July 11, 2024 • 40 mins
How can a background in sociology and criminology lead to groundbreaking innovations in home design? Today, we explore this fascinating journey with Jim Flaherty, the Director of Digital Product and Engineering at Marvin. Jim unveils how his unique career path has shaped his understanding of user behavior, leading to people-centric solutions in the realm of digital home technology. From the importance of end-to-end product development to the critical role of channel partners, Jim shares invaluable insights for aspiring professionals emphasizing adaptability and a holistic view of user interactions.
Get ready to discover Marvin's forward-thinking approach to modern home design, particularly with their exquisite new product line, Modern. Imagine homes graced with large glass panels and motorized windows that not only enhance aesthetic appeal but also bring the convenience of automation into everyday life. Jim takes us inside the Marvin Connected Home Lab, a pioneering space in the Twin Cities where new digital products undergo rigorous testing. Highlights include the Awaken Skylight, an innovative motorized skylight that promises to redefine how we think about natural light and ventilation in our homes.
We also delve into the technical intricacies of integrating smart technology seamlessly into existing home designs. Jim shares the challenges and triumphs of maintaining aesthetic consistency while embedding advanced features like automatic locking, rain sensors, and egress capabilities. He emphasizes the balance between innovation and practicality, ensuring that technology simplifies rather than complicates daily tasks. Looking ahead, Jim envisions a future where homeowners experience seamless connectivity, with smart windows that anticipate and respond to every need—reducing the necessity for manual intervention. Join us for an enlightening conversation with Jim Flaherty, and get a glimpse into the future of smart living spaces.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to Future Construct.
I'm Mark Oden, the CEO of BIMDesigns Incorporated and guest
host of Future Construct.
Today I'm with Jim Flaherty,the Visionary Director of
Digital Product and Engineeringat Marvin, leading the
innovative Marvin Connected Hometeam.
Jim pioneers groundbreakinginteractions with windows, doors
and skylights, transformingliving spaces.
His mission To actualizeMarvin's purpose of redefining
(00:30):
living standards.
A collaborative leader, jimcultivates talent and champions
digital product evolution.
With a rich background inFortune 500 companies, he's a
seasoned expert in digitalinnovation, specializing in
smart solutions from mobile appsto security systems.
Jim's journey is a testament tohis commitment to
revolutionizing establishedindustries, paving the way for a
(00:52):
smarter, more connected future.
With Marvin at the forefront,with so much experience, you
continually and positivelyinfluence the digital
construction market.
Thank you for all of your manycontributions in the AEC space,
jim.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Thanks for having me and thanks for a good intro.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yeah, fantastic, so happy you're here, jim.
So in the pre-call we werediscussing that you went to the
University of Minnesota andDuluth for college and you grew
up in Minnesota, so I'd love tostart with how, from early
childhood and into college, yourexperiences impacted your
career and interest in digitalinnovation.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, it's a great question.
I am a Minnesota boy at heart,as we were talking about.
I would say I'm a littlenon-traditional in this space.
I didn't go to school forengineering or your standard
business path.
What I wanted to do is workwith people.
I didn't go to school forengineering or your standard
business path.
What I wanted to do is workwith people.
(01:50):
So I'm more of the sociology,actually criminology, wanted to
work with people, help people,and so college was actually a
great time where I learned thoseskills on researching people,
understanding people's behaviors, how to change people's
behaviors, right, that was kindof the non-traditional path I do
.
But as you look at what we tryto do in some of the companies
(02:11):
I've been at Marvin obviouslybeing the best example of that
is understanding people.
How do they use these productsin their home?
How can we enhance how they usethem and make their lives
better?
So we enhance how they use themand make their lives better.
So, um, yeah, kind of thatMidwest low key, I would say a
little bit.
Uh, only went away from homeabout two hours, uh, but learned
(02:32):
some great skills up there atUMD to bring back here.
Um, with some good Minnesotacompanies building out some tech
.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Yeah, thank you for sharing that and and and.
Let's uh, if we go a little bitfurther back into your
childhood, what got you intosociology and helped you focus
on that?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
who I had for a couple of classes and really
opened up just that vision ofagain understanding people.
So there's probably not muchmore than that other than that
was an early thing I graspedonto and then started to push my
degree towards that.
I will say I've always beensomeone who was interested and
open to how technology kind ofchanges things.
Open to how technology kind ofchanges things.
(03:28):
I always tinkered on things.
You know, kind of my first car,which was not all that reliable
or great, I was always workingon that early into computers,
everything else.
So I guess I don't necessarilyknow why that led me to it.
I was just naturally gravitatedtowards those type of things.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
I've seen in my own past experience in relationships
folks that have a psychologybackground performing really
well in the business space.
So how has your sociologybackground affected your
performance in business?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
You know, the number one thing is anchoring it back
to the people, right?
So, excluding all the internalconversations and that's a huge
part of you know the roles oftrying to get these things in
that constant reminder every daythat we're doing this for the
homeowner or, as I expect we'lltalk about a little bit today a
huge portion of what we do ismaking sure our channel partners
(04:19):
are set up for success.
Right, that's half of whatmakes these products great is
not just what they do or thetech that we put in them, but
how they're supported by us as acompany.
And you know, our tradepartners, like smart home
integrators or others, that kindof bring that vision to life.
So I'd say that that core,which obviously that's what it
is, is focusing on the person.
(04:40):
I think that's what makes theseproducts great, rather than,
you know, some tech is built fortech sake and like, how can we
challenge what we're doing herefrom a product sake standpoint A
little different than whatwe're trying to do here at
Marvin?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Fantastic yeah, solving for the people.
I love that.
Yeah, brilliant.
And with your diversebackground in digital product
development, what advice wouldyou give to aspiring
professionals looking to enterthis field?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Back on that same point is focus on the end to end
.
We talk as a team.
You know discovery to deathPeople actually using the
product is a huge portion ofthat.
But how they learn about theproduct for the first time, how
they're educated on it beforethey buy, the actual buying
process is obviously a big onefor these type of products, all
(05:27):
the way through service Right,and we don't like to talk about
it.
But smart products have an endof life.
Right On something like awindow and a door that's much
longer than something like yourphone or other.
But we want to be aware of that, we want to plan for that.
And so I would say youngerpeople in their career, if
you're going to be a developer,that will help you be a better
(05:49):
developer, even though you'revery, very focused on certain
things is to take a step backand understand a little bit more
and be part of the broaderconversation.
And I think in our industry alot of people can get kind of
hyper, focused on their rabbithole.
We try as a team to kind ofkeep everyone a little higher
(06:10):
level.
The second point is don't getfrustrated when people don't use
your product in the way thatyou want them to.
It's so frustrating, right?
I'll give an example with ourproduct, our new smart windows.
We've got one up here behind usthere's about seven more in the
little room I'm in here.
We've built in a feature likethe core of what we're doing is
(06:31):
we're motorizing an automatedsmart windows.
Surprisingly, no one's reallydone this from a manufacturer
standpoint.
So there's bolt-ons that arekind of big and ugly and loud
and they don't quite integrateinto good systems.
Marvin's, we're not dipping ourtoe, we're jumping two feet in
(06:51):
and it's fully integrated.
You don't see anything.
It's very quiet.
It comes with a warranty, whichis always great.
But one of the features we addedin that's a little more
innovative is, instead of justpushing a button on the window
or the wall or in your mobileapp, we can sense the outdoor
temperature and humidity.
And your home, we say it, willbreathe on its home, right?
So whenever you say it's niceout, it'll open up and then when
(07:14):
it falls outside of thoseconditions, it will close.
And we think people are goingto love this feature, but we
don't know, right, like peoplewill respond.
Of course I want my windows toopen and close automatically
when it's nice out.
We're getting a lot of our first, you know, real world
experiences.
It takes a while for these jobsto develop and homeowners move
(07:34):
in, but we're interested.
Are people actually going tolet their windows open
automatically?
If they don't, great, we justlearned something new and we'll
go pivot our resources towardsdifferent features.
But if they all come backsaying, hey, add indoor air
quality, add all these otherdynamics of make this smart
(07:55):
window open and close without mehaving to touch it.
So back to your question.
A lot of times we design thesethings and have these grand
hopes of how people will usethem.
Don't get frustrated whenpeople do the complete opposite.
Right, it's just another goodlearning.
