A few weeks ago, during a Community Q&A, I addressed our plans for scaling the business and improving some of our existing processes.
Two of the most crucial processes we have in place at Quirky are Product Evaluation and Presale.
Both of these processes together have delivered us amazing new products and inventors over the course of the past year and a half… but we agree… the process could be more fun, more collaborative, and deliver better results.
It’s time we take a holistic view at improving both of them. We’ve assembled an amazing group of people to help us make Quirky a better place.
Each task force is made up of relevant community members and Quirky staff.
I won’t be participating in the task forces, because I want to make sure that the groups have full creative control to imagine crazy things and define what the different options might be. I’ll jump in towards the end and help narrow things down.
I’m really excited to see where this goes. Below are the presentations that will kick off the process.
All of our task force members will be briefed and invited into a project management app in the next few hours.
Pumped!
11 Comments
Pprovart | 03/10/2011 3:48 PM
Fabulous idea, alas I can’t see the images on my iPhone!! Good luck!
Steven Kramer | 03/10/2011 4:14 PM
Pumped! (I second that…)
Great presentations, and I think its spectacular that you’ve shared so candidly with everyone.
AliKira | 03/10/2011 7:07 PM
Great stuff! I really look forward to the revamp — perhaps it’ll mean that some of my FAVORITE items currently languishing in presales will eventually be made??? I really really hope so (particularly about Weigh-to-go which I want every time I travel, which is frequently).
nburkhardt | 03/10/2011 7:07 PM
IDEO has some great content on Human Centered Design work:
http://www.ideo.com/work/human-centered-design-toolkit/
Dan | 03/10/2011 7:16 PM
Sounds good! And, good luck to all involved.
Jon Corral | 03/10/2011 11:41 PM
Really like the idea of giving finalists more when they don’t get selected. That makes Quirky a huge resource even if you want to license a product on your own.
Imants | 03/11/2011 5:43 AM
I hope they will come out with something valuable. Good that there are not only “Heil Quirky!” shouters but some real people as well in these teams. Good luck!!
zosomojo | 03/12/2011 1:03 PM
Wonderful process you’ve started on here… Quirky needed it.
Please consider having included in your “Submit Your Idea’ agreement that the inventor agrees to before submitting include language similar to Edison Nation’s submissions agreements. That way, you’ll have people with GREAT IDEAS that are patented or patent pending included more frequently in your process.
I have a patented idea that I would like to submit to Quirky, but don’t want to lose the possibility of licensing it on my own if Quirky can’t make a minimum sales threshold.
PLEASE seriously discuss this in your TASK FORCE meetings.
Thanks!
alice | 03/18/2011 11:22 PM
I am excited to hear that Quirky community concerns were heard and that a wonderful TASK FORCE if formed! I look forward to seeing the changes.
ann | 03/21/2011 4:51 PM
I think this is good, because I fear that sometimes people are not adequately weighing the issues of manufacturing costs adequately when influencing the design. Take the perch, how many pre-orders would there be if there was a similar design but at half the price? or a quarter the price? I know that there’s a value in product differentiation, but aiming at the top 1% price point of the market isn’t a sucessful strategy either.
Just my two cents…