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Michael Plishka

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President and Founder, ZenStorming Solutions, LLC

40 points

ZenStorming is an innovation design consultancy - Design making a difference.

We design and facilitate innovative products and services. We also believe in co-design methodologies, sharing design thinking essentials - empowering people and companies to make a difference with their products and services.

WEB: ZenStorming Blog

Aug. 18, 2011

Michael Plishka and 1 other person answered this question

Do you think its worth buying a drawing tablet if you don't even use a sketchbook?

Roberto, it's what you feel comfortable with. I use both. You don't need to invest in expensive tablets. I got a tablet from http://www.monoprice.com/home/index.asp and I'm really happy with it.
Bottom line, sketch...alot. Use a medium you'll use and stick with it but don't be ... more

Aug. 12, 2011

Michael Plishka answered this question

How can you persuade your department head to think about your proposals?

You're very welcome - I hope so too!! All the best!

General Management

July 18, 2011

Michael Plishka and 3 other people answered this question

What are the common traits of a customer-centric company?

One of the key traits of a customer-centric organization is that it approaches its customers, both internal and external, in an empathetic manner. There is an alignment between what needs to be done, what people think needs to be done, and what people are doing. ... more

Customer Service

Customer Centric

July 17, 2011

Michael Plishka and 1 other person answered this question

What are the best ways to manage risk in a project?

One of the best ways to manage risk is to use backup plans. Know what you're going to do before the problem hits. Backup plans can also come in the form of redundancies. In other words, if you have one group of people working on ... more

Information Technology

Project Management

Risk Management

July 16, 2011

Michael Plishka and 2 other people answered this question

What qualities do you look for in a UX designer?

Some basic qualities:
-Willingness to explore multiple options
-People person, able to empathize
-Curious/Multiple interests
-Good at telling stories
-Able to work across disciplines/collaborative more

Information Technology

User Experience

July 14, 2011

Michael Plishka and 11 other people answered this question

Who owns a company's culture?

Anthropologically speaking, culture is shared or it's not culture.
Changes, true changes that percolate throughout the organization, are *proposed* and then adopted because there is a consistency of corporate vision and individual worldviews.
Changes that are *imposed*, more often than not, are *adapted*.
So, in some ... more

Customer Service

General Management

Human Resources

Company Culture

July 5, 2011

Michael Plishka answered this question

Are performance improvement plans useful?

If a performance improvement plan is in place it can be due to multiple reasons:
1. Poor communication/understanding of goals
2. Employee Talents/Desires not matched with job requirements
3. Lack or resources
4. Insufficient obstacle removal
5. Apathy or poor work habits
What's interesting is ... more

Human Resources

Performance Improvement Plan

Performance Management

June 28, 2011

Michael Plishka and 1 other person answered this question

What's the first step in building a stronger culture?

Caty, it may be obvious to state but the first step is to define what 'stronger culture' means. Even without any guidance whatsoever, a company will develop a strong culture of its own. Once the type of culture is decided upon it's largely a matter ... more

Human Resources

Company Culture

June 28, 2011

Michael Plishka answered this question

What are your best practices for using focus groups?

-Have something to show- going in asking for blanket comments is a sure way to get watered down info
-Use them when you need feedback on specific issues, otherwise design research/ethnography is a better bet
-Don't ask yes/no questions
-If you must find out about certain practices via ... more

Brand and Product Strategy

User Experience

June 28, 2011

Michael Plishka and 3 other people answered this question

What are examples of experiences in Las Vegas that are designed?

Everything is larger than life!
Go to Vegas and see the pyramids, see pirates and more!
Food is cheap so money can be spent on other things. The floors have extremely obnoxious patterns to help the eyes look up at what else is going on around you.
It's ... more

June 28, 2011

Michael Plishka and 1 other person answered this question

How often should a large company like Ebay or Pandora re-vamp the look and feel of their website?

Brielle,
Sites like Ebay, Amazon, and yes, Facebook and others, are actually testing aspects of their site on an almost continuous basis. They are constantly looking for ways to improve the customer experience and are therefore monitoring how people are clicking through their websites.
We ... more

Information Technology

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