You move on, you start todevelop for how those people are
actually using it, not how youwant them to.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
That's fantastic, jim , and I'm so curious.
Already, you know, talkingabout the technology and getting
into that, and I'd love to dothat with you after the break
and getting into that, and I'dlove to do that with you after
the break.
But before the break I'm justcurious a little bit more about
you know, what navigated youfurther into the realm of,
specifically, smart hometechnology?
How did you find it?
How did you fall in love withit?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
My first role out of school was actually selling home
products, control products.
I was at Honeywell at that timeThermostats, indoor air quality
, all that fun stuff, right, thecommon stuff.
You think about a big homecontrols for HVAC.
A couple of years into that Istarted, I would say, bugging
(08:58):
the product team, the productdevelopment team, and they were
bugging me a little bit, usingme for some of the market stuff
and getting in contact withcustomers and to be honest, I
think both sides just kind ofsaid Jim, your brain is a little
more towards you're doing wellin sales.
I think I did well in sales, Ihope.
But the questions you're askingand you're trying to kind of
(09:19):
tunnel into some of these futureproducts is a clear fit.
So the home side of things wasjust naturally those were the
things I was selling and startedto connect really well with the
product teams and theirprocesses and helping with that.
And then they stole me intothat world and I haven't looked
back right.
So they were also a great.
(09:41):
I always tell people they werea great company to kick product
development off.
For me personally they did verytraditional processes in product
development while also doingbig things.
I was on that team, not leadingthe program, but I was on the
team when they were starting todo connected thermostats Right.
So we had smart thermostats.
They could do schedules and dosome cool things.
(10:03):
But that same time Honeywellwas doing that, nest came out
and so you have this explosionof one of the first big
categories of smart devices.
And it was an interesting timeto be part of a product
development team when most homeproducts unless you were working
with these very high-endsystems, like with integrators
(10:25):
you know the earlier controlforce systems, crestron systems
it did a little bit.
It was really the first timeyou got that standard level a
simple device like a thermostatbecoming connected, becoming
smarter, having a digitalexperience along with that.
So, selfishly, I was there atthe right time.
We had some great leadership onthe team at that time that kind
(10:46):
of taught me those core productmanagement skills.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
I love that background and I see a lot of
parallels in my transition fromsoftware engineering to software
product management.
So yeah, thank you so much forsharing that, because it was a
blast in the past for me as well.
We were talking about theimportance of learning from
homeowners and theirinteractions with your products.
I'm really curious, jim, comingout of that conversation, how
are your smart home componentsdesigned to work with that
learning?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
yeah, it's, um, you know, marvin has pretty clear
and definitive uh goals.
Um, enhancing air, light andviews is one of them.
Um, we talk about that also allday long and imagine and create
better ways of living.
Those are kind of the what wetry to live by here, and, as you
talked about that livedexperience, our team is just
(11:33):
trying to fit within thoseMarvin goals, right?
So, as we talk about air, lightand views, most fenestration
companies it's window and doorcompanies, but, specifically,
marvin has done a huge amount ofeffort, a lot of investment,
like with our core R&D team, tomaximize those views, to
maximize that light coming inteam, to maximize those views,
(11:58):
to maximize that light coming in.
We have a newer product linethat's launching that last few
years, called Modern, and thinkof these big sheets of glass
that can be five feet wide, 10feet tall.
We have doors that span 50 feetwide, really maximizing, like
kind of that all glass house ormodern house theme.
They're used everywhere, but itallows architects to realize
their vision right.
Whereas a lot of traditional,older windows were a little bit
(12:21):
smaller and couldn't.
They had less glass right, alot more wood.
What we tried to do, though, istake a step back and focus on
the air portion.
So, if you think long back, allof the companies and focus on
the air portion.
So if you think long back, allof the companies again Marvin
included who are reallymaximizing the views, maximizing
that light that can come in.
(12:42):
But the traditional way ofcranking open your window or put
some windows will push out, orwe're in the Midwest, it's
double hungs, you're kind ofsliding them up and down.
No one had really done a fullfaith effort.
We talked about that a littlebit earlier.
Right, some people are dippingtheir toe in.
There's third parties that havethese big bolt-on motors and
everything else.
As we look at how do we enhanceair, convenience is probably
(13:09):
number one.
And homeowners to be able tohit a simple switch on the wall
and have 10 windows in your homeopen all at once.
We talked about being able toprogram the system to kind of
breathe right, when it's niceoutside, just let it come in.
We also work with voiceassistants as well.
So just that simplicity andease of helping people open
(13:31):
their windows is a huge one thatwe're doing, of helping people
open their windows is a huge onethat we're doing.
And then, second, it's thatpeace of mind.
We know with a lot of smartdevices, half of it is how do I
use the product?
But think of a garage dooropener.
I just want to know when I leftmy home and I'm gone all day
did I forget to shut my garagedoor right, like at my home?
I have a smart garage door.
(13:51):
I also have kids, so everynight at 11 PM, if it's not shut
, it shuts itself.
Those are the kinds of thingsthat we can kind of take from
historical smart devices andbring over to windows, so
anchoring it from a homeownerperspective in that simplicity
of getting air in your house.
The second portion that we liketo push on again I'll push back
(14:14):
to the channel is our architects.
You think of these big, youknow giant walls of glass.
Or they have tall ceilings insome of these nice homes.
Well, hot air gets trapped.
Most people don't know thatVery hot air gets trapped when
you design some of these.
And we know an architect isn'tgoing to make an operable window
20 feet up where a homeownertakes out a pole and starts to
(14:37):
crank a window open.
Could they design that?
Yes, Would the homeowneractually use that?
Probably not.
So these type of products arehelping our architects, our
smart home integrator partnerskind of bring that to life in a
more real world situation,whereas they couldn't before.
Before it would probably juststay hot up there and they don't
(14:58):
like that or they'd throw anoperable window somewhere else.
That's not ideal for them.
So for us, a lot of that'sbringing that vision that people
want.
These products can help you dothat.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yeah, I can speak from experience on the manually
crank operated skylight.
Yeah, and you know, being 20,feet high and just simply not
getting any functionality, eventhough it was built to vent.
You know you have to pull outthis mega long pole.
That's awkward and it becomeswork to do that.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
We have.
By the way, we can follow upafter the call.
Right above me is Marvin'ssmart skylight.
We can follow up after the call.
Right above me is Marvin'ssmart skylight.
It's called the awakenedskylight and it has it's
motorized open and close, withbuilt-in screens.
It has a motorized shade and weeven have augmented lighting.
So at night at your home youprobably experienced that big
(15:48):
black hole in your ceiling, likethe void we actually have on
both sides of the skylight whereit can pump in light so it
mimics daylight things get darkand it can.
It has circadian lighting so youcan go from you know that nice
warm light to nice bright,bright, bluish, white.
So that was a perfect softballfor me.
(16:10):
There You're talking about, wehave one.
There's one right above me.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Oh, very cool.
Well, tell me actually moreabout the Innovation Center that
you're in.
Is that for architects, is thatfor homeowners, channel
partners?
Tell me about the InnovationCenter there.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
So we talked about War World earlier, home base for
Marvin, a huge research anddevelopment team there.
That's where they're working onwhat we call the core R&D
products the wood, the glass,every other material we have
there.
What we've done down here inthe Twin Cities now recently,
since we started developingthese digital products, is we
have a new Marvin Connected HomeLab.
(16:45):
That's what we call our team.
I'm in our outdoor space.
We actually have two spaceshere, one inside where we have a
big test wall.
We've got a ton of productsthat we're developing.
Our mobile apps are developedhere.
Our developers are actuallyhere in the Twin Cities, our
people who test our productowners, product management.
We're very proud of that that.
We're kind of a full-on TwinCities-based team.
(17:07):
And then where I am is actuallyit's basically a tiny house.
We call it our lab house.
This is where we get to installthe product in its more
finished form, test out how it'soperating, do some of the final
firmware testing, appdevelopment testing.
But, as you alluded to, this isa space that we will bring some
of our channel partners toexperience.
(17:29):
Hey, when you open sevenwindows, you can feel that right
and you can use our voiceassistants.
This little guy right herethat's a control four system,
and so our integration intothose smart automation systems
for our integrators, this is aplace where we can have a little
bit of that lived experiencewith them.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
That's fantastic.
Thanks for sharing a little bitmore about that.
