king talk

One of my favorite authors, Don Norman, has released a new essay about design research and technological innovation. It think he is right, writing that »successful revolutionary innovation is rare … most new product development is innovative, but at a very tiny, incremental level«. First of all many »major innovation comes from technologists who have little understanding of all this design research stuff«, but they are not popular from start. »When I was at Apple, I watched many innovative products fail. Badly done? No, simply ahead of their time.«

But what is the solution? »… incremental improvement is the most powerful and important mechanism for a company, all the excitement revolves around the dramatic breakthrough. And yes, the payoffs from these inventions are so large that their success cam compensate for the risk … Once a product direction has been established, research with customers can enhance and improve it. Beforehand? Leave it to the technologists. They will get the grand ideas running, but their implications are apt to be complex, overwhelming, and just plain horrid. Horrid applications? Yes, but that’s good news: we will forever be indispensible.« True, true…