These days there's a constant focus on speed. It seems expected that you'll have a visionary idea on the train, text it to your development team while the Starbucks drone grunts his/her way through making you a latte, and have a prototype awaiting you by the time you've swiped in.
Well, here's the truth:
- Starbucks coffees tend to be mostly sweet milk.
- No lasting change has ever been effected at in a morning.
- If you need a swipe card to get into your office, you're probably not an innovator
See, like the runners, cyclists, triathletes out there that have to get up early and do the miles, innovation is 90% base mileage. It's all about grinding out the 1% improvements in all areas, day after day. (See Team Sky Procycling.)
Over time, those 1% gains accrete into a win - however you define it.
I hear stories cranked out about Twitter/Facebook/<insert favourite> being invented in 10 minutes on a hack day. Yeah? And the infrastructure? In fact, the most crucial bit, the business model isn't yet finished for most of these dominating platforms, some 6/7 years after they hit the market.
Even the initial idea moves on. Facebook now is not Facebook as was. Twitter also. They evolve because they know that you don't conceive a complete vision in a single blinding flash; you refine it over a period.
The code is the least important bit. The infrastructure is the second least important.
The implementation is what gives the software life. The business model is what gives the software a future.
No comments:
Post a Comment