To transition into the broadersense of the industry, what are
some emerging trends ortechnologies in the smart home
industry that you findparticularly exciting or
promising?
Speaker 2 (18:03):
in my role.
Everything's starting to get totwo things One, smaller right.
Things are starting to getsmaller, and not just smaller,
because there's a lot ofminiaturization that happens,
but small and robust.
(18:23):
That's kind of a key for us.
Here we have about a 1.1 inchby 1.1 inch area within the
frame of our windows.
Our goal in this program.
One of the challenges we talkabout in this program is
seamless integration.
The homeowner doesn't want thesmart window looking different
than their standard window,right?
They don't want it to havedifferent sight lines, they just
(18:46):
want it to be completely behindthe scenes.
We also don't want to have aseparate product line that all
looks great, as in seamless,that our architects have to
design when they already have agreat product line that they're
doing.
They don't want to have to mixand match.
That's tough for our channel todo.
So the challenge for our teamwas get all this stuff in this
(19:07):
tiny little area.
But we can't have.
We can't have, you know, fast,casual tech Sometimes we call it
where it's designed for a yearor two years or even five years.
These products have to meet thequality requirements that
Marvin sets forward with verylong warranties.
I can say that we offer afive-year warranty on all of the
(19:27):
smart components, the actuators, the boards.
You don't hear of that type ofstandard warranty in most tech
devices.
We kind of had to set a littlehigher bar, since these are
going to be in your home, foryou know, much longer and
they're not just a throwawaydevice so small because we've
got to fit it in, but robust.
That's a huge thing we'refocused on on this team.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Yeah, I mean, that's actually just breaking my head.
Actually, you're fitting theentire smart home component
controller in a 1.1 by 1.1 incharea in the window.
That matches prior form factors, so that architects can reuse
their existing design schema.
It is it's not easy.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
It's brilliant and I can you know not going too
technical.
But we have two differentactuators because not only do we
open and close the window, weautomatically actuate the lock,
which is it sounds simple.
It's not that simple.
We have a rain sensor on boardso if it's raining, your windows
automatically close.
(20:28):
You don't have to worry aboutthat coming into your house.
And we have a couple differentboards obviously running the
system.
And we have a couple differentboards obviously running the
system and we have backup power.
Now, they're not batteries, butwe have super capacitors, so if
the power goes out in your homeat any time, we can still close
and lock your windows.
That goes to some of thequestions on that lived
experience.
(20:50):
And going back to our architects, we didn't want that big.
Hey, you bought the connectedhome products.
Now here's the list of kind ofwe call them the asterisks, but
this but this, but this but thisA casement window which kind of
opens.
This way you can use all thesame sizing, all the same glass
types, the colors, basically allof the operations.
(21:12):
So you can do a swap out from amanual crank out to our
motorized, with very littleexception there, even down to
one of our patented features,which we're always happy to talk
about, we still offer egresscapability.
So egress is like, let's say,your master bedroom.
You need a way to get out.
If there was danger like a fire, right, you need a way to get
(21:32):
out if there was danger like afire, right, that would have
been much easier for the Marvinteam to say well, this one, if
you do motorize, that won'tegress.
Right, just put egresssomewhere else.
But that's not what we heardfrom homeowners and our
professionals is they just wantthat one big window.
They want to put another windowinto set because that's code,
(21:53):
right, you can't build yourhouse without being able to get
out.
That patented lock featureallows it to be motorized, but I
can walk over to this windownext to me and I can manually
flip that lock switch and pushout the window so I can get out
even if all power is gone, evenif anything has happened.
We want to keep thosehomeowners safe.
(22:13):
Those are the features that Ithink we're most proud of at
Marvin is not just putting outtech and I keep saying this not
just putting out tech for techsake, but we offer egress, we
offer giant glass sizes, weoffer all this customization and
we just want this to fit withinthat ecosystem, and that's it's
(22:34):
not the easiest task, you know,trying to fit it in little
spaces.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
It's an impressive feat of multi-trade engineering
that you've accomplished here.
It's absolutely incredible, jim, so you have tremendous
experience in bringing digitallyfocused solutions to the market
for Fortune 500 companies.
What are some of the keychallenges that you've
encountered and how have youovercome them?
Speaker 2 (22:59):
uh, the biggest challenge is making sure you're
backed with the right investment.
So, um, dipping your toe intothese type of companies for
legacy companies, I think is apretty common trend and that's
where my experience has been,and marvin's no different than
that.
Right, we, we're cut.
We're on a fourth generationcoming up on fifth generation
(23:19):
company, not just owned but ledright.
Paul marvin, marvin, christineMarvin are some of our leaders
in the company actually runningthe company, which is fantastic.
Legacy companies, like we said,can just dip a toe.
We're a window company.
Let's see and throw out ourfirst version of connected
devices and see how it goes, seeif we want to invest more.
(23:39):
That's not how they did it here.
They did some early projectsthat were focused on innovation.
That Skylight we talked aboutwas one of those projects, doing
some early partnership withsome external partners, because
Marvin didn't have that muscleof app development, they didn't
have that muscle ofelectromechanical expertise and
(23:59):
how do we make these thingsoperate?
Right.
But they did recognize we cango for some of the first pass.
Uh, invest in a proper way,innovate in a proper way, market
it in a proper way and thenkind of phase two, which is
where marvin connected homecomes in, was investing at the
right level to start bringingall of that horsepower internal
(24:21):
to marvin.
So that's about the time I wasbrought in.
Now we have, like we said, wehave developers front end, back
end developers here in the TwinCities.
We hired product management,product ownership.
We have dedicated sales,dedicated service.
That's one overlooked thing onthe team, right.
So what I would say ischallenges a lot of time.
(24:46):
We trust the teams and then Isay this to my team a lot I
trust you're going to make agreat product right.
You're going to overcome thevery clear challenges of fitting
in this little one inch by oneinch space.
You're going to find a way toovercome the challenge of moving
a four foot by 10 foot piece ofglass.
That's how big.
We move these motors right.
They're these giant pieces ofglass.
(25:06):
Full faith in the team.
What gets a little harder ismaking having the company do the
investment on all the otherthings around the product that
make it successful.
Like we said, like we have a,we have two dedicated service
people here in the Twin Cities.
If you call, we answer andwe're helping you out right.
Those are the in that new techwithin Marvin.
(25:28):
We felt that necessary to makesure we're augmenting our
already great service team.
So again, a little shout out toour leaders.
They invested in the proper wayto make sure that we weren't,
you know, light on everythingthat we needed, which is which
is different than I'veexperienced at some other
companies.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Yeah, thank you for sharing, yeah, sharing that
experience.
I can relate for sure.
So, jim, in your role asdirector of digital product and
engineering, how do you balancethe innovation of new
technologies with thepracticality and functionality
required for everyday use inhome environments?
Physicality and functionalityrequired for everyday use in
home environments.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Um, it's a big one.
Um, I actually think that's oneof the reasons.
Um, this worked out between meand marvin and that journey when
they reached out and said theyhad a position, uh, open was
more of that b2b to c experience.
Um, again, coming fromhoneywell, coming always having
a channel professionals in themiddle, we have a fantastic team
(26:27):
before the Marvin ConnectedHome team, we have a dedicated
team here.
We still have a dedicated teamhere called the Marvin Design
Lab, and they were kind ofchallenged with do things
differently and innovate.
And we did that, they still dothat, and where Marvin Connected
Home now comes to is bring thepracticalities of that, the
(26:47):
constraints of product designright, kind of a little bit more
of that balance within theinnovation and actually getting
things out to the market in theproper way.
For us, like we talked about alittle bit in the beginning,
practicality is everything forus.
So we don't want to design thetech and fit it into the windows
(27:09):
.
We want to start with thewindows how are people using
them and then work backwards.
So we're always going to landon practicality first.
We're always going to rely onreliability, stability.
I'm thinking of some of thesprint work that's being done
right now on the team and we'replanning, you know, our next
summer release and getting intothe details and we have this big
(27:32):
stacked chart.
Now our product owner pullstogether of this dark blue area
which is all our tech debt andkind of the security stuff and
making sure we're good there andit's a lot of the list right,
those are always going to getprioritized Make sure when
someone hits a button at work,make sure we are secure, make
sure we are stable, make sureeverything in the system of the
(27:57):
basic stuff again, just simplyhitting a button or having the
rain sensor work.
