Something incredible happened today, and it is a sign of greater things to come for our country, our future of innovation, and my hope, for our future. Tesla Motors today released all their patents to the wild. All of them. If you want to build an electric car, you now can find out how Tesla does it.

While there might be some detractors to this action, I see this as an amazing first step towards making greater leaps in innovation, and it gives me great hope for our future. I chose the logos for the image on this post to showcase some of the greatest companies who utilize the Open Source culture, and this culture will lead the revolution.

Before listing the 3 reasons why the future must be open sourced, let's reframe how we think about things real quick. Tesla had to fight in court to be able to do something so simple: sell their products directly to consumers. There has been such an established culture of how cars "should" be sold, and here comes a company that threw that assumption right out of the window. Apple does it. Trader Joes sells directly to you. Farmers Markets, restaurants, clothing brands, and so many more, sell directly to you.

And let's not fool ourselves that they are going to "give away the farm" with doing this action. I can pick up a cookbook at the store, and find out how a famous chef cooks their dishes, and I might even be able to master the recipe. But I am in no way going to threaten their career or income if I were to open another restaurant. It creates that great competition that we want to see in a free market.

With what Tesla did, it will challenge them to stay at the top of their game if/when competition comes to the market, and we all benefit from this competition creating better products.

If you're still not convinced that Open Source culture is something that can thrive, look at tech companies that work on the server side of things. In 2013, a report came out that 83% of the servers in the world are running Linux, an Open Source programming language. This market share is not owned by one company, but by many who utilize Linux as their backbone to creating their own unique products and services.

So without further ado, here are 3 solid reasons why the future must be open sourced:


1. No more patent trolls. 

If more companies take Tesla's stand on patents, the trolls have nothing to fight. If more technology patents become public domain, think about how much money would be saved in the judicial proceedings that plague companies. Patent trolls hurt the startup culture, and the threat of court fees causes most to settle out of court, and continues to fuel patent trolls and their livelihood.

2. We all benefit.

As I alluded to before, when more patents are released to the public, it allows more people to innovate and create. It allows entrepreneurs to create more jobs, opportunities, and the consumer benefits with more choice and (hopefully) better products. Software is the best way to look at the benefits. I use Firefox as my browser, which has always been open sourced. I utilize Android products, built with Linux. You have entire OS's for your computer with programs that cost you nothing (Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Elementary, and so many more).

3. So much of our world is already "open sourced."

We've walked around with such wild assumptions on how things are supposed to be, that when someone/something comes along challenging that, it rocks our world. Look at Uber and Lyft. What's stopping you from using your own vehicle as a taxi service? Take a peek at AirBNB. What's wrong with offering one of your rooms as a "hotel room" for a night? Cookbooks are open source. I can buy a book that teaches me how to build a home, how to run a business, and build a website.

Patents should benefit the creator to recognize their work, and that was their intent when created. Yet when we find patents stifling industries (like when Apple tried to sue anyone with a "slide to unlock" feature on a smartphone) we need to rethink their use. Is there harm in having patents live in the public domain, and still recognize who created it?

The future belongs to the Open Source culture, because we are stronger working together, than working separately.

I went out for a cup of coffee at my local Starbucks today (I might make a few too many trips as a father to a newborn). Service was fantastic, the coffee was stimulating, and all was right with the world.

Until I handed over my card to pay.

What I saw unfold was something of pure silliness. What made it even more absurd, is that no one seemed to even notice what was going on.

When my card was swiped, the point-of-sale system spit out a receipt (or something of record of transaction, I didn't see what was printed). This was promptly thrown away by the cashier, into a trash can that was placed next to her, brimming with receipts. The second copy was for me to sign, and while I was signing this, two more receipts were printed by the machine, and promptly thrown away.

That means for every transaction, there are 3 receipts thrown away for every 1 that is kept for records. To me, this is something that's broken.

Seth Godin did a fantastic talk back in 2006, about recognizing broken things, and I'll post the video below. When you see someone throw away 3 pieces of paper, and save 1, and that's just my cup of coffee, the math adds up fast of all the Starbucks around the world and the massive waste that's accumulated.

How would this get fixed? Could a strategic partnership with something like Square be right? I won't make any assumptions on their financial motivations, but this did get me thinking of how we observe things, and so often miss things that are right in front of us.

When you go around your day today, what do you see as broken? Enjoy the talk below!



Seth Godin at Gel 2006 from Gel Conference on Vimeo    

When we were all kids, one of the lessons our parents really emphasized was "Sharing is Caring." When we grew up, we all stopped sharing as much. I have to take care of myself. I can't give away my expertise for free. What would happen if I shared something, and didn't get the credit?

I think we need to bring back the values that were ingrained in us as children. Start simply with "sharing is caring." With how awesome technology is now, I can carry an entire production studio for podcasting in my backpack. I can have a pop-up photo studio that's so portable, I can carry it around with me. But not everyone has the funds to be where the professionals are at right now, and that can really hamper some amazingly creative people from creating.

