creativity

Business Development Ideas

The math of small contributions

jim wilde — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 11:21:40 +0000

Take a look at any open source software community or social networking site to understand the math of small contributions in action.

This idea has been around for some time. I first read about it in, "small pieces loosely joined", by Dave Weinberger (one of the authors of the cluetrain). Anyway, Micheal Schrage has a good post, "Round-off Error? Hardly!" MIT Technology Review that applies the math. to the idea.

Mr. Schrage, "A brief disquisition as to why--when it comes to innovation--superficial economic analysis is worse than no analysis at all.

Let's start with the math: treating .1 percent of people as a "rounding error" may make economic sense if they don't do anything of substance or significance. But if they actually create and add value to your network and/or your business, you might be wiser to treat that magnificent tenth of a percent as an "outlier" to be nurtured rather than a statistical aberration to be ignored.

Indeed, as Mr. Harford well knows, 10 percent of a thousand is larger than 90 percent of a hundred. If we have--and we do!--Net enterprises with tens of millions of users, then that measly-looking .1 percent can be misleadingly robust. One-tenth of a percent of a million is a thousand, and, of course, .1 percent of 10 million = 10,000. That's quite a workforce. But why grant Tim his self-serving assumptions? I cheerfully argue that as a "culture of contribution" and creative volunteerism facilitates a vibrant innovation marketplace, that tenth of a percent might really be closer to seven-tenths of a percent or even 1 percent. Again, it's not the volume of contributors that matters; it's the value of their contributions. Isn't that what economics is supposed to be about? Hence my dismay with and dismissal of our Undercover Economist's "analysis."

The simple truth is that we can look at any industry--automobiles, semiconductors, telecoms--and find only a tiny fraction of "entrepreneurs" who are making real contributions. Now, I'm not for a moment suggesting that folks who volunteer their videos on Youtube or comments on Amazon or story preferences on Digg are entrepreneurs in the Schumpertarian or Hayekian sense. The (obvious) profit motive is absent. However, the community/audience/marketplace clearly sees some value in these contributions--as do the undeniably entrepreneurial hosts. The spirit--and seduction--of "increasing returns" suggests that literally tens of thousands of people will be making value-added contributions to these arenas and that, yes, noncontributing consumers will also extract some value from them. In other words, Harford's "rounding error" assertion is a bit like saying, "You know those tiny little things that huge trees have called seeds? Well, they're so small and lightweight, they don't really matter. I mean, they're not even one-tenth of one percent the size or weight of the tree...." Just as bad botanical understanding can wipe out forests and biodiversity, poor economic analysis can wipe out value and its creation. The truth is that we're just beginning to grasp the underlying behavioral economics of "open source" and "cooperative" innovation economies. Dismissing what we don't understand as "round-off error" makes poor punditry and worse economics.

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corporate social networks

creative volunteerism

culture of contribution

economics

marketplace

behavioral economics

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community software applications

Are You Teachable?

jim wilde — Mon, 06 Jun 2005 17:04:59 +0000

Psychological research indicates that individuals are not ideal learners; they think and act in ways that reduce their ability to learn effectively.

Let's waste some time! is a previous post I wrote about why we need to be open to new ideas. When you're doing research, you want to discover something new, which is impossible if you're attached to thinking that you already know the answers. Valuing not-knowing is the basis of all creativity and innovation. It's the state of mind that's open to all kinds of possibilities, of looking for something new, something that might even be surprising. Instead of defending old opinions or interpretations, you're looking with fresh eyes.

I was pleased to come across these two posts on half baked ideas and the courage it takes to post them. Bagging the Post (continued), from A VC, "I do like to poke the bee hive with a stick. And take it as a conversation starter. I think we'll all benefit more from that approach.

Bloggers clamor for brief and half-baked, Stephen Baker, BusinessWeek - " Some readers think my cookies post was half-baked".

