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Archive for the ‘Innovation’ Category

On being the person who figures sh*t out

May 1, 2013

Photo by the Italian voice

I recently attended a Leadership Montgomery session where we talked about the state of education in our fair county.

We are fortunate to have the superintendent of schools, Josh Starr, in our class, as well as the sitting president of the school board, the immediate past president of the county PTA, a school principal, and others who are on the front line of education.

In his remarks, Josh talked about how the greatest issue facing public schools today is the democratization of information. As he put it, “Do you need to memorize a fact if you can Google it?”

Your 21st Century Skill Set

The most important thing I look for when I’m interviewing a potential programmer or writer or designer is this: is this the kind of person who can figure shit out?

I taught myself to code websites. Out of a book. Unsurprisingly, given that I’m an unabashed English major.

But the truth is, in programming (and I would argue, in any job), you can’t know everything you may one day have to know. You have to be able to figure it out on the fly.

When someone asks if you can do a thing, you say “Yes!”

Way back when I started the Collective, I was coming off of a job where I had managed the development of a custom, web-based CRM. Heady stuff for 1999.

Note, I hadn’t built anything - I had only worked on a theoretical level, managing the smartypants who actually did the coding.

My first year in business, some of my former colleagues had spun off from that company and asked me if I could build a system like that for them.

I said “YES!”

Then I went to Barnes and Noble and bought a book called Data-Driven Websites or something like that.

When you have the ability to figure shit out, you can do that and get away with it.

You’re not a fraud.

I have many friends who are entrepreneurs of all stripes, and they ALL say the same thing.

When somebody asks if you can do a thing, you say “Yes!” And then you go figure it out.

These days, the interwebs being what they are, it’s a lot easier to figure stuff out on the fly. Use that.

Because not everyone can do it.

If you can, you win.

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From the mouths of advertising executives

January 31, 2013

How dare you imply I’m boring?

“Normal can never be amazing.”

Those words floated into my ears this morning while I was looking at another tab in firefox.

I was actually waiting for the ad to go by on YouTube. (I like to let advertisers get their nickels if I have the time).

I have no idea what the ad was for. I really wasn’t listening. But this phrase stuck with me.

Evolution is boring.

Not like that, Charles Darwin. Okay, fine. Evolution is amazing. It gave us giraffes and pandas and giant squid. In the long term, evolution is wicked awesome.

In the short term? Snooze.

If you’re floating along in the river of naturally evolving ideas, just picking and choosing the ones that seem the most appealing, you’re boring too.

Innovation is where it’s at.

Innovation takes courage. You must turn toward the thing that frightens you. You must not be afraid to fail.

Sometimes you even have to let go of the thing that’s safe in order to reach for the thing that’s calling you.

That’s what I’m thinking about this morning.

What about you?

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Ann’s Top 3 Ways to Get Creative Work Done

January 21, 2013

Photo by opensourceway

No matter what you do, some aspect of it is creative. On any given day, my Facebook news feed offers up least six (probably misattributed) quotes by Albert Einstein on the importance of creativity.

I don’t have time to look that up, but I think we can all agree that scientific discovery is a creative act, can’t we?

Same with other allegedly left brained activities. Like programming, for example. Inventing a solution to a programming problem is one of the most creative things I do all day.

And of course, all the other (obvious) stuff: writing, designing, and so on.

The bane of a (creative) existence

But what about the decidedly uncreative part of your job – participating in meetings, managing people, answering phones, otherwise getting interrupted?

If you’re expected to be available on IM all day or are otherwise subject to the whims of tyrannical bosses or equally tyrannical employees, how can you ever hope to get anything real done?

Because let’s face it. The creative work is where your value lies.

Enter Ann’s Top 3 Ways to Get Creative Work Done…

Here are some tricks that have worked for me. I hope they help you too:

One creative project at a time.
The cool thing about creative projects is that they can pull you through all the other crap. It’s amazing how quickly you can get through the bookkeeping (where creativity is kind of a liability) when you keep telling yourself that you get to work on that cool new JQuery thing right after.

But beware! Trying to undertake more than one or two creative projects in scattershot fashion won’t get you very far.

Yes, my novel’s been sitting on a shelf for a little while. But everything in its own season. I know my results will be better if I give it my full attention at the right times.
Schedule creative blocks.
I like Stephen Covey’s approach of weekly scheduling and inserting the big rocks first. (You should watch that video – it’s a classic). And one of your big rocks is whatever requires sustained, creative attention, whether that thing is writing your CV or creating an animation.

