I don’t get it….
and
Page 17 of 45
in response to Frank and the comments from my last post, not to mention a few more conversations with interesting people.
from David Reeves on flickr.com
It’s interesting that the two comments from Phil and Jonathan on my lat post are both from developers. People who’s very job is to ‘innovate’. We’re all told we must innovate, in everything that we do. If you develop you must write innovative code. If you’re creative (thanks Frank) you must create in an innovative way, and importantly if you’re a manager you must innovate your management.
It’s this last one that’s interesting. As developers and people who’s very essence of being is about doing new things, we’ve (developers & creatives) been hearing the innovation mantra for quite few years. But management, well that’s a bit more recent.
Whilst we think the principles of Research & Development are those of innovation, managers, finance and marketing don’t see it that way. What managers see when they hear R&D is 10% of their budget going away, to a team of people, disconnected from the organisation, who are working on stuff that will have an impact in the medium term (if they’re lucky) and the long term more probably.
So the term ‘innovation’ simply becomes (as my boss put it) the lens through which we view the basic tenants of R&D. R&D by it’s very nature is an osmotic process, ‘pure’ R&D (pure = academic?) could be something isolated in a lab – but the findings and work carried out in that lab are nothing, if they’re not shared and peer reviewed. Academics are used to working in this ‘pure’ form – but what about us? Our industry moves far to quickly for us to adopt a model that can take months to produce a finding, a finding which has been tested, reviewed, and tested again – before being published for peer review and replication.
So is innovation, simply a way to communicate that R&D in the ‘new world’ is a distributed medium, that carries out it’s peer review in an open, faster, forum than the traditional ‘pure’ science journals? Is ‘innovation’ simply a way to allow everyone, regardless of what they do in an organisation, a chance to carry out R&D?
I’m not sure there’s a tension between ‘pure’ R&D and innovation – but we should make an attempt to ensure that the very things that make R&D so vital to the future of a company are not lost in the clamor to make sure you ‘appear’ innovative. In other words. Let’s make sure innovation is a tool, or a lens, that we use to communicate our work; but does not become the petard we end up hoisting ourselves up.
From AussieGold on Flickr
I don’t even know why I’ve given it a capital. Innovation (had to there), is meaningless. It has been since marketeers started using it to describe anything that may be vaguely new or interesting, or ‘thinking’ that was vaguely new or interesting, or perhaps, just interesting. It could be thinking about the future, or thinking about the future in a new way. Or EVEN thinking about our thinking, on the thinking for the future.
Seriously. WTF? What is Innovation, that Research & Development isn’t?
I’m genuinely interested in if anyone else shares my growing hate of the word. Please tell me, what’s the difference? Why can’t we be Research & Development?
Answers on a post-card please.
I’ve had a mad week or so, bouncing from the World Travel Market in London, to the Swn Interactive Conference in Cardiff, and now over to Berlin for the day before heading back to Melbourne tomorrow morning. Oh yes, and writing my first article for the Inside LP blog.
This, unsurprisingly has resulted in rather a lot of air travel – particularly of the long-haul type – but today I get a treat. Lonely Planet doesn’t fly anyone business class, it’s economy all the way. But occasionally, just occasionally, there’s no choice. You book late, you have a meeting at a time you simply can’t move, and the extra few pounds is worth it to make it on time.
Getting up at 4am is never fun, but with the prospect of a two hour flight to Berlin in total comfort, as well as a settled wait at the new Terminal Five in the Club Lounge ahead of me, I had a slight spring in my step. Silly me.
Traffic on the M25 was non-existent, which simply meant I was here three and a half hours early. Ahh well, comfortable club lounge here I come. Automatic check-in failed (I must be too early) so I headed over to the flight desk, and was told, by a yawning clerk who couldn’t care less that the flight was over-booked and I probably would not get on it, go away come back later, when there may be a space on another flight perhaps (yawn again, no ‘I’m sorry’). But then the magic happens. There’s a ‘c’ on my ticket – that means club! It’s all different now (the yawning hasn’t stopped – but I spy a hope) – I can go through to the club lounge to wait, but probably still wont get on the flight. Yawn.
