Sunday, March 15, 2009

Art of Innovation
9. Barrier Jumping

Chapter Takeaways
  • There are many hurdles to innovation, including cultural and nostalgic. However, when realizing them early and addressing them directly, they can often be overcome.
Watching the Border
Products and features that are well-liked in the US, may be scorned abroad for cultural reasons.

Stubbornly Unmetric
The US refuses to adopt the metric system due to a simple lack of innovation.

Sidesteps
When the public is slow to accept a new technology, you need to reexamine your assumptions.
Deal Killers
Recognize what may kill your product and address it early - if something is safe, make it look safe; if your user-base it's handy, ensure simple installation.

Patent Pending
When you're competing against an existing, established product, sometimes the best thing to do is start from scratch.

Opening the Floodgates
A list of barriers and their corresponding bridges.
  • Hierarchy-Based --> Merit-Based
  • Bureaucracy --> Autonomy
  • Anonymous --> Familiar
  • Clean --> Messy
  • Experts --> Tinkerers
Skill Sets
All sorts of skills are much more within your reach than you think.
*I need to take this one to heart.*

Handshakes
Provide affordances to "shake hands" with your users, make themselves approachables and guide them on what to do.
Look for ways that people are using a products natural affordances for new and novel uses.

Rituals Reward
Old habits provide strong nostalgia.
People don't want to break old traditions.
This can be a tough barrier to new ideas.
Good rituals don't die, they just get reinvented.
Provide incentives for people to switch.

Evangelism Works
Some new products need a lot of marketing muscle to succeed.

Running with Al Gore
Effort and clever persistence can be key to landing new projects.

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