How to Innovate!

Jonathan PalleySD2C 2008

http://www.idapted.comStudioChinese | EQEnglish

or

Learning to Walk Backwards

Three Goals

The Mindset of an Innovator.

Innovate small. It will grow big.

Learn to love the question: “Why?”

A man (or woman) walking backwards

The mindset of an innovator:

A man walking backwards...

2. Looking at where he has been.

1. Knows the goal he is walking towards.

3. Looking most directly at the last thing he passed.

4. Doesn’t walk straight.

Let’s understand each of these properties

Knows the goal you are walking towards.

Sizes and Perspectives

Understand Direction at all sizes

• Where is the platform/product going?

• Where is the project I’m working on going?

• Where is the area of the code I am working on going?

• Where is this class going?

• Where is this function going?

Where should it be going?

Things Technology Innovation is NOT

• Building new features on an existing concept.

• Copying with slight modification

• Make the Chinese/American/Girl/Rails/Scalable version of X

• This is about business model, not technology.

Make Meaning(make the world a better place)

How can this be done more efficiently?

What is wrong or unfair with the world/society/etc.?

Real Innovation = Paradigm Shifts

Paradigm Shifts

Change the way people think about solvinga problem.

Change the way you think about solving a problem.

(This is hard, but worth it)

Example

Find information by typing, not searching a directory.

Example

Example

Example

Test::Unit rspec

A Paradigm Shift Works if it..

• Saves time or money (efficiency)

• Improves length/quality of life

If its a business, it must make money

• Will many people benefit from this paradigm shift?

• Are they willing to pay for it? How much?

• Tip: Advertising does NOT work. Not in this economy

• (People that will benefit) x (Willingness to pay) x 0.10 = potential size of business

(Side Note: Paradigm Shifts Take Time)

Google 1995

iPod + iTune 2001

I.C. 1960

(Hard economic times are often good for paradigm shifts)

How to develop paradigm shifts?

A man walking backwards is...

2. Looking at where he has been.

1. Knows the goal he is walking towards.

3. Looking most directly at the last thing he passed.

4. Doesn’t walk straight.

2. Always look where you’ve been

History

What You’ve Worked On

"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." - Isaac Newton

Read History

• Facts do NOT matter

• Look for concepts, reasons, lessons

• Everything is done for a reason - WHY?

Understand WHY

Gain Perspective

Look outside your field

There is nothing fundamentally new, onlynew ways to mix things

Example: The Longitude Problem

How to find a ships longitude at sea?

Royal Observatory: The answer is in the stars

Harrison: Woodwork/Mechanic - found the answer in how you build

the clock

Constantly Learn from Your Work.

Objectively Look

Look = Analyze

The Why Game!

• Ask the question: “why?”

• Then ask the question again.

• And again

• And again

• And again

The “Why Game”...warning flags

• “There is no other way”.

• “That’s the way it is always done”.

• “That’s the right way to do it”.

• “That’s how a famous person did it”

We have a direction and we are looking at where

we have been.

Now what?

A man walking backwards is...

2. Looking at where he has been.

1. Knows the goal he is walking towards.

3. Looking most directly at the last thing he passed.

4. Doesn’t walk straight.

3. The last thing you did is right in front of you

Iterate

Embrace Details

Every line of code matters

Beauty in Details

Masterpieces are made one small step at a time

Never spend more than 5% of time on big

picture.

Love Details

Programming is an Art

Modern Languages

• A little code does a lot

• More time thinking, less time typing

• More time iterating, less time making

Refactor

Refactoring forces an iterative process

Refactoring makes you think: “how can I do this better”

CatalystFind the

for the Big Idea

Refactoring Lets You

This Is Wrong

Small Steps

StepWhy? What learned?

StepWhy? What learned?

StepWhy?

Iterations!

Patience!

Focus!

Iterate In Your Conversations

No - Stops innovation- Useful to keep focus

Yes, but ...- Builds on idea, but still stops.- Useful for correcting something that immediately won’t work

Yes, and ...- Builds on ideas!- Allows “small” ideas turning into “big” ideas.

Take Ownership

(Be Proud Of What You Do)

A man walking backwards ...

2. Looking at where he has been.

1. Knows the goal he is walking towards.

3. Looking most directly at the last thing he passed.

4. Doesn’t walk straight.

Don’t walk straight

(It is impossible to do if you really are innovating)

Accept the Crooked Path

You will never go straight

Always assume what you are doing is a little bit wrong

Look for “corrections”.

FAIL(and then learn from it)

Embrace Mistakes

• Perfection = Stagnation

• Mistakes lead to new ideas.

• Why was this mistake made?

• How do we prevent this mistake from being made?

We don’t like to know we are wrong

We rarely are right

Successful people are not “right”. They are good at identifying when they are wrong and fixing it.

Data

Listen and Learn

Talk - Talk about mistakes in a constructive way.

Summary

Innovation Makes the World a Better Place

Never think you can’t innovate

Small things lead to big things

Never stop asking: “Why?

Rubygems• “apt-get”/CPAN like system for Ruby

• Written by a few guys to solve a problem with distributing shared models (few people used ruby at that time).

• Got a bit bigger, so started rubyforge

• Enabled creation of Ruby on Rails

• Huge industry around Rails. New paradigm for web development.

• Many applications started around Rails

Questions?