Joining the queue through security I was ‘fast tracked’ into a long line of slow moving people… ‘why can’t I go through the normal one? There’s no one there?’, ‘You have a club class ticket sir we can fast track you’. Ah. Little point in arguing. Fast track also means I have to remove my shoes. The other normal lines don’t seem to be doing that. Oh well. I’m then treated (because I’m special) to a good search by the rudest security person I have ever met. ‘Put your arms out straight’. ‘They are’, ‘no straighter’, ‘they don’t get any straighter’ (perhaps I am odd), ‘whatever’. Meh.
Now I sit in the club lounge and all is right with the world. I still don’t know if I’m going to get on my flight (and therefore make the exceptionally important meeting that could mean exceptionally important things for the company), or if I’m resigned to sitting next to the free food buffet. It’s a tough choice. There’s only one thing I know for certain. Neil Diamond rocks.
I can hardly begin to describe to you the utter bliss of any kind of shower after eight hours on a 777. Those of you that do the long-haul flying thing will understand that eight hours is about the limit, to then consider doing another 11 hours immediately afterwards fills most people with the heeby-jeebies.
So I find myself in Kuala Lumpur for the second time in as many months, doing 28 hour jaunts to Australia and back. It’s worth it – but only if you can find some way to pass the time in KL.
First time here I discovered a bad cafe with bad beer, bad coffee, and even worse service. I wasn’t looking forward to my second visit. The comparason however is difficult to describe. I’ve discovered that they have an airport lounge (normally reserved for those lucky enough to be flying business class) that you can simply pay to use.
It’s called the Plaza Premium Lounge and costs just 120RM for five hours use. That’s about 20 GBP. Amazing. For this sum I got a cold shower (which here, just over the equator, was rather nice) free food, free diet coke, and most importantly one of the best massages I have ever had.
But unfortunately I’ve aslo had an experience with an aging British chap, who didn’t have anything on. Poor old love thought that the wash-room / shower complex thing was an exlusive deal. He was under the impression that he had paid his 20 quid for full use of both showers, the two toilets, and the two basins. How do you explain to a someone most definately your senior, that perhaps it’s not exclusive, and perhaps, if it’s okay with him, he could maybe put something on his bottom half.
All embarasment was saved however, when he walked out into the reception area (towel now drapped around his mid-rift) demanding to speak to the manager whilst I quickly tried to have a wee before I was thrown out. I’ve never been good at having a wee under pressure, and this was definately pressure. Never mind. I managed to squeeze out a small one, retire back to the lounge and hide behind one of the free PCs to write this.
I don’t think he can see me.
… inspired by something that’s banging around work at the moment I’m going to start posting images from flickr posted under the Creative Commons License on my blog each Friday that, well, Inspire me.
I’m going to start with this one, taken by slack12, of Table Mountain. I’m a big fan of reflections anyway, but the warmth and depth of detail in this shot just had me looking for ever more each time I look at it.
Do yourself a favor, click on it, go to flickr and view the original version in the ‘other sizes’ button.
I can’t work out what I love most. The fact that you need warning that these creatures try to kill themselves on the front of your vehicle, or that the sign has been shot.
Anyway – here I am on the road out to Wadong from Melbourne expecting to see roos, but in fact all we saw where these signs.
That’s a t-shirt slogan isn’t it?
Mmmm, oh yes, I should also point out that the hat is made of Kangaroo….
Thing is, if you know me you know I’m a bit of an apple fan boy. I find myself watching the I’m a PC adverts and cheering… but now I have a new favorite Mac Vs PC video.
Have discovered the Lonely Planet group on flickr after being introduced to Mark (the amazing chap who runs it – as well as the LP Library).
There are amazing photographs that just take your breath away. This is my favorite so far. There may be many more posts along this line.
What is God calling you to do?
Listen to my Thought for The Week on BBC Hereford on Worcester about vocation and what God may be calling you to be or do