Download The Simplicity Shift

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Jenson
October 20, 2003
17:40
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Innovation
Blindness
One man’s “magic” is another man’s engineering.
“Supernatural” is a null word.
—Robert Heinlein
INTRODUCTION
Creating a process to guarantee innovation might seem a bit like selling
a formula for turning lead into gold. There’s no way I could make that
attempt. But I’ve seen mindsets through my work that will certainly
never be able to find innovation. This is what I mean by innovation
blindness: attitudes that actively discourage innovative thinking.
Unfortunately, it’s common that product teams don’t even attempt
a new, breakthrough solution. Many stick to the “style guide” approach,
following the rules set down by someone else. They color within the
lines. This approach definitely has merit when you’re working in a
well-established domain, such as a department web site within a large
company. But, for such new areas as consumer electronics, few style
guides exist. You have to break out and see things in new ways. Small
electronic devices with onscreen scroll bars or radio buttons are clear
negative examples. Just because these interaction widgets are common
on a PC doesn’t mean you need to place them on an MP3 player. Break
out of your prison.
Innovation blindness occurs because people don’t know how to question their surrounding design culture or even to entertain the possibilities that challenge this culture too strongly. If you don’t know how to
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