring about such a day by not drooling or vomiting on my current pillow; sacrifices I find worth making.
  

Apparently, the OCD is all up it my junk when it comes to formatting paragraphs as well, because I couldn't end this post on a bullet point. Weird, I know. Probably the weirdest thing so far in this rant.

Storage, Vacuums, Automobiles, and Smarter Thinking

Warning: What follows is will likely be nerdy and full of techno jumble, so if you're so inclined, read on.

Everyone seems to be so freaking wound up about the next big thing in science and technology: quantum computers, hybrid cars, fuel cells, space elevators, and face transplants. Maybe it's because I'm cautious, or maybe just plain old cynical, but I get far more excited about an old thing that has morphed into something great. These things are not really disruptive or sustaining technologies in and of themselves, but rather innovative improvements to existing and common items. Allow me to offer some examples:

The Dyson Vacuum

Most people have heard of a Dyson vacuum. It's the cool yellow (or purple) vacuum that you see in stores all of the time now. It's expensive, quite trendy, and supposedly is the first vacuum to not lose suction over time. It is still a vacuum cleaner, just as the previous several generations used, but for several reasons, it's a better vacuum. It has far more suction than a regular vacuum, has a very intuitive design, and is easy to maintain. It looks nice, runs quietly, and is almost fun to watch because of how it displays all of the dirt and debris that you are sucking up. Is its integrated telescoping wand as "cool" as something like a computer-driven lawn mower? No way. Does it work, and work well? Quite so. The moral is that it's not a new kind of a magic oobie-doobie floor cleaning device, but rather a series of very directed and well designed improvements on an existing technology. Take that Hoover (who, by the way, refused to buy the technology from Dyson when he offered it to them.)

Network Appliance

Okay, this one isn't for any but the computer storage savvy, but it is a prime example of my point. Network Appliance started out as a company that created NAS storage servers. They did nothing but serve up file shares to Windows and NFS clients. Nothing all that cool about that, especially given that there are a million other vendors who claim they can do it better (including Micro$oft, but that's another rant...) Anyway, they've added features over time to make a common appliance into a world-class storage device. I'm not talking about some kind of a new processing engine or a new whiz-bang memory technology that blows away the competition. I'm talking about taking existing storage hardware and making it work more efficiently through better software technologies and better design. WAFL, RAID-DP, and Data ONTAP in general, are just a few examples of ways NetApp has made a common device into something much, much better. Again, they didn't re-invent the wheel, but they sure as hell got it to spin like no one else. Compare the NetApp line of products to anything that EMC, HDS, HP, IBM can offer, and I challenge you to find anyone that is being smarter about how they use and manipulate storage. Sure, the uber-high-end stuff from the big vendors might perform a little better (well, maybe not either...), but I challenge you to find anyone that is being as smart about how they design, innovate, and package their product.

Hyundai Motor Company

We all know who this company is, or at least anyone who has watched any commercials on television in the past several months. Hyundai is a foreign auto maker that makes, generally, fairly average vehicles. Yes, the new Sonata and Azera models look pretty slick, but in general, the cars are not super performers, ultra-efficient gas sippers, or anywhere close the pinnacle of luxury or style. So, why do I think that the Hyundai compares to the Dyson vacuum and Network Appliance? It has to do more with how the cars are manufactured than the cars themselves. Hyundai, in addition to trying to keep costs down the traditional way, have decided to automate as much of the assembly process as possible, much like other manufacturers. What they have done differently is that their goal was not to decrease costs by replacing workers, but to decrease costs by increasing the precision and quality of the vehicles. The more mechanically and electrically precise a vehicle is, the more that the assembly process can be automated. The transverse is true as well: the more an assembly process can be automated, the more precise the end product will be. Similarly, workers are dedicated wholly to jobs that are not well suited to automation, such as engine assembly, some electrical work, and overall control of quality. By putting the right tools in the right place, a more precise and qualified car is produced at a lower price. This also has a wonderful second-order effect: if a car is ultimately of better quality, it is less likely to fail. This is ultimately what allows a company like Hyundai to sell a high quality family-sized sedan with a 10-yr/100,000 mile warranty for under $20,000. Traditional American car companies have a lot of work to do to compete with this kind of mentality.


So I'm left with a question. Should a company/individual strive to make a better product, or should they strive to make a product better. After some pondering, I feel that continually making a product better by means of smart thinking will ultimately end up in a better product, so I don't think they're necessarily exclusive. I do think that the definition of "smart thinking" is something that I can not begin to understand other than by example. Better ask Dyson, NetApp, or Hyundai if you want a good answer to that question.