Technique: Marie Kondo Tidying Technique

21 Feb

The Marie Kondo technique has been developed by the self-proclaimed declutter over years of obsessing with tidiness and consulting with clients. At the heart of the technique is the emotional engagement with items a person has hoarded over years.

When tidying, she insists on getting all items of the same category together - all clothes, all books, etc. She then asks her clients to pick up each item and question themselves “Does this bring me joy?”. If it doesn’t then it is thanked and disposed of.

Personally, I love the thanking part of this technique. We all too often treat items with little respect. This in turn cheapens the effort of creating an product. Think of the amount of elements that go into an average TV. Its a mind-boggling effort of resources and logistics. Something like that should be treated with respect.

Joe Macleod

Joe Macleod is founder of the worlds first customer ending business. A veteran of product development industry with decades of experience across service, digital and product sectors.

Head of Endineering at AndEnd. TEDx Speaker. Wired says “An energetic Englishman, Macleod advises companies on how to game out their endgames. Every product faces a cycle of endings. It's important to plan for each of them. Not all companies do." Fast Company says “Joe Macleod wants brands to focus on what happens to products at the end of their life cycle—not just for the environment but for the entire consumer experience.”

He is author of the Ends book, that iFixIt called “the best book about consumer e-waste”. And the new book –Endineering, that people are saying “defines and maps out a whole new sub-discipline of study”. The DoLectures consider the Endineering book one of the best business books of 2022.

Technique: Marie Kondo Tidying Technique

Example: Music Magpie. This product is dead. It deserves an emotional send off.

TECHNIQUE: Transaction models