Having a baby on the way

No, as opposed to what most of the people in my life like to assume, I’m not pregnant. However, I feel like I’m having a baby on the way. We started working on our projects at the lab very intensely lately and in a way it feels like a pregnancy. The 'baby' is not really there, I don’t even have a real name for it, but I think about it all the time, I want to find ways to make his life easy as possible and make sure you will be perfectly ready when he comes out to the world. That’s my baby, or if to be precise that is our baby, our team.

Like in real life, every one of us have a different vision in his mind about this project, each one sees a different picture in his mind when we close our eyes and think about this baby we have on the way. The best case will be if we all have the same vision, but that will also said that no one was unique in the process, no one was necessary to the creation because we all had the same idea. The beautiful thing in this baby is that we all brought ourselves into this process.

The first few sessions were easy! We all had the same enthusiasm from the same things (well… almost) but when we got to the heart of the issue we could clearly see how different we all are. The easiest decisions are those that take hours to take. Every sentence in the page is a real creation of 4 different minds that changed it at least 4 or 5 times before it was written and saved in the document. We are spending hours together, on the phone, in the wave (Google that is) and on the couches in the CS-Communication lobby… and that is all before we really started working on the real thing.

I really hope we can all save our butterflies till the end of the way…

The Process of Creation

Woooow!!!!

I think that word (or whatever you’d like to call it) will best describe what I feel after the workshop we had at the lab with the HIT and Microsoft guys. I must admit that at first it was not really my idea of a good weekend – spend my Thursday evening and Friday morning at school, but with no doubts it was quite amazing.

OK… a few words that may help you understand what the hell I’m talking about.

Thursday evening at 17:30 we had a session at the media innovation lab involving 2 other groups. The first group is the HIT (Holon Institute of Technology) students from the industrial designed faculty. The second group is the Microsoft innovation lab team. The first day was all about brain storming, we got an idea to start with - a dreidel, that, was only the beginning… if you could only see or at least listen to the great ideas people had there you wouldn’t believe it all began from a dreidel.

To be honest, I was quite skeptic about this story from the beginning. Who could believe that we can create all of that and in such a short time?! Apparently, a beat of faith is all you need.

I had a great team – Efrat and Meital from the lab, Noga from the Microsot lab and Na’ama and Ofer from HIT lab. When we were asked to say what is a dreidel for us we all agreed that balance is the key word. We build a game that looks a little bit like an octopus that hold 5 long black pipes as legs and one clear pipe in the middle. The purpose of the game was to stand on the black pipes so the water in the tank will rise up until the line marked on the clear pipe. We marked 2 lines – lower and upper bounds and the purpose was to locate the water line exactly in the middle of both. If it was under the lower bound the game will cry “please, lift me up, oh.. please!” but if the water was over the upper bound it will start crying “oh no.. it’s too high, please let me get down…”.

The implementation was quite easy. We used two electrical circles and a very simple programming language designed especially for kids. The hard part was to keep the water in the tank and seal all the pipes and connections. All of the other groups had great project as well.

I came back home late but very pleased.

Storm

Ready, set, storm! Everyone was running towards the water. My heart was beating like crazy during my first triathlon this weekend. I kept thinking about those butterflies I talked about in my first post. And yes, they were there all along, up till the finish line, where I raised my hands up to the sky and smiled.

I learned a thing or two during this week. I learned that a good brainstorming is all about an open mind. You need to be cooperative with your team mates and be ready for the craziest ideas ever. You need to stop being realistic and suggest everything that pops up in your mind. Some of the most non-realistic ideas may lead to the best ideas you have ever imagined. Don’t be afraid to open your mind, but be aware of the fact that you need to be able to focus on the best solution for the problem you are trying to solve. It’s funny that when asked to draw a picture best describing a brainstorm, most people will draw the sun, not much of a storm image is it?! But if you think about it in a more abstract way, some people may say that a process like brainstorming enlightens you, so the sun makes sense in a way

Dream On – About Innovative Thinking

There is no such thing as a recipe for innovation – that is what I always thought. Amnon Levav from SIT (Systematic Innovative Thinking) taught me different. We had a great session about innovative thinking this week at the media lab. It made me wonder about the mistakes I make in my thinking process:

First mistake: When trying to think about a new innovative idea you always try to find a need that doesn’t have a good solution yet, apparently that’s not the right way.

Second mistake: As a computer science student I’m always bothered by the technological difficulties that might pop up. This, force me to change my idea and some-times lose my direction.

Third mistake: Now when you have an idea - try to kill it! Try to find all the possible disadvantages of your idea.

I’m a drimer. No this is not a spelling mistake, this is my new last name since I got married. If you look carefully on all three mistakes you may jump to one main conclusion – don’t be afraid to dream! And dream high. Don’t try to limit yourself when dreaming, like finding a solution for some need. Don’t be afraid from technological difficulties, everything is possible. Most importantly, don’t kill your dream before it had a chance to become a reality, try to find the advantages before finding the disadvantages. If you don’t have many maybe it’s not such a good idea after all, but if you do, disadvantages are only a small stumbling block on the way.

Be your own pacer

I’m a runner. I like running, I think I always have.

I enjoy the running itself and not only the great sensation one has when it is finished. I like the enthusiasm and the thrilling adrenaline during minutes before I start, the feeling of my blood moving through my muscles, the moment I realize my body is worm enough to keep on going without trying too hard, my strong heart beats and yes, even the sweat. As I said - I like running.

The only problem I have with running is the pace. The enthusiasm I enjoy so much, is actually, the one problem I have. If I’m not excited enough I’ll have a slow run, but if I do, I usually start too fast and then, after a short time I get tired. Ironic? The same thing that gives me the power to run is the one taking my power away when I really want to go on and some times, even when I have to go on. It is possible that the problem is mainly in my head, I don’t know if my legs are tired or if my breathing is bad, all I know is that I want to stop, and for someone who likes running, such as myself, that is not an obvious thing.

For me, the main secrete for a good run is a good pacer; someone that can run along with me and help me control my excitement. Never starting too fast is one of the most important rules for me, not only in running but also in life. Regulating my enthusiasm is not an easy thing to do, but one need to understand what kind of excitement contributes to ones success and what may as well destroy it.

If I have a running partner every time I run, I may succeed to keep my strengths until the very end at each and every run. But like everything in life - there are no guarantees. At one point of my life I will need to learn how to control my enthusiasm and how to find the right pace for myself.

Finding my own pace is not an easy task at all. Life experience is one of the biggest factors in this equation. When starting a new project or thinking of a new amazing idea is the same as starting a run – if you won’t feel any excitement at all you may as well stop before you started. But if you feel those butterflies in your stomach every time you start talking about that subject you are working on, you know you are on the right track. Now all you have to do is make sure you’ll keep those butterflies until you get to the finish line.

The difference between dreams and reality can be radical in many cases, but that doesn’t mean a person can’t have dreams. When you have a dream, it doesn’t matter if it’s an innovative idea or just a foolish wish - you have to work hard to get it but know when and where to let go. Your dream may not be perfect but it doesn’t mean you don’t need to keep on dreaming and do your best.

As for me, I started this blog not too fast but with the same butterflies in my stomach, and now… I think I did quite well.