Shikarishambu on Software & Related Services

There are two “I” words that I hate, makes me want to puke – Intuitive and Innovation.

I will take on the later first. I think the first IBM ad nailed it. “Innovation” seems to be the buzz word of the last three years. Everyone is talking about “Innovation”,very few really seem to know what it really means and nobody seems to be talking about the outcome of their “innovation” – what came of their implementation of this “innovation”.  Often there is no talk of the outcomes because these “innovation” never saw the light of the day or if they did they did not deliver what was expected or the folks we applied it never measured the incremental benefits from it.  A CIO of a Fortune 500 company that no longer exists called the process of creating a three year plan  an “Innovation Roadmap.” Oh, please! Then again, he was a partner at a consulting company prior to that. What more can you expect. The outcome was quite like the one in the second IBM ad. And, a former employer of mine had its employees attach this tag line to their email signature in 2006 – “15 years of Innovation.” Yeah, right – what did you innovate? And, what do you have to show for it?

So, what do I think is “innovation”? Well, if you look at Wikipedia on Innovation you will see a set of definitions (no wonder so many claims to innovation). I think items 4 and 5 are what I think as “Innovation” – “Successful exploitation of new ideas that creates a new dimension of performance that is sustainable.” I just combined 4 and 5 from Wikipedia and added sustainable. It is not the idea per se but the implementation of the idea.

I think good innovation should be hard to do but easy to see – there will be a definite inflection point. It is that act that helped the organization chart a different course and take it to the next level. The next level may be up or down based on the quality of the idea and the quality of the implementation. Calling every incremental improvement as innovation is bit of a hyperbole. And, don’t get me wrong incremental improvements are important – probably more important than innovation. You cannot keep waiting to come with the next big thing. Incremental tweaks can put on the track to a big change.

Now, let us take the first word – Intuitive. I often hear people say “it is so intuitive” or “it should be as intuitive…”. Often this is in context to some piece of hardware or software that is in front of them. And, often the comparisons are to Apple or Google. Everyone claims to be an expert on determining what is intuitive. And, they are all correct. Merriam-Webster defines intuitive as “readily learned or understood.” What it means there is still some learning or understanding required. And, more importantly, what you consider to be intuitive is influenced by your level of learning and understanding. It is intuitive for someone in India to drive on the left side of the road, look for a red post box. And, equally intuitive for someone in the US to drive on the right and look for a blue post box. So, next time someone compares SAP (or, similar) software with Google search and complains that it is not intuitive, you know why…

I am still waiting for someone to come up with “Intuitive Innovation” – that person or organization will certainly be an idiot savant.