The team knows that that willalways be our first go around
and then we start to talk abouthey, what else can we add to
that error algorithm?
How can we, you know, how canwe partner with a new company
and, you know, get into a newsmart home system or a new voice
assistant?
So I would say for us it's anunfair balance because of the
(28:21):
industry we're in, because ofthe expectations of the
homeowner.
You know it's always balancedtowards kind of that practical
side of keep things working.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
So thank you for sharing that, Jim.
And what role do you seedigital innovation playing and
shaping in the future of homedesign and living experiences?
Speaker 2 (28:42):
I think it's more the practical side it's taking,
like we've done in our windowshere, if people were already
opening their windows.
We can help you do that.
We can help you do that in abetter way, a more insightful
way, or even a way where youdon't have to think about it,
which is, again, our grandvision you never have to touch
your windows again.
But overall in homes, I thinkthat's what everyone's been
(29:04):
trying to do, which is what arehomeowners doing today and how
can we use technology to justmake that more seamless, more
reliable and an easierexperience.
The example we give onconnected home here, whenever we
talk about it, is you wake upin the morning you know, for me,
60 degrees is about perfect,maybe 55, a little bit crisp and
(29:27):
you wake up and you may or youmay not, depending on your home,
open a window in your masterbedroom and then you go over to
one of your kids rooms and thenyou go to your main level or
another part of the home and youopen your living room and then
you open one across your housebecause you want that nice
crossflow ventilation.
Well, a lot of people justdon't do that because it's like
(29:48):
well, I'm just going to getready for work and I'm going to
leave in an hour anyways, I canlive without that, right?
This is a perfect example whereyou can just wake up and say,
hey, google, open all my windowsand you're just, your day is
ready.
You didn't have to think abouthey, I got to walk all around
(30:10):
the house.
Now we we joke about.
You know how hard is it to gowalk around and open windows in
your house.
It takes just a few minutes.
It's a very simple task, but wewe want to recognize, while
simple, a lot of people don't dothat.
Right?
It's probably one of thebiggest challenges within the
window industry is we make thesegorgeous windows and no one
opens them.
Right?
We want to start helping peopleopen them.
So I think for us, that's avery clear example of just make
(30:33):
it easy for everyone.
That'll go across other devicetypes.
Another good example that I usebecause after I joined the team,
I remember last summer I'mprobably going to have it this
summer again, by the way I hadmy son in my truck and I forget
where we were driving to fordinner and it's perfectly clear
(30:55):
out and we leave and 10 minuteslater, right when we get there
it starts pouring and all thewindows in my house were open
and I just remember getting inand like driving as quickly as I
could without speeding too muchof like there's going to be
water in my house, cause, rightyou just, you just have that
fear of oh no.
(31:16):
Well, hey, I could have justopened up the mobile app and
said close all my windows, orlike we had talked about.
I don't even have to open mymobile app.
We have sensors in the windowthat will pick up if water's
coming in and it'll close.
So again, it's not that we dothis magical new experience for
the homeowner, it's we make iteasier, more predictable of what
(31:38):
they're doing.
So again, across homes, alldevices, I think that's what
we're gonna see more of.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Yeah, across homes, all devices.
I think that's what we're goingto see more of.
Yeah, brilliant examples, jim.
So we've talked about a fewdifferent projects and products
that you've launched and workedon.
Is there a particularlymemorable product launch from
your career and the lessonslearned from it?
Speaker 2 (31:55):
It has to be my first product.
This is my time working on homecontrols and it was actually a
pretty straightforward project.
So a humidifier in your home?
It's pretty simple.
They put it on your furnace orair handler.
Gets real dry here in theMidwest Horribly dry, as most
people know who live here and itjust adds humidity to your home
(32:17):
.
And they were controlled byvery old school technology of a
little dial, no real smarts init, and we wanted to provide a
digital controller.
And there was one.
It's more accurate, which iswhat digital technology can
bring.
We love that.
It looked better, so we're kindof set to go there.
(32:39):
But one of the features that wehad in some of our smarter
digital controllers was, as itgets colder, the humidity tends
to want to condense on yourwindows.
So if we monitor the outdoorair, we can change the level of
humidity in your home just tothe perfect level where you get
(32:59):
the most humidity, withouthaving all this dripping
happening on your windows.
And again, anyone who lives ina cold climate has experienced
the sweating window effect.
So it was great for this.
But the challenge in thisprogram is we wanted to include
it standard, so we actually tookone of our existing thermostats
, retuned it with some differentsensors, but it's the same
(33:21):
housing.
It was actually almost anidentical board, same screen,
and we kind of retuned it withsome different sensors, but it's
the same housing.
It was actually almost anidentical board, same screen,
and we kind of retuned it.
So that was a good entry intoproduct management of sometimes
it's not thinking about thegreatest innovation.
You know that utopian vision ofwhat could we make this little
humidity controller?
I don't know if there is autopian vision there.
It's a pretty simple productbut there were very clear
constraints on cost.
(33:43):
Pretty simple product but therewere very clear constraints on
cost, very clear constraints onease of install, ease of use,
and so that's probably myfavorite.
It was also a product that wasnot optional.
We were going to include it onall of our humidifiers, which is
always great.
You know it's going to haveadoption right away and I will
call out that that was the.
(34:03):
We don't tell this to a lot ofpeople, but my favorite feature
I've ever added to a product wasthat product.
All you would do to set thattemperature or you know that
level of sweat on your windowswas a one through 10.
Very simple If your windows aresweating and you're at a seven,
go down to a six, wait a day ortwo, see if your window still
sweats.
The easiest user experience,right, just go up or down
(34:27):
depending on whether yourwindows are sweating.
But if you were at a 10 and youstill didn't have enough
humidity and you didn't havesweating on your windows, we let
that controller go to 11.
So you could go from 10, go to11.
We call that humidity boost andit would add another 10% and go
crazy.
We had a lot of spinal tapjokes.
For those of that generationwho know that like we're taking
(34:49):
it to 11.
It's probably my favoriteproduct and product and feature
I've ever done is a product thatwent to 11.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
So that's awesome.
So, actually, speaking ofspinal tap and taking it to 11,
outside of your professionalendeavors, how do you balance
your passion for biking, playingguitar and happen to have it
listening to death metal?
With your demanding role atMarvin.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
I don't know why that's in my bio.
I probably put it in there.
I do like some heavier bands.
Again, this one I'll come backto specifically Marvin.
No-transcript at Marvin.
(35:45):
To create that balance Doesn'tmean we don't have stretches
where we're coming up to alaunch or we're having to invest
a lot more time.
But we've actually had that fromcomments from some of our
developers who have been in alittle bit more environment
where it's go, go, go, go, go,never stop.
Just try to get as many pointsdone.
For those who know Jira andstory pointing just go, go, go.
(36:07):
And again one of our developerssaid on this team and it feels
like in Marvin we're actuallyfocused on where we're trying to
get what we're trying to do andnot just that grind of how much
are you getting done?
So again I'll call this oneback to Marvin of they do they
want to focus on let's do theright thing, let's get where we
(36:29):
need to go.
And then back to what we talkedabout earlier invest properly
in the resources, make sure theteams are the right size.
We've got the right people tomake this happen.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Brilliant.
Thank you so much for sharing.
I'm excited to hear that youhave that work-life balance and
it's supported on both spectrums.
I believe in the same and, as afinal question of the show and
a traditional future construct,if you could project yourself
out 25 years and wanted to haveany device or technology that
would benefit you personally,what would it be and what would
it do?
Technology that would benefityou personally what would it be
(37:03):
and what would it do?
Speaker 2 (37:04):
I don't know what the technology would be to call it.
I think as we start to pushfurther, obviously one of the
things we try to do here is kindof the big data.
Let's learn everything righthere at work.
(37:26):
I try to learn everything.
I think our broader team triesto do that.
We try to understand and notjust at work, but personal.
Right the news, new music I love.
I love finding new music tolisten to in bands.
I'm always sharing that.
Don't give me some type ofpersonalized spotlight in a
better way of the news, and Iknow there's some companies
(37:46):
trying to do that Same withmusic.
I haven't found some of the bigstreaming music providers to
really tailor to what I want.
So the core I say anytechnology that can allow me a
(38:07):
better balance between stayingconnected while allowing me to
be disconnected is the utopianfor me is get me less screen
time, get me less investment oftime while also getting my
efficiency of soaking that stuffup.