I was inspired by the amazing people behind Death to Stock Photo and New Old Stock website, offering great photos that are royalty free, and free to have access to. So I decided to start my own free stock photo site, because I love photography as a hobby, and if someone finds the pictures cool, then feel free to use it!

My site is called Lock and Stock Photos, and take a peek. I hope that we can grow a community around creative people sharing some of their work to help the next generation of creatives that may not have the funds to get access to amazing tools and assets.

Let's build a new culture of free. Pool some of our talents, and assets together, and help bring greater creative things to life!

With my line of work in social media marketing, communications, etc. I've noticed something very alarming in the discussions and processes that happen: we forget about the one person that this all matters to. The end user.

The end user is a marketing term to refer to you and me. The person on the other end who will see your posts, watch your video, click on your ad, buy your product, use that product, and hopefully become a customer for life.

What happens in all the meetings and design iterations, and talks, where the product/ad post/tweet campaign flops? Why did this happen? I think we forget how someone would interact on the other side. We stare at these words for hours on end, scrutinizing every phrase and punctuation, and forget that it's just another email in someone's inbox that will probably be deleted before being opened.

If we took some time thinking about it from the end user perspective, it could help make our brand and product even that much better. Good design, and good products, truly speak for themselves, and will get recognized. But to get someone to even look at them first, we need to understand how our work is perceived.

One thing I like to do is pull someone who has had no discussion and no knowledge of something that I am working on, and show them a design that I am working on, or watch a video that I created, and get their reaction. What did you think? What was the message you took away from it? Did it make sense? Did it seem relevant?

Taking this one step has helped out tremendously in avoiding some gaffs; but you can't avoid every person's perspective and interaction. Learning the art of persona building helps too, where you build a "person" or a group of "people" who are your target audience, and filter things through this character. What kind of work do they do, what's their day like, interests, hobbies, favorite foods?

In the end, though, the greatest tool you can use, in my opinion, are your ears. Listen. What are people saying? How are they responding to what you are doing? Taking the time to listening can help shape your work to be effective.

I want to leave you with a great talk by Seth Godin, called "It's Broken" from 2006. An oldie but a goodie on how people interact with things, and how it affects people's perspective. Enjoy!

Not to sound ambiguous, but here's a question: Do you find yourself spending so much time focused on an event, day, phone call, interview, etc. that a week goes by and you realize that nothing has happened after that event?

I am finding myself getting close to this being a routine with work, and in life; that I spend time working with teams for planning a big event, twitter chat, live hangout, and more, and the only focus is on "the thing."

What happens once "the thing" is done and over? People go home, they get back into their daily lives, you fall back on routine, and the influence of the interactions during "the thing" fades away quickly.

So I did some thinking of what could I do, that are practical steps, to make sure that I'm not forgotten after "the thing" and the momentum of it doesn't die too quickly. So here's a list of three things that I have started implementing to stand out, and not be too quickly forgotten:

1. Thank You

After a twitter chat, I make sure to thank everyone who re-tweeted my tweets, or mentioned me and interacted with me. I set my time limit to do so within 12 hours of the twitter chat. The same goes for interactions with meeting new people, or attending an event. Bonus: write a thank you card. It's such a rare occurrence now, that the time involved shows how much the interaction meant to you.

2. The Takeaway

A big thing for events that I help plan and work on is (creating this before the event) a takeaway. An epub to re-emphasize what was learned in the event, a business card that is unique with a meeting, just something tangible that you can pass along keeps the conversation going, and showcases your commitment.

3. Something Free

This is like a takeaway, but not necessarily needing to happen right away. Give away something free to people you meet, or who planned an event you attended. Free swag, a small gift (something that your intended recipient would actually use, no more flash drives please) shows thoughtfulness and that can mean a lot to people.

We're very dismissive and very busy in all of our lives, and any little thing to show your not just going through the motions really enhances the experience of meeting you.

Let me know what you think, and share your follow ups!

Dieter Rams was born 20 May 1932 in Wiesbaden, Hessen and is a German industrial designer associated with the consumer products company Braun. His design is instantly recognized for it's minimalistic and functional focus, and he is a key source of inspiration for Johnny Ive from Apple. 

Dieter Rams put together his 10 Principles of "Good Design" that are so amazing to me, and universal to everything we do, it's adaptive to nearly any job or situation you find yourself in. Check them out below:

Rams’s 10 Principles of “Good Design”

1. Is innovative – The possibilities for progression are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for original designs. But imaginative design always develops in tandem with improving technology, and can never be an end in itself.
2. Makes a product useful – A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic criteria. Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could detract from it.
3. Is aesthetic – The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products are used every day and have an effect on people and their well-being. Only well-executed objects can be beautiful.
4. Makes a product understandable – It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product clearly express its function by making use of the user’s intuition. At best, it is self-explanatory.
5. Is unobtrusive – Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.
6. Is honest – It does not make a product appear more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.
7. Is long-lasting – It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today’s throwaway society.
8. Is thorough down to the last detail – Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.
9. Is environmentally friendly – Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimizes physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.
10. Is as little design as possible – Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.