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Douglas is an entrepreneur and human-centered technologist with over 26 years of…

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  • Voltage Control

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Publications

  • The Non-Obvious Guide to Magical Meetings (Reinvent How Your Team Works Together)

    Idea Press

    An unusual and irreverent guide to transforming your meetings from time-sucking interruptions to productive moments of collaboration – whether your team is together or virtual.

    What if meetings could be the high point of collaboration in your day, instead of the usual time-sucking soul-draining experience they often become?

    In this guide, expert facilitators Douglas Ferguson and John Fitch tackle the myth that the most effective way to get more out of meetings is to just avoid…

    An unusual and irreverent guide to transforming your meetings from time-sucking interruptions to productive moments of collaboration – whether your team is together or virtual.

    What if meetings could be the high point of collaboration in your day, instead of the usual time-sucking soul-draining experience they often become?

    In this guide, expert facilitators Douglas Ferguson and John Fitch tackle the myth that the most effective way to get more out of meetings is to just avoid having them or to have less of them. In a well-run organization, meetings should actually be integral to getting sh*t done.

    Meetings are the secret underappreciated weapon that businesses are using badly. And why do they use them so badly? Because no one has been taught how to make them better. In this guide, you will learn:

    What if having an agenda has no effect on whether you have a great meeting?
    What happens when you actually do the work in the meeting?
    What are the five common elements of every meeting that sucks, and how do you avoid them?

    Douglas and John show you how to adopt and adapt the non-obvious Meeting Mantras they developed at their company, Voltage Control. Their methods have helped companies and teams transform the perception of meetings from “going to the dentist” (ie – something you have to do but hate) into something you can’t wait for – like a rock concert or great dinner.

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  • Start Within

    Co-authors Karen and Douglas have spent the last 20 years in the trenches bringing new ideas forward within organizations. They have learned what it takes to launch innovation within a company and has covered the gamut of organizational types from state government agencies and military armed forces to startups and large public corporations.



    Reflecting upon these experiences, they noticed that while no one company or organization is like the other, there are common patterns that…

    Co-authors Karen and Douglas have spent the last 20 years in the trenches bringing new ideas forward within organizations. They have learned what it takes to launch innovation within a company and has covered the gamut of organizational types from state government agencies and military armed forces to startups and large public corporations.



    Reflecting upon these experiences, they noticed that while no one company or organization is like the other, there are common patterns that were almost universal.

    Assembled from these observations and insights about innovation and bringing new ideas to life, the Start Within framework provides a way to assess your situation, how it relates to the unique nature of your company, and what tools and actions are appropriate for you to move forward.

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  • Beyond The Prototype: A roadmap for navigating the fuzzy area between ideas and outcomes

    “If you want to know where to go after a Design Sprint, Beyond the Prototype shows the way. Douglas’ expert guidance—grounded in his experience as a founder, CTO, startup advisor, and master facilitator—anticipates the challenges teams face when building something new.”
    —Jake Knapp, inventor of the Design Sprint and New York Times bestselling author of Sprint

    "I work with so many companies excited about their first Design Sprint that then ask: 'Now what?' Douglas' book is the great…

    “If you want to know where to go after a Design Sprint, Beyond the Prototype shows the way. Douglas’ expert guidance—grounded in his experience as a founder, CTO, startup advisor, and master facilitator—anticipates the challenges teams face when building something new.”
    —Jake Knapp, inventor of the Design Sprint and New York Times bestselling author of Sprint

    "I work with so many companies excited about their first Design Sprint that then ask: 'Now what?' Douglas' book is the great advice they've been looking for."
    —Jeff Patton, Author of User Story Mapping

    "Douglas Ferguson has long been a top design sprint facilitator. In Beyond the Prototype, he delivers a practical guide to what comes after. If you've ever experienced the dreaded "post-sprint slump," this is an absolute must read. It will just completely up your game..”
    —Greg Satell, Author of Cascades & Mapping Innovation

    PRACTICAL ADVICE FOR MOVING YOUR INNOVATION PROJECT FORWARD

    Have you ever struggled to move a key innovation project forward at work? Based on his experiences running Design Sprints for top companies, Douglas Ferguson wrote Beyond the Prototype to offer practical advice for people shifting from discovery to realization. Full of stories from companies like Google, Liberty Mutual, and Adobe, this guide outlines six steps that every team should take to launch their vision.

    Beyond the Prototype will guide you through the road bumps and pitfalls that often follow a Design Sprint or innovation workshop. You’ll know exactly what to do to move your project forward.

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  • How to Remix Anything

    There is a really good chance that someone has already solved a problem similar to the one you are working on, but it’s in another industry or time in history. You just need to find that analogous inspiration. This handbook will help you and your team discover it.

    This handbook is a companion to the How To Remix Anything Card Deck and the Remix Canvas. Together, they help you and your team reference existing ideas or solutions from one domain so you can remix them into a new context.

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