#32 Longevity - How to think about product longevity

The Idea Roastery

In this episode we talk about product longevity, drawing on a number of examples of where it works and where it doesn't. We talk about natural longevity and answer some questions about things that last a long time. Enjoy!

This is first part of a two part series on the topic of longevity!

Episode Outline

(0:00) Banter about heaters, heat and cold and insulation. (3:20) Long cold intro about heat exchangers. (4:42) Finally we start the episode about longevity (5:13) Smartphone longevity as a starting point with Apple (6:50) and getting a new phone that's the same from Samsung. (8:40) Frying pans last forever and some advice on how to buy products. (10:13) Terry Pratchett & Capt. Samuel Vimes' boots theory of socioeconomic unfairness. (11:52) An alternative point of view arises. (13:25) Economies of scale inside a product leads way to a higher quality product and some examples in the auto industry (14:00) Jaguars are very nice cars Herm - what about Toyota though? (15:10) What Jason gets excited about Product Development. (15:40) There is an example from Cuba. (16:18) Alternative example of Tesla and getting feedback. (16:52) Car value can fluctuate over time in the secondary markets and when is optimal time to sell a new vehicle? (18:15) Suzukis vs Mercedes Benz and the upkeep that's involved. (19:30) Phone components that can be reused and marginal value in circular economies. (21:32) Apple repairability challenges and benefits. (22:08) John Deere tractors with high tech gadgetry and service plans causing spike in old tractor prices. (23:08) Rolls Royce use-case and their new business models in farming, air transport & industrial settings. (26:40) The topic of jelly fish and the worlds oldest creatures. (28:12) Anti fragile and robustness and jelly fish in warming oceans.... and sharks! (29:47) Coming back to the frying pan as an optimal solution to cooking and dealing with changing environment! (31:20) The longevity of nature and evolution. (32:30) Carcinization and life evolving to crabs more often than is comfortable. (32:25) How would you store something for a very long time? (35:40) The huge ice vault and wiping out humanity. (37:25) Nice close off from Herm!