November 3, 2011
Horace Dediu, Founder and Author of Asymco: “Like the example of the toy robot that delights the child, Siri delights with simple competence. … So over time it will take on more tasks and will eventually help us in ways that we cannot yet conceive possible today. This is just like the introduction of the capacitive touch screen. Popularizing the touch screen has led to experiences with phones and tablets which we did not think possible four years ago.
But it takes time. Like any truly useful breakthrough, it takes a long time to mature. And also like any disruption, the potential of Siri is rooted in four principles:
- Humble early goals which it accomplishes well
- A large population of enthusiastic adopters who give it sustenance
- Plenty of headroom in improvement giving it areas
to grow into with positive feedback
- A patient sponsor who makes a stable living
There’s no magic to it. In fact it’s banal. These are only the principles that every parent uses to raise a child.”
Source: “Clayton Christensen and Siri”
Via: Twelve Seventy-One
Labels: Innovation
February 9, 2010
At its core, innovation is applied creativity. And, it is my belief since I have seen it for years is that most employees can be encouraged to be creative, if you want them to be.
How can you encourage small innovations?
Think small. The beauty of small innovations is that they focus on immediate concerns, not on finding game-changing products. Encourage your people to find a solution to a problem, or a better way of doing things.
Try posing questions: How can accounting streamline billing? How can customer service resolve issues on the phone without supervisor intervention? How can product engineers find more time to spend with customers? Using such questions will get people generating ideas. Not every idea will be brilliant, but that’s the point. You want to collect ideas, refine them, and select the best for implementation.
Implement locally. Since most small innovations are limited to a department or a function, put them into action as soon as possible. If the idea does not work as expected, don’t abandon it immediately—see if you can tweak it. Implementation itself can be creative and sometimes it takes several tries to make innovative ideas work as expected, or beyond expectations.
Promote widely. You need to recognize those who think of and support the innovations. Many organizations provide incentives for such efforts, from gift coupons all the way up to substantive bonuses for innovations that positively affect the entire company. The important thing is to recognize the right people, and to do it in a timely fashion.
Encouraging small innovations is only part of the management equation. Execution of the innovations is critical. No amount of applied creativity can make up for slipped deadlines, blown budgets, dissatisfied customers, or unbalanced profit and loss statements. You need to focus on the details to get things done.
John Baldoni
Author and Leadership Consultant
Source: How to Encourage Small Innovations
Via: The 99 Percent
Labels: Innovation
August 3, 2009
…innovation comes from people meeting up in the hallways or calling each other at 10:30 at night with a new idea, or because they realized something that shoots holes in how we’ve been thinking about a problem. It’s ad hoc meetings of six people called by someone who thinks he has figured out the coolest new thing ever and who wants to know what other people think of his idea.
And it comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We’re always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.
Steve Jobs
Founder and CEO, Apple
Source: The Seed of Apple’s Innovation
Via: Getting Real by 37signals
Labels: Innovation