So I'm happy to hear about someof the AI or assistance or you
know calling out things likeCopilot, obviously for corporate
world.
I don't know if that's thefuture, but hopefully in 25
(38:27):
years that can start to help uscome along and be a little more
efficient at what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
I agree, and I drive, you know I drive to efficiency
every day with my own, my ownlife and and I can't imagine how
, in 25 years, technology willjust support that, that overall
effort for all of us, and createmore time, you know, more time
for productivity or free time.
Hopefully that's the idea right.
Well, fantastic.
(38:55):
Thank you, jim.
From your sociology backgroundto your construction and tech
focus, I'm truly excited to havetaken it to 11 with you.
Thank you for joining us onFuture Construct and thank you
to our listeners.
Thanks so much.
Thanks for having me,absolutely.
Welcome to Future Construct.
I'm Mark Oden, the CEO of BIMDesigns Incorporated and guest
host of Future Construct.
Today I'm with Jim Flaherty,the Visionary Director of
Digital Product and Engineeringat Marvin, leading the
innovative Marvin Connected Hometeam.
Jim pioneers groundbreakinginteractions with windows, doors
and skylights, transformingliving spaces.
His mission To actualizeMarvin's purpose of redefining
(00:30):
living standards.
A collaborative leader, jimcultivates talent and champions
digital product evolution.
With a rich background inFortune 500 companies, he's a
seasoned expert in digitalinnovation, specializing in
smart solutions from mobile appsto security systems.
Jim's journey is a testament tohis commitment to
revolutionizing establishedindustries, paving the way for a
(00:52):
smarter, more connected future.
With Marvin at the forefront,with so much experience, you
continually and positivelyinfluence the digital
construction market.
Thank you for all of your manycontributions in the AEC space,
jim.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Thanks for having me and thanks for a good intro.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yeah, fantastic, so happy you're here, jim.
So in the pre-call we werediscussing that you went to the
University of Minnesota andDuluth for college and you grew
up in Minnesota, so I'd love tostart with how, from early
childhood and into college, yourexperiences impacted your
career and interest in digitalinnovation.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, it's a great question.
I am a Minnesota boy at heart,as we were talking about.
I would say I'm a littlenon-traditional in this space.
I didn't go to school forengineering or your standard
business path.
What I wanted to do is workwith people.
I didn't go to school forengineering or your standard
business path.
What I wanted to do is workwith people.
(01:50):
So I'm more of the sociology,actually criminology, wanted to
work with people, help people,and so college was actually a
great time where I learned thoseskills on researching people,
understanding people's behaviors, how to change people's
behaviors, right, that was kindof the non-traditional path I do
.
But as you look at what we tryto do in some of the companies
(02:11):
I've been at Marvin obviouslybeing the best example of that
is understanding people.
How do they use these productsin their home?
How can we enhance how they usethem and make their lives
better?
So we enhance how they use themand make their lives better.
So, um, yeah, kind of thatMidwest low key, I would say a
little bit.
Uh, only went away from homeabout two hours, uh, but learned
(02:32):
some great skills up there atUMD to bring back here.
Um, with some good Minnesotacompanies building out some tech
.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Yeah, thank you for sharing that and and and.
Let's uh, if we go a little bitfurther back into your
childhood, what got you intosociology and helped you focus
on that?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
who I had for a couple of classes and really
opened up just that vision ofagain understanding people.
So there's probably not muchmore than that other than that
was an early thing I graspedonto and then started to push my
degree towards that.
I will say I've always beensomeone who was interested and
open to how technology kind ofchanges things.
Open to how technology kind ofchanges things.
(03:28):
I always tinkered on things.
You know, kind of my first car,which was not all that reliable
or great, I was always workingon that early into computers,
everything else.
So I guess I don't necessarilyknow why that led me to it.
I was just naturally gravitatedtowards those type of things.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
I've seen in my own past experience in relationships
folks that have a psychologybackground performing really
well in the business space.
So how has your sociologybackground affected your
performance in business?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
You know, the number one thing is anchoring it back
to the people, right?
So, excluding all the internalconversations and that's a huge
part of you know the roles oftrying to get these things in
that constant reminder every daythat we're doing this for the
homeowner or, as I expect we'lltalk about a little bit today a
huge portion of what we do ismaking sure our channel partners
(04:19):
are set up for success.
Right, that's half of whatmakes these products great is
not just what they do or thetech that we put in them, but
how they're supported by us as acompany.
And you know, our tradepartners, like smart home
integrators or others, that kindof bring that vision to life.
So I'd say that that core,which obviously that's what it
is, is focusing on the person.
(04:40):
I think that's what makes theseproducts great, rather than,
you know, some tech is built fortech sake and like, how can we
challenge what we're doing herefrom a product sake standpoint A
little different than whatwe're trying to do here at
Marvin?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Fantastic yeah, solving for the people.
I love that.
Yeah, brilliant.
And with your diversebackground in digital product
development, what advice wouldyou give to aspiring
professionals looking to enterthis field?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Back on that same point is focus on the end to end
.
We talk as a team.
You know discovery to deathPeople actually using the
product is a huge portion ofthat.
But how they learn about theproduct for the first time, how
they're educated on it beforethey buy, the actual buying
process is obviously a big onefor these type of products, all
(05:27):
the way through service Right,and we don't like to talk about
it.
But smart products have an endof life.
Right On something like awindow and a door that's much
longer than something like yourphone or other.
But we want to be aware of that, we want to plan for that.
And so I would say youngerpeople in their career, if
you're going to be a developer,that will help you be a better
(05:49):
developer, even though you'revery, very focused on certain
things is to take a step backand understand a little bit more
and be part of the broaderconversation.
And I think in our industry alot of people can get kind of
hyper, focused on their rabbithole.
We try as a team to kind ofkeep everyone a little higher
(06:10):
level.
The second point is don't getfrustrated when people don't use
your product in the way thatyou want them to.
It's so frustrating, right?
I'll give an example with ourproduct, our new smart windows.
We've got one up here behind usthere's about seven more in the
little room I'm in here.
We've built in a feature likethe core of what we're doing is
(06:31):
we're motorizing an automatedsmart windows.
Surprisingly, no one's reallydone this from a manufacturer
standpoint.
So there's bolt-ons that arekind of big and ugly and loud
and they don't quite integrateinto good systems.
Marvin's, we're not dipping ourtoe, we're jumping two feet in
(06:51):
and it's fully integrated.
You don't see anything.
It's very quiet.
It comes with a warranty, whichis always great.
But one of the features we addedin that's a little more
innovative is, instead of justpushing a button on the window
or the wall or in your mobileapp, we can sense the outdoor
temperature and humidity.
And your home, we say it, willbreathe on its home, right?
So whenever you say it's niceout, it'll open up and then when
(07:14):
it falls outside of thoseconditions, it will close.
And we think people are goingto love this feature, but we
don't know, right, like peoplewill respond.
Of course I want my windows toopen and close automatically
when it's nice out.
We're getting a lot of our first, you know, real world
experiences.
It takes a while for these jobsto develop and homeowners move
(07:34):
in, but we're interested.
Are people actually going tolet their windows open
automatically?
If they don't, great, we justlearned something new and we'll
go pivot our resources towardsdifferent features.
But if they all come backsaying, hey, add indoor air
quality, add all these otherdynamics of make this smart
(07:55):
window open and close without mehaving to touch it.
So back to your question.
A lot of times we design thesethings and have these grand
hopes of how people will usethem.
Don't get frustrated whenpeople do the complete opposite.
Right, it's just another goodlearning.
You move on, you start todevelop for how those people are
actually using it, not how youwant them to.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
That's fantastic, jim , and I'm so curious.
Already, you know, talkingabout the technology and getting
into that, and I'd love to dothat with you after the break
and getting into that, and I'dlove to do that with you after
the break.
But before the break I'm justcurious a little bit more about
you know, what navigated youfurther into the realm of,
specifically, smart hometechnology?
How did you find it?
How did you fall in love withit?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
My first role out of school was actually selling home
products, control products.
I was at Honeywell at that timeThermostats, indoor air quality
, all that fun stuff, right, thecommon stuff.
You think about a big homecontrols for HVAC.
A couple of years into that Istarted, I would say, bugging
(08:58):
the product team, the productdevelopment team, and they were
bugging me a little bit, usingme for some of the market stuff
and getting in contact withcustomers and to be honest, I
think both sides just kind ofsaid Jim, your brain is a little
more towards you're doing wellin sales.
