Whether you’re a casual player who just picks up a set of dominoes at the grocery store, or an expert builder who creates massive setups that are shown off at live events, the physical principle that sets these pieces in motion is the same: The smallest change can trigger a chain reaction. This concept is known as the Domino Effect, or The Law of the Totalitarian Domino.
Dominoes have been around for a long time, and their popularity has increased with the rise of online games. Today, dominoes can be found in many homes and classrooms. However, some may be surprised to learn that the humble little block is also a vital tool for business growth and innovation.
While Domino’s has long been a leader in pizza delivery, the company has also innovated in other ways. For example, customers can now order Domino’s pizza by texting an emoji or using devices like Amazon Echo. Domino’s innovation efforts have been focused on improving the customer experience, and these changes have led to increased satisfaction.
In addition to the traditional blocking and scoring games, there are other types of domino games, including solitaire and trick-taking games. These adaptations of card games were popular in some parts of the world to circumvent religious prohibitions against playing cards.
The first step in most domino games is to draw seven tiles from a standard set of 28. These are placed in a pile called the stock or boneyard, and one of them is played first by matching its end to an adjacent tile with the same number of pips. Then, additional tiles are played by matching their ends to the ends of those previously played. The goal is to score a certain amount of points in a specified number of rounds.
Lily Hevesh has been fascinated by dominoes since she was 9 years old, when her grandparents gave her a classic 28-piece set. Her fascination turned into a career, and she is now a professional domino artist who creates stunning sets for film and television projects, as well as events like the album launch of pop singer Katy Perry. Hevesh has even worked on a project that broke the Guinness World Record for most dominoes toppled in a circular arrangement.
Hevesh explains that while many factors contribute to her designs, the most important is gravity. When a domino is set upright, it stores energy in the form of potential energy based on its position. When the domino is flipped over, this energy transforms into kinetic energy, which then causes the next domino to topple. The entire chain reaction is made possible by the force of gravity, and that’s the same principle that powers every business strategy.
As more organizations invest in maturing their analytical capabilities, they want tools that enable them to follow best practices established by software engineering. Unfortunately, the tools available for data analysis have not yet evolved to match those of software development. This leads to friction between the two domains, with teams either awkwardly transplanting software tools from software development or settling for inefficient workflows. Domino is designed to bridge this gap, making it simple for data scientists to implement the proven workflows of software engineering. Domino also facilitates collaboration by providing centralized repository management, code snapshots and links to results, and a single platform for self-service access to all tools.