Too many fleas.

I read recently, on a blog, that you seek knowledge where you are used to looking for information therefore it restricts the solution you might come up with. It then went on to annoyingly quote Einstein. What is that fellow more famous for now, his theory of relativity or overused pithy quotes?

Innovation + Design seem to be well-used words today, but not yet showing any signs of beusage⁽¹⁾. But amongst a dozen or so blogs that I drop by, design and innovation are being deconstructed, interpreted and assigned to today’s landscape in business. All of a sudden the ‘Designer’ is becoming a mythic figure that, according to some, is the only breed of professional that is capable of creativity and producing innovative results.

My problem with this is that it seems to be neglecting to look at the hundreds of years of breakthroughs and innovation that happened before, lets say the internet? Instead we’re being told things like, “Companies aren’t innovative - People are, Companies aren’t creative - People are, Companies aren’t diverse -” you get the drift. So I’m not sure what to think as I consider that perhaps at least half of the noise being created around these topics of Design Thinking, Innovation and Strategic Design are just new candy-wrappers on the same stuff we’ve been doing for hundreds of years. This might be something of the difference between US and European culture, but I do wonder what history has to show us about our apparently new discovery?

In the last two weeks I’ve added a dozen RSS feeds to my NewsReader application that are all centered on design and innovation, which creates something like an added 70-80 new feeds a day. Adding those to the 115 odd subscriptions I already had, I’ve usually got some 800 feeds a day that remain unread (admittedly some of those are from the BBC and news sources like that). So I wonder how one is to make sense of it all and create an informed point of view? I guess, blogs create blogs, in that once you’ve read so much, you find you have to throw it all up again and so you put up a blog just to release all your thoughts into some version of coherence.

Three posts/online articles I did read today were all coincidently on the same topic of small groups that create skunk work projects, start-ups or on how they are more creative. Though the three pieces had different points of focus (I only recall where I read one of them⁽²⁾) they all seem to summarize the same points:

It takes a certain kind of person who thrives in small, diverse and creative groups.
Small creative start-up groups benefit from being heterogeneous, passionate and driven.

Simple rules govern these groups and provide the context in which all decisions are made.

The drive and passion is fueled by the vision of change, doing something differently that yes, is ultimately going to be successful.

These start-ups or small groups follow the dynamics of Handy’s fleas⁽³⁾, and are also subject to nature’s law of abundance, where too many seeds are produced by nature because so many fail to germinate.

Most breakthroughs happen by accident or through repeated failure and not careful planning and crafting. But as Cuban says, you only have to be successful once.

(1) Beusage comes from Metacool and is the combination of Beauty and Usage.
(2) The New York Time’s Magazine Article on Silicon Valley. (Subscription Req.)
(3) Charles Handy’s Elephants and Fleas dynamics are discussed here.

2005-06-07 + plink