I think I did well in sales, Ihope.
But the questions you're askingand you're trying to kind of
(09:19):
tunnel into some of these futureproducts is a clear fit.
So the home side of things wasjust naturally those were the
things I was selling and startedto connect really well with the
product teams and theirprocesses and helping with that.
And then they stole me intothat world and I haven't looked
back right.
So they were also a great.
(09:41):
I always tell people they werea great company to kick product
development off.
For me personally they did verytraditional processes in product
development while also doingbig things.
I was on that team, not leadingthe program, but I was on the
team when they were starting todo connected thermostats Right.
So we had smart thermostats.
They could do schedules and dosome cool things.
(10:03):
But that same time Honeywellwas doing that, nest came out
and so you have this explosionof one of the first big
categories of smart devices.
And it was an interesting timeto be part of a product
development team when most homeproducts unless you were working
with these very high-endsystems, like with integrators
(10:25):
you know the earlier controlforce systems, crestron systems
it did a little bit.
It was really the first timeyou got that standard level a
simple device like a thermostatbecoming connected, becoming
smarter, having a digitalexperience along with that.
So, selfishly, I was there atthe right time.
We had some great leadership onthe team at that time that kind
(10:46):
of taught me those core productmanagement skills.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
I love that background and I see a lot of
parallels in my transition fromsoftware engineering to software
product management.
So yeah, thank you so much forsharing that, because it was a
blast in the past for me as well.
We were talking about theimportance of learning from
homeowners and theirinteractions with your products.
I'm really curious, jim, comingout of that conversation, how
are your smart home componentsdesigned to work with that
learning?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
yeah, it's, um, you know, marvin has pretty clear
and definitive uh goals.
Um, enhancing air, light andviews is one of them.
Um, we talk about that also allday long and imagine and create
better ways of living.
Those are kind of the what wetry to live by here, and, as you
talked about that livedexperience, our team is just
(11:33):
trying to fit within thoseMarvin goals, right?
So, as we talk about air, lightand views, most fenestration
companies it's window and doorcompanies, but, specifically,
marvin has done a huge amount ofeffort, a lot of investment,
like with our core R&D team, tomaximize those views, to
maximize that light coming inteam, to maximize those views,
(11:58):
to maximize that light coming in.
We have a newer product linethat's launching that last few
years, called Modern, and thinkof these big sheets of glass
that can be five feet wide, 10feet tall.
We have doors that span 50 feetwide, really maximizing, like
kind of that all glass house ormodern house theme.
They're used everywhere, but itallows architects to realize
their vision right.
Whereas a lot of traditional,older windows were a little bit
(12:21):
smaller and couldn't.
They had less glass right, alot more wood.
What we tried to do, though, istake a step back and focus on
the air portion.
So, if you think long back, allof the companies and focus on
the air portion.
So if you think long back, allof the companies again Marvin
included who are reallymaximizing the views, maximizing
that light that can come in.
(12:42):
But the traditional way ofcranking open your window or put
some windows will push out, orwe're in the Midwest, it's
double hungs, you're kind ofsliding them up and down.
No one had really done a fullfaith effort.
We talked about that a littlebit earlier.
Right, some people are dippingtheir toe in.
There's third parties that havethese big bolt-on motors and
everything else.
As we look at how do we enhanceair, convenience is probably
(13:09):
number one.
And homeowners to be able tohit a simple switch on the wall
and have 10 windows in your homeopen all at once.
We talked about being able toprogram the system to kind of
breathe right, when it's niceoutside, just let it come in.
We also work with voiceassistants as well.
So just that simplicity andease of helping people open
(13:31):
their windows is a huge one thatwe're doing, of helping people
open their windows is a huge onethat we're doing.
And then, second, it's thatpeace of mind.
We know with a lot of smartdevices, half of it is how do I
use the product?
But think of a garage dooropener.
I just want to know when I leftmy home and I'm gone all day
did I forget to shut my garagedoor right, like at my home?
I have a smart garage door.
(13:51):
I also have kids, so everynight at 11 PM, if it's not shut
, it shuts itself.
Those are the kinds of thingsthat we can kind of take from
historical smart devices andbring over to windows, so
anchoring it from a homeownerperspective in that simplicity
of getting air in your house.
The second portion that we liketo push on again I'll push back
(14:14):
to the channel is our architects.
You think of these big, youknow giant walls of glass.
Or they have tall ceilings insome of these nice homes.
Well, hot air gets trapped.
Most people don't know thatVery hot air gets trapped when
you design some of these.
And we know an architect isn'tgoing to make an operable window
20 feet up where a homeownertakes out a pole and starts to
(14:37):
crank a window open.
Could they design that?
Yes, Would the homeowneractually use that?
Probably not.
So these type of products arehelping our architects, our
smart home integrator partnerskind of bring that to life in a
more real world situation,whereas they couldn't before.
Before it would probably juststay hot up there and they don't
(14:58):
like that or they'd throw anoperable window somewhere else.
That's not ideal for them.
So for us, a lot of that'sbringing that vision that people
want.
These products can help you dothat.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yeah, I can speak from experience on the manually
crank operated skylight.
Yeah, and you know, being 20,feet high and just simply not
getting any functionality, eventhough it was built to vent.
You know you have to pull outthis mega long pole.
That's awkward and it becomeswork to do that.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
We have.
By the way, we can follow upafter the call.
Right above me is Marvin'ssmart skylight.
We can follow up after the call.
Right above me is Marvin'ssmart skylight.
It's called the awakenedskylight and it has it's
motorized open and close, withbuilt-in screens.
It has a motorized shade and weeven have augmented lighting.
So at night at your home youprobably experienced that big
(15:48):
black hole in your ceiling, likethe void we actually have on
both sides of the skylight whereit can pump in light so it
mimics daylight things get darkand it can.
It has circadian lighting so youcan go from you know that nice
warm light to nice bright,bright, bluish, white.
So that was a perfect softballfor me.
(16:10):
There You're talking about, wehave one.
There's one right above me.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Oh, very cool.
Well, tell me actually moreabout the Innovation Center that
you're in.
Is that for architects, is thatfor homeowners, channel
partners?
Tell me about the InnovationCenter there.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
So we talked about War World earlier, home base for
Marvin, a huge research anddevelopment team there.
That's where they're working onwhat we call the core R&D
products the wood, the glass,every other material we have
there.
What we've done down here inthe Twin Cities now recently,
since we started developingthese digital products, is we
have a new Marvin Connected HomeLab.
(16:45):
That's what we call our team.
I'm in our outdoor space.
We actually have two spaceshere, one inside where we have a
big test wall.
We've got a ton of productsthat we're developing.
Our mobile apps are developedhere.
Our developers are actuallyhere in the Twin Cities, our
people who test our productowners, product management.
We're very proud of that that.
We're kind of a full-on TwinCities-based team.
(17:07):
And then where I am is actuallyit's basically a tiny house.
We call it our lab house.
This is where we get to installthe product in its more
finished form, test out how it'soperating, do some of the final
firmware testing, appdevelopment testing.
But, as you alluded to, this isa space that we will bring some
of our channel partners toexperience.
(17:29):
Hey, when you open sevenwindows, you can feel that right
and you can use our voiceassistants.
This little guy right herethat's a control four system,
and so our integration intothose smart automation systems
for our integrators, this is aplace where we can have a little
bit of that lived experiencewith them.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
That's fantastic.
Thanks for sharing a little bitmore about that.
To transition into the broadersense of the industry, what are
some emerging trends ortechnologies in the smart home
industry that you findparticularly exciting or
promising?
Speaker 2 (18:03):
in my role.
Everything's starting to get totwo things One, smaller right.
Things are starting to getsmaller, and not just smaller,
because there's a lot ofminiaturization that happens,
but small and robust.
(18:23):
That's kind of a key for us.
Here we have about a 1.1 inchby 1.1 inch area within the
frame of our windows.
Our goal in this program.
One of the challenges we talkabout in this program is
seamless integration.
The homeowner doesn't want thesmart window looking different
than their standard window,right?
They don't want it to havedifferent sight lines, they just
(18:46):
want it to be completely behindthe scenes.
We also don't want to have aseparate product line that all
looks great, as in seamless,that our architects have to
design when they already have agreat product line that they're
doing.
