The Brains and Brawn Company: How Leading Organizations Blend the Best of Digital and Physical

CHAPTER 9

HANDS: THE CRAFT OF MAKING THINGS

Analog is sometimes better than digital. Great craftsmanship happens in analog. In music we hear better sound when it is analog, and we see it in the engineering and design philosophies within a company. We need to have appreciation for analog and what it brings to the world.

—Young Sohn, President of Samsung Electronics

Hands are my metaphor for the craft of making physical products, whether as simple as a paper clip or as sophisticated as a Steinway grand piano. This competency includes understanding the trade-offs in your specific industry involving quality, cost, scale, and speed. It requires being smart about how you prioritize those variables, while treating manufacturing as just one aspect of ...