Indeed, Seth writes about how "Small is the new big because small gives you the flexibility to change the business model when your competition changes theirs. Small means you can tell the truth on your blog. Small means that you can answer email from your customers. Small means that you will outsource the boring, low-impact stuff like manufacturing and shipping and billing and packing to others, while you keep the power because you invent the remarkable and tell stories to people who want to hear them.

These ideas are for everybody, including employees, business development managers, and execs. What are you closing your eyes/mind to? Are you teachable, can you learn something new, or do you approach things with presuppositions, assumptions, that are blinding you to possibilities?

Can you take a half baked idea and let it evolve in your mind, to become something remarkable? Or can you blog-it and share it with your coworkers and find out if it can germinate into something wonderful?

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Business Development Ideas

Seven Interesting Ideas

jim wilde — Mon, 25 Apr 2005 16:39:23 +0000

If you don't read Dave Pollard, you should. I really admire his exhaustive work on trying to make the world a better place. So Dave, I have a little extra time and software that I want to contribute to one of your ideas. Lemme know...A few sites with some interesting ideas worth thinking about: Three Principles Behind All Creativity Tools: Directed Creativity that all creativity tools have three underlying concepts: (1) Attention (focusing on things you normally take for granted, (2) Escape (get outside normal thinking patterns or preconceptions, or just get outside), and (3) Movement (explore, discover, connect, just follow ideas where they lead you)." Sounds del.icio.us. [how to save the world]Sorry, you'll have to read the rest of them on Dave's site.

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Crazy Ideas and Change

jim wilde — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 16:33:20 +0000

Crazy ideas are everywhere! We need to keep our antennae up and take action on those ideas that are important to us personally, to our loved ones, and to society no matter how crazy they might seem. I know, there is always something standing in the way. A lot of times it is ourselves - fear. Lighten up - try not to take things so seriously.

I let a couple of great ideas slide for way too long. I was thinking I'd get around to figuring them out eventually. What a shock. A decade later and I am older but not wiser. If an idea does not get put into Play - nothing happens; it will not evolve on its own and neither will you.

So what are you waiting for? Go crazy! Make it happen; if you don't, who will?

"Leading Ideas: Embrace the Lunatic Inside You" from Fast Company blog. Something to consider: Your best ideas are born from madness. You've got to let yourself think crazy thoughts and dream crazy dreams to find them."

"You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it." -- Robin Williams (1952- ) U.S. Actor and Comedian

Even Evelyn Rodriguez on Crossroads Dispatches had a friend question her, "I was worried about you," confided a blogging buddy recently. Huh, what is he talking about? Ah, perhaps I am coming across a bit too confused, lost, and distraught." From "The Truth Can Never Harm, I Shall Write, Said Gandhi".

BTW Evelyn has tons of goodies on her site about creativity and ideation.

From How To Save The World, "The Ten Greatest Impediments to Personal Change - The Idea: The ten most common reasons people who want to change don't. And some possible 'cures'.

1. Procrastination
2. Well-meaning naysayers and apologists
3. Fear of failure (defeatism)
4. Giving up too soon (impatience)
5. Waiting for the whole plan to be in place - Just start.
6. Lack of self-confidence or cultural intimidation
7. Inflexibility or lack of adaptability
8. Trying to do it all yourself
9. Lack of forethought or concentration
10. Lack of necessary skills or talents

You know what you'd really like to do with your life. You know what you have to do to get there. You know why you're unhappy -- with your job, with your relationships, with your accomplishments, with your whole way of life. But like me, you're still sitting there.

[how to save the world]"