They don't want to have to mixand match.
That's tough for our channel todo.
So the challenge for our teamwas get all this stuff in this
(19:07):
tiny little area.
But we can't have.
We can't have, you know, fast,casual tech Sometimes we call it
where it's designed for a yearor two years or even five years.
These products have to meet thequality requirements that
Marvin sets forward with verylong warranties.
I can say that we offer afive-year warranty on all of the
(19:27):
smart components, the actuators, the boards.
You don't hear of that type ofstandard warranty in most tech
devices.
We kind of had to set a littlehigher bar, since these are
going to be in your home, foryou know, much longer and
they're not just a throwawaydevice so small because we've
got to fit it in, but robust.
That's a huge thing we'refocused on on this team.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Yeah, I mean, that's actually just breaking my head.
Actually, you're fitting theentire smart home component
controller in a 1.1 by 1.1 incharea in the window.
That matches prior form factors, so that architects can reuse
their existing design schema.
It is it's not easy.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
It's brilliant and I can you know not going too
technical.
But we have two differentactuators because not only do we
open and close the window, weautomatically actuate the lock,
which is it sounds simple.
It's not that simple.
We have a rain sensor on boardso if it's raining, your windows
automatically close.
(20:28):
You don't have to worry aboutthat coming into your house.
And we have a couple differentboards obviously running the
system.
And we have a couple differentboards obviously running the
system and we have backup power.
Now, they're not batteries, butwe have super capacitors, so if
the power goes out in your homeat any time, we can still close
and lock your windows.
That goes to some of thequestions on that lived
experience.
(20:50):
And going back to our architects, we didn't want that big.
Hey, you bought the connectedhome products.
Now here's the list of kind ofwe call them the asterisks, but
this but this, but this but thisA casement window which kind of
opens.
This way you can use all thesame sizing, all the same glass
types, the colors, basically allof the operations.
(21:12):
So you can do a swap out from amanual crank out to our
motorized, with very littleexception there, even down to
one of our patented features,which we're always happy to talk
about, we still offer egresscapability.
So egress is like, let's say,your master bedroom.
You need a way to get out.
If there was danger like a fire, right, you need a way to get
(21:32):
out if there was danger like afire, right, that would have
been much easier for the Marvinteam to say well, this one, if
you do motorize, that won'tegress.
Right, just put egresssomewhere else.
But that's not what we heardfrom homeowners and our
professionals is they just wantthat one big window.
They want to put another windowinto set because that's code,
(21:53):
right, you can't build yourhouse without being able to get
out.
That patented lock featureallows it to be motorized, but I
can walk over to this windownext to me and I can manually
flip that lock switch and pushout the window so I can get out
even if all power is gone, evenif anything has happened.
We want to keep thosehomeowners safe.
(22:13):
Those are the features that Ithink we're most proud of at
Marvin is not just putting outtech and I keep saying this not
just putting out tech for techsake, but we offer egress, we
offer giant glass sizes, weoffer all this customization and
we just want this to fit withinthat ecosystem, and that's it's
(22:34):
not the easiest task, you know,trying to fit it in little
spaces.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
It's an impressive feat of multi-trade engineering
that you've accomplished here.
It's absolutely incredible, jim, so you have tremendous
experience in bringing digitallyfocused solutions to the market
for Fortune 500 companies.
What are some of the keychallenges that you've
encountered and how have youovercome them?
Speaker 2 (22:59):
uh, the biggest challenge is making sure you're
backed with the right investment.
So, um, dipping your toe intothese type of companies for
legacy companies, I think is apretty common trend and that's
where my experience has been,and marvin's no different than
that.
Right, we, we're cut.
We're on a fourth generationcoming up on fifth generation
(23:19):
company, not just owned but ledright.
Paul marvin, marvin, christineMarvin are some of our leaders
in the company actually runningthe company, which is fantastic.
Legacy companies, like we said,can just dip a toe.
We're a window company.
Let's see and throw out ourfirst version of connected
devices and see how it goes, seeif we want to invest more.
(23:39):
That's not how they did it here.
They did some early projectsthat were focused on innovation.
That Skylight we talked aboutwas one of those projects, doing
some early partnership withsome external partners, because
Marvin didn't have that muscleof app development, they didn't
have that muscle ofelectromechanical expertise and
(23:59):
how do we make these thingsoperate?
Right.
But they did recognize we cango for some of the first pass.
Uh, invest in a proper way,innovate in a proper way, market
it in a proper way and thenkind of phase two, which is
where marvin connected homecomes in, was investing at the
right level to start bringingall of that horsepower internal
(24:21):
to marvin.
So that's about the time I wasbrought in.
Now we have, like we said, wehave developers front end, back
end developers here in the TwinCities.
We hired product management,product ownership.
We have dedicated sales,dedicated service.
That's one overlooked thing onthe team, right.
So what I would say ischallenges a lot of time.
(24:46):
We trust the teams and then Isay this to my team a lot I
trust you're going to make agreat product right.
You're going to overcome thevery clear challenges of fitting
in this little one inch by oneinch space.
You're going to find a way toovercome the challenge of moving
a four foot by 10 foot piece ofglass.
That's how big.
We move these motors right.
They're these giant pieces ofglass.
(25:06):
Full faith in the team.
What gets a little harder ismaking having the company do the
investment on all the otherthings around the product that
make it successful.
Like we said, like we have a,we have two dedicated service
people here in the Twin Cities.
If you call, we answer andwe're helping you out right.
Those are the in that new techwithin Marvin.
(25:28):
We felt that necessary to makesure we're augmenting our
already great service team.
So again, a little shout out toour leaders.
They invested in the proper wayto make sure that we weren't,
you know, light on everythingthat we needed, which is which
is different than I'veexperienced at some other
companies.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Yeah, thank you for sharing, yeah, sharing that
experience.
I can relate for sure.
So, jim, in your role asdirector of digital product and
engineering, how do you balancethe innovation of new
technologies with thepracticality and functionality
required for everyday use inhome environments?
Physicality and functionalityrequired for everyday use in
home environments.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Um, it's a big one.
Um, I actually think that's oneof the reasons.
Um, this worked out between meand marvin and that journey when
they reached out and said theyhad a position, uh, open was
more of that b2b to c experience.
Um, again, coming fromhoneywell, coming always having
a channel professionals in themiddle, we have a fantastic team
(26:27):
before the Marvin ConnectedHome team, we have a dedicated
team here.
We still have a dedicated teamhere called the Marvin Design
Lab, and they were kind ofchallenged with do things
differently and innovate.
And we did that, they still dothat, and where Marvin Connected
Home now comes to is bring thepracticalities of that, the
(26:47):
constraints of product designright, kind of a little bit more
of that balance within theinnovation and actually getting
things out to the market in theproper way.
For us, like we talked about alittle bit in the beginning,
practicality is everything forus.
So we don't want to design thetech and fit it into the windows
(27:09):
.
We want to start with thewindows how are people using
them and then work backwards.
So we're always going to landon practicality first.
We're always going to rely onreliability, stability.
I'm thinking of some of thesprint work that's being done
right now on the team and we'replanning, you know, our next
summer release and getting intothe details and we have this big
(27:32):
stacked chart.
Now our product owner pullstogether of this dark blue area
which is all our tech debt andkind of the security stuff and
making sure we're good there andit's a lot of the list right,
those are always going to getprioritized Make sure when
someone hits a button at work,make sure we are secure, make
sure we are stable, make sureeverything in the system of the
(27:57):
basic stuff again, just simplyhitting a button or having the
rain sensor work.
The team knows that that willalways be our first go around
and then we start to talk abouthey, what else can we add to
that error algorithm?
How can we, you know, how canwe partner with a new company
and, you know, get into a newsmart home system or a new voice
assistant?
So I would say for us it's anunfair balance because of the
(28:21):
industry we're in, because ofthe expectations of the
homeowner.
You know it's always balancedtowards kind of that practical
side of keep things working.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
So thank you for sharing that, Jim.
And what role do you seedigital innovation playing and
shaping in the future of homedesign and living experiences?
Speaker 2 (28:42):
I think it's more the practical side it's taking,
like we've done in our windowshere, if people were already
opening their windows.
We can help you do that.
We can help you do that in abetter way, a more insightful
way, or even a way where youdon't have to think about it,
which is, again, our grandvision you never have to touch
your windows again.
