From the Nussbaum on Design blog at Business Week…
“…thinking about it in terms of “one-off” innovation (get me another iPod> quick!) doesn’t make your company innovative. But thinking about The Discipline of Innovation–and what that implies in terms of building a culture and organization–does.”
Absolutely! Brilliant innovations don’t just appear from nowhere. They can only grow in environments that support and encourage innovation.
You also need a culture that understands what worthwhile innovation really is. One interesting viewpoint:
“The only worthwhile innovation is a profitable innovation.”
This is from Payback, a book by some clever folk at BGC. And there’s a lot to be said for it. (Though there are some very worthwhile government and humanitarian services which are not profitable, surely).
The book talks about the “cash curve”, the S-shaped curve of cumulative cash spent or earned during the course of an innovation project. The curve dips below zero to start with, as you invest in the project, then, ideally, rockets above zero as sales of your product or service takes off. Except that for many projects, it never makes it back above zero, but bumbles along in the red, requiring an endless stream of further investment to keep it alive.
Successful products usually need a large volume of sales before they achieve payback. So the key factor, they point out, is not time to market – it’s time to volume.
This is great ammunition for supporters of user-centred design (UCD). Organisations that understand they are trying to reach high volume need to invest in customer satisfaction – making sure their product is easy to use and fits with customer needs. In other words, they should do UCD.
UCD is about taking a longer term view. It’s about selecting the right projects based on an understanding of user needs. And it’s about not just getting the product out the door, but getting the right product out of the door, even if it takes a bit longer. That way, the cash curve doesn’t flat-line in the longer term.
So there we are. Yet more evidence to support the UCD case: UCD reduces your time to volume.