2. “Innovation is a hard, messy process with no shortcuts. It starts with making something that you’d like to use that makes meaning, and it gets both easier and harder from there.” Guy Kawasaki
3. The Reality of Innovating The Art of Innovation The Seven Sins of Solutions The Myths of Innovation The Sticking Point The Lies of Engineers
4. 1. The Art of Innovation Build something that you want to use Great Innovations make meaning It is OK to ship an imperfect product It is NOT OK to stay crappy! Focus on making segments of people very happy Remember the true purpose of innovation Don’t let the bozos grind you down
5. 2. The Seven Sins of Solutions Shortcutting Blind spots NIH Satisficing Downgrading Complicating Stifling – “yeah, but” syndrome “If you don’t try, you will never know, and that’s the worst outcome of all.”
6. 3. The Myths of Innovation Epiphany: the tip of the iceberg Innovator’s toughest challenge People embrace innovation Try it quick, try it cheap, try it young, try again!
7. 4. The Sticking Point S– Simple U - Unexpected C - Concrete C - Credible E - Emotional S –Story
8. 5. The Lies of Engineers “I don’t know anything about marketing.” “The code supports all the industry standards.” “We can do this faster, cheaper, and better in India.” “This time we got it right.” “It works on my machine.”
9. “Engineering schools beget engineers. Engineers beget ideas. And ideas beget companies. End of discussion.” “Business Schools are not as important, because MBAs seldom sit around discussing how to change the world with great products.” Guy Kawasaki
Editor's Notes
Busy w/ school and worried about math problems and etcYou can be the smartest guy and be able to solve any problem and do your job very well, but what companies are looking for and will be most pleased and reward you for is for your ideas and innovative approaches.
it’s not about market potential, build something that you see yourself using it and making your life easierWhatever you’re doing: help ppl do old things better, do things they always wanted to, and do things new they never knew they wanted to do the first version is almost never perfect you can’t stay crappy, always improveDon’t try to please every demographicTrue purpose is not cool products, but happy peopleBozos will tell you it can’t be done, isn’t necessary, it was tried before. Keep at it.
Shortcutting – leaping to solutions in an intuitive way seldom leads to an elegant solutionBlind spots – Assumptions, biases, and mind-sets that we cannot see through or around. Clear thinking is paramontNIH- Not Invented Here: Refuse to consider solutions that are from external sources.Satisficing – Satisfy plus suffice. We go for easy and stop looking for the optimal solutionDowngrading – formal revision of the goal or situation. Change the goal so we can still declare victoryComplicating – Our natural tendency of overthinking, complicating and adding costs.Stifling – “yeah, but” syndrome and doubting others and our own ideas.
An epiphany is not always a fun, interesting story, but a series of observations and mistakes over time. Ideas are combinations of other ideasInnovators are both born and made. You need both talent and a lot of hard work with it.The toughest challenge of an innovator is how bored the rest of the world is by their ideas.You will face rejection and negativity – it’s human nature, we’re threatened by change.Try- Young ppl have less responsibility and room for failure. Seldom ideas are great and people succeed on their first try.
S – Important to find a simple message that expresses the core of your ideaU – is this the natural “next step” or is your idea breakthrough?C – does it have a clear definition of what you want to accomplish with this idea?C – do you have the background and the right resources to implement this idea?E – You can appeal to consequences (like money) or you can appeal to Identity. Identity is powerful and that’s what drives ppl when making decisionsS – Make sure your idea tells a story that will attract people
“I don’t know anything about marketing.” – The engineer is thinking “how hard can it be?” the MBAs better come up w/ something“The code supports all the industry standards.” – the industry stds that he agrees with and wants to comply with“We can do this faster, cheaper, and better in India.” – false belief that engineers in america are lousy, slow and expensive, not true!“This time we got it right.” – this time occurs over and over. They always need to fix something“It works on my machine.” – and “my machine” is the only one that it actually works.