But overall in homes, I thinkthat's what everyone's been
(29:04):
trying to do, which is what arehomeowners doing today and how
can we use technology to justmake that more seamless, more
reliable and an easierexperience.
The example we give onconnected home here, whenever we
talk about it, is you wake upin the morning you know, for me,
60 degrees is about perfect,maybe 55, a little bit crisp and
(29:27):
you wake up and you may or youmay not, depending on your home,
open a window in your masterbedroom and then you go over to
one of your kids rooms and thenyou go to your main level or
another part of the home and youopen your living room and then
you open one across your housebecause you want that nice
crossflow ventilation.
Well, a lot of people justdon't do that because it's like
(29:48):
well, I'm just going to getready for work and I'm going to
leave in an hour anyways, I canlive without that, right?
This is a perfect example whereyou can just wake up and say,
hey, google, open all my windowsand you're just, your day is
ready.
You didn't have to think abouthey, I got to walk all around
(30:10):
the house.
Now we we joke about.
You know how hard is it to gowalk around and open windows in
your house.
It takes just a few minutes.
It's a very simple task, but wewe want to recognize, while
simple, a lot of people don't dothat.
Right?
It's probably one of thebiggest challenges within the
window industry is we make thesegorgeous windows and no one
opens them.
Right?
We want to start helping peopleopen them.
So I think for us, that's avery clear example of just make
(30:33):
it easy for everyone.
That'll go across other devicetypes.
Another good example that I usebecause after I joined the team,
I remember last summer I'mprobably going to have it this
summer again, by the way I hadmy son in my truck and I forget
where we were driving to fordinner and it's perfectly clear
(30:55):
out and we leave and 10 minuteslater, right when we get there
it starts pouring and all thewindows in my house were open
and I just remember getting inand like driving as quickly as I
could without speeding too muchof like there's going to be
water in my house, cause, rightyou just, you just have that
fear of oh no.
(31:16):
Well, hey, I could have justopened up the mobile app and
said close all my windows, orlike we had talked about.
I don't even have to open mymobile app.
We have sensors in the windowthat will pick up if water's
coming in and it'll close.
So again, it's not that we dothis magical new experience for
the homeowner, it's we make iteasier, more predictable of what
(31:38):
they're doing.
So again, across homes, alldevices, I think that's what
we're gonna see more of.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Yeah, across homes, all devices.
I think that's what we're goingto see more of.
Yeah, brilliant examples, jim.
So we've talked about a fewdifferent projects and products
that you've launched and workedon.
Is there a particularlymemorable product launch from
your career and the lessonslearned from it?
Speaker 2 (31:55):
It has to be my first product.
This is my time working on homecontrols and it was actually a
pretty straightforward project.
So a humidifier in your home?
It's pretty simple.
They put it on your furnace orair handler.
Gets real dry here in theMidwest Horribly dry, as most
people know who live here and itjust adds humidity to your home
(32:17):
.
And they were controlled byvery old school technology of a
little dial, no real smarts init, and we wanted to provide a
digital controller.
And there was one.
It's more accurate, which iswhat digital technology can
bring.
We love that.
It looked better, so we're kindof set to go there.
(32:39):
But one of the features that wehad in some of our smarter
digital controllers was, as itgets colder, the humidity tends
to want to condense on yourwindows.
So if we monitor the outdoorair, we can change the level of
humidity in your home just tothe perfect level where you get
(32:59):
the most humidity, withouthaving all this dripping
happening on your windows.
And again, anyone who lives ina cold climate has experienced
the sweating window effect.
So it was great for this.
But the challenge in thisprogram is we wanted to include
it standard, so we actually tookone of our existing thermostats
, retuned it with some differentsensors, but it's the same
(33:21):
housing.
It was actually almost anidentical board, same screen,
and we kind of retuned it withsome different sensors, but it's
the same housing.
It was actually almost anidentical board, same screen,
and we kind of retuned it.
So that was a good entry intoproduct management of sometimes
it's not thinking about thegreatest innovation.
You know that utopian vision ofwhat could we make this little
humidity controller?
I don't know if there is autopian vision there.
It's a pretty simple productbut there were very clear
constraints on cost.
(33:43):
Pretty simple product but therewere very clear constraints on
cost, very clear constraints onease of install, ease of use,
and so that's probably myfavorite.
It was also a product that wasnot optional.
We were going to include it onall of our humidifiers, which is
always great.
You know it's going to haveadoption right away and I will
call out that that was the.
(34:03):
We don't tell this to a lot ofpeople, but my favorite feature
I've ever added to a product wasthat product.
All you would do to set thattemperature or you know that
level of sweat on your windowswas a one through 10.
Very simple If your windows aresweating and you're at a seven,
go down to a six, wait a day ortwo, see if your window still
sweats.
The easiest user experience,right, just go up or down
(34:27):
depending on whether yourwindows are sweating.
But if you were at a 10 and youstill didn't have enough
humidity and you didn't havesweating on your windows, we let
that controller go to 11.
So you could go from 10, go to11.
We call that humidity boost andit would add another 10% and go
crazy.
We had a lot of spinal tapjokes.
For those of that generationwho know that like we're taking
(34:49):
it to 11.
It's probably my favoriteproduct and product and feature
I've ever done is a product thatwent to 11.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
So that's awesome.
So, actually, speaking ofspinal tap and taking it to 11,
outside of your professionalendeavors, how do you balance
your passion for biking, playingguitar and happen to have it
listening to death metal?
With your demanding role atMarvin.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
I don't know why that's in my bio.
I probably put it in there.
I do like some heavier bands.
Again, this one I'll come backto specifically Marvin.
No-transcript at Marvin.
(35:45):
To create that balance Doesn'tmean we don't have stretches
where we're coming up to alaunch or we're having to invest
a lot more time.
But we've actually had that fromcomments from some of our
developers who have been in alittle bit more environment
where it's go, go, go, go, go,never stop.
Just try to get as many pointsdone.
For those who know Jira andstory pointing just go, go, go.
(36:07):
And again one of our developerssaid on this team and it feels
like in Marvin we're actuallyfocused on where we're trying to
get what we're trying to do andnot just that grind of how much
are you getting done?
So again I'll call this oneback to Marvin of they do they
want to focus on let's do theright thing, let's get where we
(36:29):
need to go.
And then back to what we talkedabout earlier invest properly
in the resources, make sure theteams are the right size.
We've got the right people tomake this happen.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Brilliant.
Thank you so much for sharing.
I'm excited to hear that youhave that work-life balance and
it's supported on both spectrums.
I believe in the same and, as afinal question of the show and
a traditional future construct,if you could project yourself
out 25 years and wanted to haveany device or technology that
would benefit you personally,what would it be and what would
it do?
Technology that would benefityou personally what would it be
(37:03):
and what would it do?
Speaker 2 (37:04):
I don't know what the technology would be to call it.
I think as we start to pushfurther, obviously one of the
things we try to do here is kindof the big data.
Let's learn everything righthere at work.
(37:26):
I try to learn everything.
I think our broader team triesto do that.
We try to understand and notjust at work, but personal.
Right the news, new music I love.
I love finding new music tolisten to in bands.
I'm always sharing that.
Don't give me some type ofpersonalized spotlight in a
better way of the news, and Iknow there's some companies
(37:46):
trying to do that Same withmusic.
I haven't found some of the bigstreaming music providers to
really tailor to what I want.
So the core I say anytechnology that can allow me a
(38:07):
better balance between stayingconnected while allowing me to
be disconnected is the utopianfor me is get me less screen
time, get me less investment oftime while also getting my
efficiency of soaking that stuffup.
So I'm happy to hear about someof the AI or assistance or you
know calling out things likeCopilot, obviously for corporate
world.
I don't know if that's thefuture, but hopefully in 25
(38:27):
years that can start to help uscome along and be a little more
efficient at what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
I agree, and I drive, you know I drive to efficiency
every day with my own, my ownlife and and I can't imagine how
, in 25 years, technology willjust support that, that overall
effort for all of us, and createmore time, you know, more time
for productivity or free time.
Hopefully that's the idea right.
Well, fantastic.
(38:55):
Thank you, jim.
From your sociology backgroundto your construction and tech
focus, I'm truly excited to havetaken it to 11 with you.
Thank you for joining us onFuture Construct and thank you
to our listeners.
Thanks so much.
Thanks for having me,absolutely.
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