Comments on: A Few Innovation Ideas

By: GeorgeB

GeorgeB — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 09:18:53 +0000

What I heard was the question of how to gain momentum via the early adopter thought leaders, ‘influencials’, and super-connectors, etc. My observation is that these efforts are akin to “pushing water uphill” – and out of sequence.

Conversely, a reference to the agricultural “transformation” example given above suggests that going with gravity worked so much better:
- all stakeholders already wanted one result (profit)
- one stakeholder was willing to risk one crop cycle
- one ‘expert’ offered insight and specific instruction
- one test/iteration was risked (with great results)
- many other stakeholders willingly followed/engaged
because of less risk to adopt what was a specific and proven approach (not many and varied and unproven).

The wise County Agent already knew the outcome (or could reasonably expect success because of many and varied testing back at the Ag Experiment Station). He wasn’t testing many things with the farmer, just demonstrating one that would work.

My caution was of course not to go test a bunch of unproven concepts, or worse yet implement those that have already proven elsewhere to be ‘unfit’.

Applying your algorithmic approach is great, if we take what has already been shown to work (like in health-care) and scale that up as you suggest. I don’t think you will have to seek early adopters to gain momentum but may be over-run with willing co-conspirators to implement that innovation, and to enjoy that mutually-beneficial ‘change’.

I applaud all risk takers like farmers who must seek innovation, and do adjust (ever so cautiously), just to survive. We should all be so prudent. I shudder at turning bureaucrats loose with discretionary money to “try a bunch of things” ( since they are so prone to scattering more weeds, or turning the hogs loose to pillage the crops).

By: Tim

Tim — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:20:14 +0000

Thanks for the comment George. I guess I’ll be happy with 4 agreements versus 2 disagreements!

I’m not a big fan of creating a lot of options beforehand either, actually – what I’m really trying to get at is the idea that we should try a lot of things, which is a bit different.

By: GeorgeB

GeorgeB — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:17:02 +0000

I don’t think I would agree:
- that creating many options first is efficient
- that getting folks aligned (to one) after that is likely

I do think I agree that
- finding who wants “what”
- helping them seek “what” might work
- trying (only) ideas that seem most viable
- using, measuring, and scaling (only) those
might work sooner, and better, and algorithmically(?)
I’d call that “Collaboration On Purpose”

Divergence versus convergence..
- isn’t that the question(?)

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By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:04:49 +0000

Thanks Jorge! I’m still not entirely sure how to set up an innovation algorithm, but it does seem like a good idea!

By: Jorge Barba

Jorge Barba — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:01:07 +0000

Let a thousand flowers bloom! And it’s even faster to do nowadays with some many tools at our disposal, you can get anything setup within a week and give yourself a month to experiment.

Algorithmic innovation, I like that term!

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 03:52:05 +0000

Thanks for the feedback Nate. I’m glad that you agree about the benefits of algorithmic innovation – I think it is a sound strategy.

By: Nate Burrow

Nate Burrow — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 02:49:23 +0000

I agree, with “…the best response to this is actually to approach innovation alogorithmically.” Generating a lot of different ideas will bring more diversity. I believe that the more diversity we have as innovators the more ideas there are to chose from, and when there is more to chose from as a result there will be better ideas. Something i’ve learned from this article is the idea that Chris Brogan has about competitors slacking from Thanksgiving to New Years. Now that I think about what he has said, I believe he is completely right.

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[...] a recent post, he visits the work of Duncan Watts on how ideas spread: “I think that the best response to this is actually to approach innovation alogorithmically. [...]