Innovation is dirty

Last week, I was presented with a software hack (or work-around) that solved a very complex problem.

My first impression: it’s dirty. The feeling is almost disgust. Yeah, the solution is something that I would be embarrassed to release under my strong company name.

Then I remembered some of the characteristics of a disruptive product defined by Clayton Christensen:

  • Disruptive products are simpler and cheaper – they generally promise lower margins, not greater profits.
  • Disruptive technologies typically are first commercialized in emerging or insignificat markets.
  • Leading firms’ most profitable customers generally don’t want, and indeed initially can’t use, products based on disruptive technologies.

They’re dirty! This feeling comes usually from people very aware and engaged in a specific industry. Featuritis (feature creep is the proliferation of features in a product such as computer software) and running the product race based on presumptions of what defines a first-class product is what can bring these feelings to us.

Then I started applying this thought to some of the more recent product innovations:

  1. Twitter Blogs with 140 characters? Blogs and RSS are being eaten up, even Google is threatened with real-time search.
  2. Netbooks Dell and HP tooks years to realize Asus and Acer were slowly taking over their notebook dominance.

Aren’t these innovations dirty, too?

So, when you see something that looks dirty, pay very special attention to it.

May 14, 2009 | Filed Under Interesting 

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