Creative blocks should be at least 2 hours long. Longer if you can muster it.

During your creative time, find a way to eliminate distractions. Turn off your phone. Turn off the email ding (that should be off anyway, IMO). Go to a coffee shop if that will prevent people from getting all up in your craw.
Focus on process.
The funny thing about creativity is it kind of ditches us if we tell it, “Look, we need to get this thing done in this way, in the next three hours.” Where’s the creativity in that?

During your scheduled creative time, you should focus on the process, not on the result. This will allow you to take unexpected mental detours, which are often fruitful.

If you get stuck, take a walk, drive someplace, or jump in the shower. The answers will likely come to you, and no, that’s not “wasting time.” It’s part of the process.

Take off the blinders

Creativity is all about taking off the mental blinders that keep us stuck in the same familiar ruts, living out of the past and what’s been done before rather than imagining what could be.

Did these tips help you rethink how to get your creative work done? Tell me in the comments.

Posted in Innovation, Motivation, Running Your Business, Time Management | 2 Comments »

Finding your “money” idea

July 26, 2012

At Ideabook, we talk a lot about innovation and generating ideas. So what do you do when you have a bunch of ideas and you have to decide which one to implement first?

Today I thought I’d share a tip from my friend Sylvia Henderson, Your Idea Success Coach. Take it away, Sylvia:

***

Your money idea is the idea on which you will focus your time, energy, and resources. When you get so bogged down with details and choices that you have trouble actually choosing your money idea, try using a table matrix to get clear about which idea you choose.

Draw a table matrix – rows and columns. List your ideas in the rows in the left-most column.

Write the following questions in the columns in the top-most row.

What problem will I solve / issue will I address with this idea?
Why do I need to address it?
What roadblock(s) will I encounter with this idea?
What is the cost (to me/to my organization) of not addressing the issue?

Then answer each question for each of your listed ideas. The resulting table matrix may reveal the idea that you deem most important to work on based on your answers to the questions.

Get more tips, strategies, and resources that help you implement your ideas – and download chapters of Sylvia’s book ‘Hey, That’s MY Idea! How to Speak Up and Get Recognized for What You Know and Think’ – at www.IdeaSuccessNetwork.com.

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Debugging Mode

June 6, 2012

This post is not about programming.

First, some background.

In programming, many languages need to be compiled before they’ll run.

The programmer works on the code in raw form. Then another program called a compiler turns this code into an executable file.

The compiled code is lean and mean. It executes quickly, with no distraction. It does not mess around.

The raw code is also called the source code, because it’s the source of the program, not the program itself.

Just like you.

You’re clicking through your day, doing whatever you do, more or less on autopilot.

You have a set of beliefs and expectations about yourself, the people around you, and how the world works. By default, you assume that everyone thinks like you do and believes what you believe. Anything that doesn’t fit your model gets ignored.

This seems like a horrible idea, until you realize that it’s absolutely necessary.

If we spent every waking moment revising our fundamental ideas about how the world works, we’d never get anything done.

Compiled code can’t be changed.

You can’t make changes to code once it’s been compiled. If you want to change a compiled program, you have to go back to the source code, make your change, then recompile it.

Just Like You

Once you’re compiled, you’re off and running. All your processing power is used to get 10,000 things done as efficiently as possible.

But what if you’re doing the wrong things? What if you encounter a person who has a different point of view? Don’t we need to zoom out sometimes?

You need debugging mode.

In debugging mode, you’re playing with your own source code. You’re open to new perspectives. You’re asking yourself if the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.

There are lots of ways to get into debugging mode:

Go to a conference.

Yesterday, I went to the Spark and Hustle conference. That certainly got me into debugging mode.

I have a bunch of new ideas that I want to integrate into how I do things every day. I need some new code – I need to debug.

Question your assumptions.

Are you frustrated with someone? Can’t understand why they’re behaving the way they are?

Debug. There’s a good chance they have a genuinely different worldview. You can’t understand the behavior because you’re trying to force your worldview on them.

Slow down, prepare yourself to be open, and really listen to what they have to say.

Make it a habit.

You’ve heard it before – take time each day, or at least each week, for planning and solitude.

Force yourself to zoom out regularly, and it will get easier.