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It's a small world afterall

jim wilde — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 15:43:12 +0000

From Co-Creation Trend 3: Control by Jennifer Rice from What's Your Brand Mantra? "There are millions of unpaid volunteers who want to help create products and content that they want to buy. Yes, it means relinquishing some control. But it also means an incredible amount of energy and momentum to the companies who are brave enough to work with it."Ms. Rice is so right, but in my experience, managers suffer from the "has to be invented here" syndrome, or don't have a clue about new tools that are available to help them find, discover, and implement new ideas. It gets worse, the bigger the company. Confusion and chaos rule, when employees have no outlet for their own ideas. Frustration ensues. "There's a massive, networked conversation going on, and people are joining the conversation for various reasons. People seeking information are meeting up with subject-matter experts. Others are sharing opinions, joining like-minded groups and collaborating on new ideas. Our society is reconnecting itself not by geography, but by interest. It's a meeting of the minds that will spawn a lot of incredible new ideas."My own experience with the conversation has been working on a new commercial product and service for the last eighteen months with people I've met over the Net. They're from all over the world, speak many languages. Most of them are software developers who contribute to open source software projects. We communicate via the Net using blogs, forums, and IM. Today, they are my friends. We developed credibility through word-of-mouth, so to speakj, where one developer leads to the next one. You move in and out of circles, enriching and contributing where and when you can. These contributions, some monetary, are your currency - your reputation, which gives you access to greater resources.Seth Godin asks "Are your people like your customers? ... Most organizations want to grow. What happens, though, when your worldview and biases are so different from the places you're hoping to grow?" The days of slow change are over. In fact, the market place is moving faster than most businesses can adapt. Globalization, deregulation, transparency (AIG lately), aging boomers, and new communications methods are forcing businesses to adapt or perish. With more CEO's gettin' the boot, and private equity (think Circuit City) and hedge funds with tons of cash, change will be swift. What will we be left with?"Lecture 2: Collaboration", is part of a five part lecture series from Channel 4 of the BBC given by the distinguished engineer, Lord Broers. "These advances involved many people in many laboratories. One model says that ten times the effort needed in the original research must be expended in developing a prototype technology, and ten times this effort is needed to produce the manufactured product. The idea that a single person can 'invent' a new technology, is out of the question in these cases. Creative ideas of course come from individuals but their ideas must fit into the matrix of creativity being generated by individuals and teams all over the world."With the tools available today, companies can bring their people and others together to collaborate so easily...even if they are on different continents. Yet, so many companies are either not aware of the technology available or perhaps are just not seeing the possibilities of open innovation. We hope to change that.

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Creativity and Innovation on the Web

jim wilde — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 19:12:38 +0000

In his post “how to be creative” Dave Pollard (How to Save the World) hits the nail on the head in describing creativity. He also goes a step further, separating out creativity from innovation. “What is creativity? It's not the same as innovation. Creativity is the ability to generate appropriate, useful ideas that don't follow logically and analytically from the information available, It's the ability to know, in a complex world where most of the relevant decision-making information is unknown or unknowable, which ideas might work, might make sense. Innovation is the effective implementation of such ideas. Both creativity and innovation are often the only ways to accomplish some of the most important value-imperatives in business: * Radically improving product or process quality, currency, design or throughput

Improving problem-solving or decision-making
Improving resource-use effectiveness
Improving new product development
Improving employee and customer satisfaction or motivation
Predicting the future”

Whoa, that’s powerful: “... ideas that don't follow logically and analytically from the information available.” At AI, we have pieced together from various OSS projects and my own stuff, a tool that combines both creativity and innovation to help achieve what Pollard talks about.

Follow me here: Imagine an internet-managed service that offers an interactive meeting place; a tool that gives businesses the opportunity to build a deep web presence with minimal effort. It helps them inexpensively leverage their internal ideas, information and people using external ideas and information to foster a more efficient, collaborative environment, which improves the business.

As you know, RSS readers have not exactly caught on with most folks yet, leaving a gap between what is current, fuzzy, and relatively rich-information and ideas, and that which is gleaned from common keyword searches, Google, Yahoo, et al. IDEASCAPE takes advantage of new technologies: RSS, attention.xml, blogs, wikis, and intelligent tagging, that make it easier for users to find and share ideas and information important to them, no matter how it is described or whether it is inside or outside the business. In the end, it saves time and opens up new possibilities to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the business besides making it more innovative.

With so much flexibility, we have the dilemma, “what is it?” The tool (IDEASCAPE) can be many things to many people depending on their goals, objectives and priorities. What works best for whom continues to unfold. I welcome any feedback or ideas that you may have. To see the tool in action, you need to register - free.

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