Eewei Chen - 101 Design Ingredients to Solve Big Tech Problems

Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and The Pragmatic Programmers, LLC was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial capital letters or in all capitals. The Pragmatic Starter Kit, The Pragmatic Programmer, Pragmatic Programming, Pragmatic Bookshelf and the linking g device are trademarks of The Pragmatic Programmers, LLC.

Every precaution was taken in the preparation of this book. However, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages that may result from the use of information (including program listings) contained herein.

Our Pragmatic courses, workshops, and other products can help you and your team create better software and have more fun. For more information, as well as the latest Pragmatic titles, please visit us at http://pragprog.com.

This book is dedicated to the memory of our beloved son Joseph Christopher Chen, who had the most perfect heart.

- March 7April 14, 1997

As individuals in organizations, our daily lives are filled with ideas to turn into reality, myriad problems to be solved, lists of core business needs to be fulfilled, and many team and people challenges to be overcome. Regardless of the size of your organization, your position within it, the nature of your product or service, or the impact you have on the world, you play an important part in solving big problems and creating amazing and innovative products and services.

As a leader, I value simplicity. The success with which I can make good decisions, decouple difficult dependencies, and give good guidance to my team tends to improve in direct proportion to how simply I can articulate the problems and the outcomes I would like to achieve. This clarity is needed at all levels, whether you are steering a company, leading a team, or contributing to a project as an individual.

So how do you take on these big complex challenges while keeping things simple, focused, and clearly articulated? Eewei has written a book that will inspire innovation while helping you manage the complexities of modern business problems. It describes an approach that employs a simple metaphorone of cooking, using ingredients and recipes to cook up success. This approach gives you two very important tools.

Firstly, the book details many tested ingredients from which to build your recipes. Everyone knows that in any recipe, quality ingredients are key. Eewei adds his own secret sauces, giving you 101 broadly applicable and highly valuable ingredients that come from his extensive experience solving significant business problems and creating delightful products and solutions. He includes ingredients that speak to team and motivation, and ingredients that discuss business, feature, and prioritization needs. Most importantly, he includes ingredients that help foster innovative and differentiated thinking.

Secondly, the book gives structure to the act of simplifying complex scenarios. Eeweis approach asks you to create a recipe for a solution, a recipe that breaks down a problem into the multiple ingredients necessary to achieve a successful outcome for the innovation or business problem at hand. You can use this structured approach in a variety of ways. You can use it on your own, perhaps as an aid to deeper thinking. You can use it in a team setting to help brainstorm a problem. Or perhaps you can use it to articulate a direction to a team in a manageable and understandable way. The recipe metaphor feels really natural and easy to use.

Of course, quality ingredients and a good recipe are keys to baking your solution cake, but thats not all thats needed. The real value comes when you bring your own insights and experiences to the process. Eewei uses some of his ingredients to pull together a number of sample recipes for common situations, using well-known companies as examples. This really helps you to see the possibilities this approach can provide, and will kick-start your thinking as you begin to use recipes to tackle your biggest challenges. By using Eeweis ingredients (and maybe some of your own!) to write a customized recipe for your problem or business aspiration, you can consciously and deliberately move your projects forward based on a clear and concise recipe for success.

Happy baking!

To Fatima, Joseph, Ethan, and Faith Chen, my amazing wife and children, for your uncompromising love, support, and belief in me and my crazy ideas. This is one that worked!

To my Ma and Dee for allowing me to be a responsible adult every now and again. To my brother Eewen and my sister Eelyn for just being around. I hope you are proud of me and proud that this book exists.