Innovation Doesn't Mix with Safety

How many times do you ask for innovation and then ask for reference sources? Doesn't it seem like a bit of a conflict? Most innovations come out of established paradigms, some that work and others that have yet to work. What scares most consumers is whether the innovation has been proven. Therefore 'proving' cannot be substantiated by reference, rather it is confirmed through implementation.

This paradox reminds us of those post-college interviews when the perspective employer asked about experience (knowing full well that the last several years involved institutional learning). Somewhere along the lines an employer took a chance, possibly a calculated risk, and chose us to gain experience. 9 times out of 10 the risk they were concerned over had little to do with the experience, and had everything to do with the personality traits of the individual. Alot also rested with the perspective employer to provide suitable career conditions to retain the person.

Likewise companies looking to solve really big problems need to look beyond the safety zone. Solutions are seldom cookie cutter and often require extensive analysis, dialog, and proving in order to make things fit. Any organization that says they have a perfect/ideal solution set are looking to use you as the experiment. Innovation companies have taken working, durable models, recast them in such a way as to offer a new solution to new problems, and afford a moderate degree of alternation to make it fit culturally.

Our most recent innovation, based on several projects, and extensively using various pieces of the final product, is Reductive Software Engineering (RSE). RSE utilized a number of time-proven technologies including reverse engineering, software reuse, change management processes, artifact control, historical profiling, etc. and assembled them into a coherent model to address a specific concern... "Application Bloat". Behind the solution, and behind the problem, rests a business reason... less is better in terms of time and cost control containment. In it's first week after introduction we have had a few inquiries, most asking... have you done this before? The answer is 'Yes' (in two cases), but each of these piece parts of the method have been done in excess of 20 times each. So is it safe innovation, enought to pursue the service? Or is it scary enough to live with excessive support costs, maintenance effort, and deminished change reliability?

In a recent Forrest Report (July 29, 2007) it was reported that corporate management still viewed IT as an overhead function and not as a mainstream function. Personal aspirations will not get a CIO/CTO to the level of CEO unless innovation is pursued. This isn't just about selling IT as a service (or as a SOA which is the latest buzz acronym) it's about accepting innovation as a solution. If you look at how your organization has respond to needs, it is often in the safe zone. Yet we look at overall IT performance and it is less than stellar, in fact most of the writings are about failures in IT, so what is that telling you?

Innovation can be employed safely when treated as an implementation experiment. You don't gamble the farm when you might start out with mortgaging the farm equipment. Small steps can go a long way but a company must be willing to walk outside the cone of comfort!

The Buried World of Technology

Welcome to our Blog and to what we hope will be an eye opening experience. Each day companies stuggle with numerous challenges that range from operational pressures to technological implementation. It has been amazing to us, that when these individuals are put before us how sheltered they are from the numerous options that are available in their discipline. Why is this?

The purpose of this Blog is to uncover some of the reasons why good, and sometimes world class, technological options go unnoticed. Obviously we have our own biases and beliefs that we will share openly in this forum. Likewise, we want to hear the laments of others and use this as a vehicle for making strides in SOLVING THE PROBLEM.