Debugging is precious.

I don’t know about you, but I find debugging mode to be both precious and unstable. It’s not our default state, and we feel vulnerable when we go there. It’s hard.

Sometimes I forget to debug for a long time, and I pay the price, in the form of screwed up projects and damaged relationships.

But the benefits are legion. Take the time to open yourself up to new ideas, new perspectives, and new ways of thinking about things. It’s worth it.

Posted in Innovation, Marketing, Motivation, Running Your Business, Time Management | Leave a Comment »

On Being Different

October 24, 2011

Photo by Mario Inoportuno

You live in a box.

The walls of this box are made up of the way you’ve always done things.

It’s not a crime. Happens every day.

This box cannot hold you, unless you let it.

Most people are unwilling to make a quantum leap. For them, change is a matter of evolution. New ideas aren’t really new. They are merely reassembled from the tattered remains of the tried and true, the industry standard.

The new idea is too risky, or so you think.

But the greatest risk you can take is to stay inside that box.

Come out and play.

Posted in Innovation, Marketing, Motivation, Running Your Business | 2 Comments »

Innovation, part II

May 9, 2011

Photo by poportis

Recently, I wrote about how to generate innovative ideas. Here’s the rub:

All the innovative ideas in the world won’t mean squat if you don’t act on them.

A Thousand Ideas

How many times have you been standing in the shower when inspiration struck? A novel, an advertising campaign, a new product line?

What did you do about it?

We all get a thousand ideas a day. Few are acknowledged, fewer are acted upon, and fewer still are brought into being.

Many ideas will fall apart when you shine a light on them, but some will be diamonds. And as for the rest, those fragments will often come together in surprising ways, given the time, space, and even more ideas.

Act, and Be Acted Upon

I believe that the more we act, the more we’re acted upon. If we act on the ideas we receive, we will receive more and better ideas.

Isn’t it true that competent people who get things done get more work assigned to them?

The universe behaves the same way.

15 minutes

I’m guilty. I have reams of ideas – video blogs, short films, novels, stories, memoirs, non-fiction books, software. I have ideas for how to market myself and how to improve my website.

Where to begin? I say spend 15 minutes a day listing and vetting your ideas. Try to figure out why they won’t work. Recombine them in new ways until you strike gold. Then spend your 15 minutes working on that one idea.

15 minutes a day = 91 hours a year

But once you get going, you wouldn’t be able to keep yourself to 15 minutes a day.

Posted in Innovation, Motivation | 1 Comment »

How to Innovate Like a Four Year Old

May 5, 2011

Sam’s all about eggs right now.

Yes, it stems in part from Easter, but it’s also about Megashark Versus Crocosaurus, which was in heavy rotation at our house last week.

On Friday, as we drove to school, Sam exclaimed, “Mommy! I have an egg! And it’s hatching!”

“What’s inside?” I asked.

“A crocosaur!”

Of course.

“Mommy! I have another egg, and it’s hatching!”

“What’s inside?” I asked again.

“A baby triceratops!”

Okay, now we’re getting somewhere.

“Mommy, pretend there’s another egg inside of this egg, and it’s hatching!”

“Ooh, what’s inside?”

“It’s Robocop!”

You call that innovation?

Somewhere along the way, most people settle for incremental improvement. What passes for innovation is simply a derivation of what’s gone before.

I suppose we do this because we have a significant fear of looking stupid. The most important thing is ensuring that our ideas are accepted.

Little kids don’t have these constraints.

Putting a six foot cyborg in a three inch plastic Easter egg.

Over coffee recently, my friend and mentor Mike Dougherty described a model for innovation. First, start with the wildest, most insane idea you can think of, then progressively pull it back until it’s doable (but preferably still insane).

This is the opposite of what most people do. Most of us start with what we have and figure out how we’re going to make it better. That’s not innovation. That’s evolution.

That’s not how Bill Gates created the personal computing market. It’s not how Steve Jobs invented the iPod, nor is it the way that Richard Branson made the idea of commercial space travel seem reasonable, nay inevitable, in our lifetime.

How did Robocop end up in that egg? Because Sam asked the question, “What’s the coolest thing I could put in this egg right now?” He didn’t wonder if it was possible, he just wondered.

Give it a try.

Want to read more on innovation? Try Innovation Part II.

Posted in Innovation, Motivation, Personal | 3 Comments »