Innovation Requires Super Smart Guys

99% of the problems that are faced on a daily basis in business are quite simple. (That doesn't mean easy) Usually the problem is a logistical one of getting the right material, parts, people, whatever, together at the same time and place so that an event may occur.

But sometimes that's not enough. About 0.999% of the time the right parts are in place but the puzzle pieces still will not align. Here there is usually some industry standard massaging takes place and this smooths the edges of the pieces enough so that they'll sit nicely together.

Getting the right things in place and then fiddling with them will produce the desired outcome in 99.999% of the time.1

It's the 0.001% of the time (1 time out of a 1000) that causes all the trouble. In this case all of the pieces are in order and all of the standard manipulation has taken place and you still don't have the desired outcome.

That's when you need the super smart guys.

Every industry has a group of super smart people like Dr. Ed Cohen who have a seemingly limitless grasp of the technical nitty-gritty that is needed to take the next step.

Innovation is a social process dependent not only on the interactions between people but also dependent on the skills possessed by these people.

The smart organizations that win the innovation game know this and take the time to cultivate (either by hiring or networking) relationships with the super-smart folks so that when they do encounter the 1 in a 1000 problem they can make their way out of it.

Notes:
1. Lean is about increasing the rate of getting it right 99.999% of the time. Lean is not about solving the tough technical challenges.

Neat Idea: Products That Work (2)

Rain-X is another product that just flat out works.

Sometimes it's fun to not even turn on the wiper blades. The product is that good.

Images via Rainx.com

Innovative Financial Advice

When I was newly married I went to talk with a financial advisor. This was in the late 1990's when technology stocks were going through the roof, even my barber was giving me financial advice, and I was worried about missing out.

"Look," the advisor says, "You don't have any money and won't for a while."

"If you had money the first thing that you do is maximize your 401K contribution. You are guaranteed a 28% rate of return on your money (because the money is contributed to the fund tax free). I can't come anywhere close to that. If you have any money left after that, and you won't, set up Roth IRA's for you and your wife and maximize those contributions. If you have money left after that, which will be in about thirty years, come and see me and we'll set something up."

He was right then and he is right now. Sometimes we get a bit too fancy for ourselves.

Neat Idea: Products That Work

We've all seen the infomercial ads for products that look like they can do it all. And we've all had the disappointment of not having the product work as promised.

Having to pre-rinse all of the dishes before putting them into the dishwasher is a great example of how dish washing detergents don't always work as advertised.

That's why when you find a product that surpasses your expectation you are truly overjoyed.

Today I shined up a pair of shoes and moved them from one room to another. In doing so, the sole edge and heel polish dripped onto the carpet in several places. I literally thought that this mistake was going to cost me new carpet throughout the house. No way a spray on carpet cleaner fixes this mistake.

Woolite Oxy Deep to the rescue! With some elbow grease and the Woolite, 100% of the shoe polish came out of the carpet.

Not sort-of came out, but 100% can't-tell-where-it-was out.

I don't know what's in the bottle but it's liquid magic in my book. We will always have a bottle of it in our house.

You Need More Than Talent

By now you've probably heard of Susan Boyle, the 47-year-old, who has become an overnight celebrity thanks to her great singing performance on the British television show Britain's Got Talent. (Link)


Susan Boyle Stuns Crowd with Epic Singing - Watch more Funny Videos

What is undeniable is that Ms. Boyle has an amazing amount of talent.

What's also undeniable is that Ms. Boyle, up to this point, hasn't actively tried to capitalized on this talent.

Whether or not she should have is not the point. The point is that talent, or for that matter technology, doesn't matter without the requisite labor.

To become world class at something you need 10,000 hours of practice. Even Dr. Suess' first book was rejected 27 times.

Begin great doesn't just happen. It has a price. The question one has to ask one self, and answer over and over again, is, "is the sacrifice worth the results?"

Neat Idea

I love the new steamfresh bag from Birds Eye.


Instead of having to open a bag of vegetables, putting it in a microwave safe container, adding water, cooking, stirring half way through and cooking it again you simply, to borrow a phrase from Ron Popeil, "set it and forget it."

The bag saves steps.

Simply take said bag from freezer and place into microwave. Cook. Open. Serve.

Simple solution but some serious awesome technology underlying the process.

Image from the Birds Eye website.

Change The Engine While Racing The Car

One of the paradoxes of process innovation within a company is that the folks who understand best what the organization's problems are have the least bandwidth to fix them.

Take a manufacturing facility for example. The operations staff is absolutely buried in solving the problem of the day: the plastic parts have flash, the metal parts have burrs, the pallets were mislabeled and the wrong parts were used, etc, etc.

In order to make improvements a dedicated application of of these front line resources is required. This means that in order to improve you have reduce the number of people who are currently engaged in the day to day fire fighting. AND you have to ask the folks still involved in the day to day fight to commit part of their day to participate in efforts to make improvements. AND at the same time the folks who find themselves short staffed and sitting in meetings can't allow the day to day problems to inhibit daily production.

This is one of the reasons why large scale organizational changes are so hard. Eventually a big giant problem comes up that looks like it requires a large amount of resource. Pulling these resources means not staffing the improvement initiative. The improvement project can wither without the resources.

To solve the paradox requires two things. First, is an unwavering, die on the hill, commitment to change. Without the discipline to achieve the larger goal the organization will never make the sacrifices required. Second, a strong sense of urgency around short term attainable goals. Many small wins have the habit of building into one large win. If the goal is to cost reduce the product by a dollar, gather as many two cent savings initiatives in the next month as you can. Once the low hanging fruit has been harvested, start chiseling away at the larger savings.

Paradigms Are Hard To Change

According to my local hometown paper (can we call them papers anymore?) a local town was pondering cuts in the school budget for 2009. The school district was only to see an increase in spending of 2.6% to 4.1%. Link

The school district doesn't get it.

The legacy thinking of automatic annual wage increases and the like without a correlated efficiency or effectiveness improvement is only a cost increase. Over time you are left with a boat anchor of an institution ala GM and Chrysler.

The most interesting social construct in all of this is the town's reaction to the school districts thinking. Instead of sharpening the pitchforks and fueling the torches they are hanging their head's with resigned acceptance. Just because the school district says it's so doesn't mean that it is.