Build It, Try It, Fix It

Here is another “innovation tip.” This one is simple, yet incredibly powerful. In fact, I am using this concept right now with this website. But more on that later.

One of the biggest barriers to success is analysis paralysis. It is the belief that studying the marketplace infinitum will yield better results. This is just not true. We can never predict what will happen in the “real” world, no matter how much Customer Relationship Management (CRM) data we have, how many focus groups we conduct, or how many strategy consulting firms we hire.

Rather than using the “analyze, design, build, test, deploy” model, use the “build it, try it, fix it” model – build something, try it out for a while, and learn from your “experiences.” Although some may call these experiences “failures,” I think of them as valuable information about the real world.

The process is simple. Develop a small experiment where the risk associated with failure is limited or controllable (build it). Learn from the results (try it). Adjust the experiment (fix it). Continue to iterate with larger experiments, increasing the scale. Stop pursuing an idea when the experiment suggests a lack of viability or desirability

Example: A clothing manufacturer wanted to venture into retail stores. Rather than developing detailed plans based on years of analysis, they rented empty space in a local mall and set up a trial shop in a matter of weeks. The store was set up with video cameras and other equipment to help analyze the results. Although the store concept “failed,” they learned more during two months of running the experiment than they would have spending a year analyzing the marketplace. They quickly reworked the store and tested out version 2. This continued—with frequent iterations. Over time they increased the size of the experiments until the stores were rolled out on a national level.

How am I using the “build it, try it, fix it” concept with this website? Some of you may have noticed that the tag line has changed a few times over the past several months. This blog was originally titled “Goal-Free Living.” Unfortunately, I found that it limited my ability to incorporate my corporate innovation & creativity work. I also discovered that the “goal-free” name turned off many goal-obsessed organizations.

Next I tried “The Science of High Performance.” The word “science” confused some people. And “high performance” was not quite right. Besides, it was too close to Accenture’s tag line – “High Performance. Delivered.”

My latest tag line is: “Unconventional Thinking for Explosive Business Growth.” This too is an experiment. Although I like this tag line, I am not attached to it. What I like about it is that it focuses on what I enjoy most: getting people to think differently. I renamed my speeches too:

• Unconventional Thinking about Innovation (this is my 24/7 Innovation content)
• Unconventional Thinking about Creativity (this is my SpeedInnovating content)
• Unconventional Thinking about Goals & Performance (this is my Goal-Free Living content)
• Unconventional Thinking about Thinking (this is the content of my TV show)

What do you think? I welcome your comments on my “Unconventional Thinking” brand. I also am interested in examples of where you applied the “build it, try it, fix it” approach and had positive (or negative) results.

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A Really Creative Guy

No guy wants a beer belly.  Right?  Most would rather have a “six-pack.”  Of course.  But what if you could have a six-pack AND a beer belly at the same time?  Well, now you can.  The Beerbelly is a “removable spare tire” that holds 80 oz of beer (more than a six-pack), allowing you to bring your favorite beverage into any event.  Yesterday I spoke with the product’s inventor, Brooks Lambert. 

Brooks told me that his company,  Under Development Inc, was born to help others develop their ideas. His most famous invention – The Beerbelly – started out more or less as a joke that took on a life of its own. “We let the group choose a problem to solve, and then brainstormed ideas about solutions. The next thing you know, a buddy and I are cutting up a wetsuit and stuffing a CamelBak (a hands-free hydration system used by hikers) bladder in as an example of rapid prototyping.” That day, the Beerbelly was born.  Their latest invention is the female version, called the Winerack.  I’ll let you guess what that is.

Although these are fun products, Brooks’ main interests lie in more “socially redeeming” ventures. One day, Brooks and some buddies were brainstorming ideas. “We thought it would be cool if we could make a surf chair for the kids who can’t hold themselves up. The next day I made some calls and we found a race car seat manufacturer who was willing to make a custom shaped aluminum seat. We then got one of our local surfboard shapers to build a custom board to accommodate the chair, crossed our fingers, and voila, the surfchair was born. It works way better than we imagined and now it gets used on a regular basis.” This invention is used as part of the Ride-A-Wave charity, a 100% volunteer/nonprofit group that takes kids with all kinds of disabilities out surfing for the day.

I loved Brooks’ creativity and energy so much that I decided to do a podcast with him next week. Stay tuned for a wildly entertaining audio program!

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Make Everyone Accountable

Here’s another tip from my innovation book… 

Because a few individuals at the top cannot possibly plan all of a company’s activities, give employees a set of rights, responsibilities and rewards that make them accountable for their own actions.

Example: Koch Industries (the largest privately held company in the world) wanted to achieve world-class safety. Rather than have a few safety engineers scour the company, Koch gave this responsibility to all employees, with rewards both for uncovering unsafe conditions and for discovering new ways to conduct business more safely. This initiative resulted in as much as a 50-percent improvement each year in the number and severity of accidents across Koch Industries. Within one year the company had moved from middle of the pack to one of the best safety records in its industries.

The same principle works with innovation. In the beginning it makes sense – in fact, it is necessary – to have an innovation core team. However, after a period of time, innovation should be the responsibility of all individuals and not a centrally controlled or coordinated group. At that time, the innovation core team can be dismantled.

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Creating Luck in Sales

In Goal-Free Living I discuss how to create luck by being less goal-focused. I was recently copied on an email sent to a sales team at a client of mine. Here is how this one sales director interpreted these concepts for his team – with a paraphrase from the book.

During my Asia trip I went through Stephen Shapiro’s book “Goal-free Living” for the second time and again I noted a very interesting statistical comparison he is doing about the fact that some people always seems to be lucky and always tend to be on the right place at the right time.

“If you have 366+1 people in the same room, then you will have a 100% guarantee that two people in the same room will have the same birth date.

But how many people do you need if you want a 50% chance that two people have the same birth date – it is actually only 23 people, statistically.

If you want 90% probability it is only 40 people.

OK! But what about a particular birthday e.g. your own birthday – how many people do you need in a room to have a 50/50 chance that there is another person with your birthday? – You need over 600 people!.

This small thing shows that the odds of a generalized event happening is quit high – and that a particular event happening is quite low.”

Meaning:

If you always do the things in a particular way (in the same way without being open for more generalized and new situations) for you to be “lucky”, you need a lot of things coming together in a particular way – which gives you very small odds.

But if you are open to new ways and are willing to change your approach in a given situation, the odds are much more in your favor.

In sales; always read the situation – think about different ways to do the things – take all possibilities into consideration – do not act in a particular way every time.

This is the reason why I am always asking some of you in the sales team to change approach and be open to new ways of doing the things – and always adjust your approach in a given situation!

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Phrase Concerns as Opportunities

One of the most simple, yet most powerful approaches for increasing your creativity potential is to phrase concerns as opportunities. 

When brainstorming, inevitably someone will say, “We don’t have enough time to implement this idea,” or “We don’t have enough money.”  When you say this, you are stating it as fact.  Instead, state this concern as an opportunity.  For example, “How might we get more money?”  Or, “How might we do this for less money?” 

Once you have a new opportunity defined, you can use creativity techniques to find new solutions.

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