Monthly Archives: May 2007

Democratizing Innovation vs. Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing, as I noted in CrowdSourcing (Purchasing Innovation VI over on e-Sourcing Forum [WayBackMachine]) and Cambrian House: Crowdsourced Software, which can be defined as the process of delegating various tasks for which you do not have the manpower or expertise from internal production to external entities or affiliations of networked persons with the expertise, access to, or raw capabilities that you require, allows you to accelerate product development lifecycles and innovation by taking advantage of the masses.

Democratizing Innovation, the title of a book by Eric von Hippel, is when users develop solutions and manufacturers base their new product ideas on the examination of user-developed solutions as well as their needs. It is the intersection of the emergent-solution and emergent-market model where individuals innovate for themselves (with steadily increasing quality and steadily decreasing cost using steadily improving tools that are becoming cheap and ubiquitous) and manufacturers learn to rely on users for innovation prototyping and the collaborative filtering efforts of user communities as the basis of their marketing research.

The concept of Democratizing Innovation is discussed in an interview between Eric von Hippel and Tom Austin of Gartner (on Gartner’s site), that, unlike most of Gartner’s offerings, is free for anyone who wishes to read it. The interview, which is quite lengthy, discusses various aspects of Democratizing Innovation, and includes references to open source and user-centered innovation (which are fundamental components of crowdsourcing), but the most interesting aspect is the reference to a concept of an “intellectual commons”.

Eric von Hippel states that he believes that many fields are on the way to building an intellectual commons, which is increasingly becoming a viable substitute for intellectual property protected by patents and copyright and that, over time, information protected by intellectual property law as a monopoly will only survive in increasingly isolated corners of the economy since intellectual commons will eventually dominate. Interesting proposition. I hope it happens … which should not be a surprise since I am all for the abolishment of software patents as well as much stricter controls on the patent process. (For example, I would argue that a patent should not be granted unless a panel of experts in the field agreed that the invention contained within was indeed innovative. Considering Genrich Altshuller, the founder of TRIZ, found that, on average, only 20% of patents have somewhat inventive solutions, only 4% of patents contain a new concept and 1% a revolutionary discovery, it should be obvious that at least 75% of patents granted should never have been granted.)

But I digress. We’re talking about crowdsourcing and democratizing innovation – two concepts that look eerily similar – despite the fact that the Gartner interview does not even mention crowdsourcing. After all, both are based on user-centered innovation, and the emergent properties of a social collective which will slowly redefine productivity and innovation in this modern era.

We’ve left the world of Marshall McLuhan where The Medium is the Message and have entered the world of William Gibson where it’s impossible to move, to live, to operate at any level without leaving traces, bits, seemingly meaningless fragments of personal information. But that can be a good thing. We can leave more than traces and meaningful fragments of non-personal information as well. Others can do the same. These fragments can be combined into pieces, pieces into images, and images into collages that can be used as the foundation for new innovations. The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed yet.

You Know Your Recession Is Over When …

Your idea of a relaxing drink with your significant other at the end of a long day is a $15,000 Diamond-Tini at the Ritz-Carlton.

The Diamond-Tini, a cocktail with a hint of lime and chilled Belvedere vodka over a 1.06 carat stone, is Japan’s answer to Manchester’s slightly more expensive Diamond Cocktail which uses a 1/2k pink tourmaline and diamond ring set in 18k white gold, which averages around $30,000 a pop.

My only question is what’s next? A solid-gold sundae dish that doubles as a crown?

Desert Chocolate

Although some Oompa-Loompas have forsaken the ways of their forefathers and now blend code instead of chocolate, others still work in the chocolate although it’s not your fathers chocolate they blend these days.

Armed with chemistry, biology, and nutrition expertise, they have developed a new vitamin-packed super form of dark chocolate that will last for years and not melt even in desert heat. Now when you’re vacationing in the South American Jungle, the deserts of Egypt, and on Ayers Rock down Under, you’ll be able to take your chocolate with you – after all, what could you possibly want more in 48C weather under a blazing hot sun?

Kudos to The Cynical Sourcerer for the assist.

(e-Sourcing) Wikis are Organic

The recent issue of Backbone, the Canadian Business Technology Lifestyle magazine, had an article titled “Building a Wiki Workplace: Unleashing the Power of Human Capital” that noted that the nature of work is changing; it is increasingly team-based and collaborative, cutting across the organizational silos and bureaucratic structures of the 20th century corporation. (Echoing the sentiments of Tim Hindle as summarized in The New Organisation“, Sourcing the New Organization” on the e-Sourcing Forum [WayBackMachine], as printed in the Economist last January and discussed in my post , the fifth installment of last summer’s Purchasing Innovation series.)

It discussed the increasing popularity of wikis and blogs in the corporate world because they help employees work with more people, in more regions of the world, with less hassle and more enjoyment than earlier generations of workplace technology. The result is faster innovation, lower cost structures, greater agility, improved responsiveness to customers, and more authenticity and respect in the marketplace. The primary example provided is that of Best Buy, which continues to crush its competition with plans to open more than 100 new stores when competitors such as Circuit City are closing locations. Best Buy believes store managers and associates know customer habits, wants, and frustrations better than market research statistics and asks general managers to fine-tune the company’s broad-brush thinking for local markets. These general managers then go online to brainstorm and swap experiences and ideas, using collaborative technologies such as wikis.

However, it is the closing paragraph that provides the most insight:
Clear goals, structure, discipline and leadership in the organization will remain as important as ever and perhaps more so as self-organization and peer production emerge as organizing principles for the workplace. The difference today is that these qualities can emerge organically as employees seize the new tools to collaborate across departmental and organizational boundaries.

In other words, the benefits of the wiki will grow and emerge over time, and possibly provide value and insight in a manner you could never have predicted. Just make them available, make them easy to use, encourage their use, and have some patience. Given time employees will develop their own self-organized interconnections and form cross-functional teams capable of interacting as a global, real-time workforce. And, oh yeah, check out the e-Sourcing Wiki [WayBackMachine] spread the word.

The article also provides six tips on the implementation of collaborative technologies.

  • Use Pilot Projects to prove benefits
    and start with fact-based efforts
  • Choose a receptive group for the pilot
    such as young people familiar with collaborative technologies
  • Maintain Leadership and Vision
    and find a leader who is passionate but not too controlling
  • Use loose control systems
    and set clear performance goals while encouraging the use of new tools
  • Use innovative techniques to achieve critical mass
    and pre-populate the wiki with baseline useful content
  • Use light incentives
    and focus on creative pleasure, peer recognition of expertise, and visibility

Those China Pirates …

Ashton Udall has a good discussion on why the Chinese are likely to copy your products and steal your Intellectual Property over on the Product Global blog (which was inspired by a posting on “Why Does China Copy Designs” on the Design Sojourn blog). The great thing about the post is he breaks it down into two major themes, each of which boil down to the same basic theme: culture, which I have partially discussed in my Is Low Cost Country Sourcing to China really Innovative, my Can China Be Innovative, and my Supply Chain Top Three posts. For those of you considering a new sourcing venture to China, I would highly recommend you check the post out.