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It is a loaded term – it means different things to different people (here’s the Wikipedia reference, for instance).
To me, it seems that there are two competing “innovation camps” which I sum up as follows: read more »
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Here’s an interesting video (runs for an hour) promoting a new book “Glimmer: How Design Can Transform Your Life, and Maybe Even the World” by Warren Berger (and Bruce Mau).
Seems like an interesting book, so have thrown it in our shopping cart, and will review it sometime in 2010.
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In 2010, as a result of our Autopsy 2 process, we have identified that we need to make two key appointments in 2010:
We need to do this for a number of reasons – not least of which is to ensure that the company can become sustainable over the longer term, and to allow me to spend more time focused on other aspects of continuing to grow the business.
These appointments will be key positions for us, moving forwards. Hence this book was very timely….
… not to mention a great read!
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The Book |
What we thought |
 “Great People Decisions” by Claudio Fernandez Araoz |
 Very thought-provoking |
| Full Disclosure – yes, that’s a tracked link to Amazon shown above. We buy quite a large number of books on a wide range of topics, all relevant to our business in some way. If you did happen to purchase the book from Amazon, they’d throw a few shekels our way, which would help us to buy (and hence publish reviews of) even more books. Hence, Karma would return the benefits to you… |
I believe in synchronicity. Yesterday, I experienced another small example:
1) As noted recently, we’ve streamlined our working week to set aside Fridays for working ON the business.
2) As part of Autopsy 2, we have all accepted personal responsibility for a range of tactically-focused projects designed to deliver “quick wins” within the scope of our current levels of competence.
3) Hence, just yesterday (Friday) we had a number of meetings organised by a couple of different people as part of their role in gathering input & stimulating discussion in their areas of responsibility.
None of the meetings were outstanding, in terms of the input received, or outcomes generated.
So it was a very welcome point of input to open Scott Berkun’s book “Making things Happen” at the place I had last left off (p206), and read the following: read more »
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Perhaps more through good luck then good management, in our early days we put together the NEM-Watch product, which tends to be a product that “sells itself” – by generating a form of buzz.
Note that when I speak of buzz here, I do it within the framework of the industry in which we operate, which tends to have a staid image, as I discussed here. Certainly our successes are not going to make it to the “Top Viral 100” list, if there is such a beast.
As a company with a small team of staff and a large number of clients, and aspirations to grow our number of clients further over the next few years, I have a keen interest in understanding how we can use principles of buzz to assist us in building up the profile of all of our products.
Hence I found this book and excellent read.
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The Book |
What we thought |
 “The Anatomy of Buzz” by Emmanuel Rosen |
Thought-provoking |
| Full Disclosure – yes, that’s a tracked link to Amazon shown above. We buy quite a large number of books on a wide range of topics, all relevant to our business in some way. If you did happen to purchase the book from Amazon, they’d throw a few shekels our way, which would help us to buy (and hence publish reviews of) even more books. Hence, Karma would return the benefits to you… |
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This e-book was referenced as a teaser for the “Business of Software 2009” conference.
We had been thinking about attending this year, enroute to Toronto (to pay our clients there an overdue visit). However, we did not go in the end (still not sufficient capability for delivery – one of the triggers of us starting Autopsy 2).
Hopefully next year!
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The Book |
What we thought |
 “Don’t just roll the dice” by Neil Davidson |
Wish I had been able to read this 10 years ago, when starting down this path… |
| Full Disclosure – oh, it’s an e-book, so this one is free, free, free! Worth far more than the price tag, though.
If you really do want to buy a hard-copy, get it here from Amazon (yes, this one is a tracked link through which we hope to add to the total amount Amazon pays us – at $2 and counting, we might be able to buy a book with the proceeds, one day!) |
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Had to chuckle one night last week when I saw (in one of the many books I am reading at present) the following passage:
When I was studying [about software] at [uni], it was common to talk to professors and students about new products. We’d focus on what components these new software products used and how they compared against what could have been. Value was … how much of the latest technologies they used.
Generally, we thought everything sucked. Very few products survived our critiques. We wondered why the marketplace was packed with mediocrity and disappointment.
We’d even invented geek conspiracy theories to explain the evil decisions, which we thought were made against engineering purity and thus made little or no sense to us.
Often, we’d focus blame on the marketing departments of these companies (not that many of us understood what marketers did).
Even in my first few years in the industry, the same kinds of conversations took place again and again.
Actually, it was more of a liberal dose of belly-laughter than just a chuckle, which brought a look of consternation from my wife.
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I posted recently about how I have fallen down, sometimes, in the establishing a shared understanding about the ways in which our business needs to operate.
Recently I ran into another of these internal points of confusion …
This is a key question I have been asked numerous times in the past 10 years.