Tag: innovation
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Why AI should be like a man and a bicycle
With all the hype around the application of AI at the moment I keep coming back to this simple analogy articulated by Steve Jobs when talking about his vision for man’s relationship with computers: “I read a study that measured the efficiency […]
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Scurvy, Scott, and understanding why something works
There’s a fantastic example of how the value of breakthrough innovation can so easily be lost in this Cautionary Tales podcast by Tim Harford. Tim tells the tale of how in the 18th Century James Lind (pictured above) became passionate about solving […]
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In defence of flywheels
My friend Mike Baxter had a good post on strategy flywheels (which I also talk about in my books on Agile Transformation and Agile Marketing), talking about two key concepts that underpin the whole idea of strategy flywheels: synergy and compounding. The […]
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On unquestioned legacy
I loved this example of the kind of legacy thinking that goes unquestioned for years (originally via). The standard size of wine bottles was formalised around the world for the 1973 vintage at 750ml. US sizes until that point had been a […]
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Einstein, simplicity, and focusing on what really matters
‘Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.’ Albert Einstein A not insignificant part of Einstein’s brilliance came from his ability to focus on the essential principles and information that sat at the heart of complex scenarios. When considering […]
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Groupthink, and management by leaving the room
I had no idea that the original research into the concept of ‘groupthink’ was inspired by what happened with the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961. Irving Janis, a Yale psychologist who studied group cohesion, became fascinated by how […]
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QWERTY, and lessons on user-centric design
Why are keyboards set out in the way that they are? Why aren’t the letters in alphabetical order? It turns out that the answer to these questions reveals a brilliant piece of user-centric thinking. After some early attempts at creating writing machines […]
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‘Gigantomania’ and why big projects fail
I’m looking forward to reading Bent Flyvbjerg’s new book ‘How Big Things Get Done‘. Bent, an academic at Oxford, has compiled a database of over 16,000 significantly-sized projects (including things like infrastructure and systems investment) which has revealed that only 8.5% of […]
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Categorising Cognitive Bias
I’m not a behavioural science expert but I do think it provides a useful lens to consider when we’re trying to understand how people make decisions. One of the things I’ve always struggled with however, is how to navigate the long list […]
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The Social Context for New Technologies
There was an interesting example of how the social and anthropological context shapes the use and evolution of technology in Mark Allen Peterson's book 'Anthropology & Mass Communication: Media and Myth in the New Millennium'. Referencing Naomi Baron, Peterson describes how we […]