The Innovation Diaries

How Google fuels its Idea Factory
“You can do whatever you want as long as you track it. We have very sophisticated measurement systems at every stage of launch. We have what is called trusted testers. Then beta test, which is forever. We do these 1% launches where we float something out and measure that. We […]

Over at Signal Vs. Noise they’ve got an interesting little thing on airlines making small tweaks for huge impact, which reminded me of a story we heard from Southwest Airlines …
Collecting empty cups after a landing, flight attendant Rhonda Holley noticed Southwest’s logo printed on the plastic trash bag. Two things struck her - first, […]

Last week we journeyed out to limehouse town hall in hackney to witness the latest Dorkbot event.
Dorktbot London is the UK chapter of a global collective dedicated to people ‘doing strange things with electricity’. Now, this might sound pretty niche (and it is), but we fervently believe that the hackers are the future - look […]

Most objections against innovative ways to unearth exciting possibilities and opportunities are not actually a “No” at all.
When you ask people if they want to do something (for example “Let’s go and live with our customers for a week to discover how they actually use our products”), their consciousness will quickly rebound with what most […]

I spent yesterday afternoon at Under The Influence in Borough Market, run by Iris, who I think are the real hot agency of the moment. They had hired 5 pubs and packed them with interesting people and interesting speakers talking about all sorts of subjects to do with the future. Loads of beer, good chat […]

French philosopher Rene Girard, spoke of the importance of having inklings. He also points out that there are 2 elements that make up inklings:
1) A vague sense of a whole
2) A glorious detail
The first is all about how you can have an out-of-focus perspective on a a problem, like a hovering cloud. The second is […]

Who says that progress needs to cost the earth? Park the thought of saving the planet for a moment and reflect on saving yourself the investment needed AFTER you have invested in a new innovation.
In an online New York Times article Eduardo Porter reported on the lure of the lights of Las Vegas. Mind […]

People don’t set out to make bad products. It’s a truism, but that doesn’t make it any less impactful. Over at Wired they have an inteview with Ted Castranova, a social scientist at Indiana University, on the pitfalls he encountered whilst trying to create a video game based on the works of Shakespeare (although as […]

Social networking for the sick
“The members of PatientsLikeMe don’t just share their experiences anecdotally; they quantify them, breaking down their symptoms and treatments into hard data. They note what hurts, where and for how long. They list their drugs and dosages and score how well they alleviate their symptoms. All this gets compiled over time, […]

Scott Anthony wrote a thought-poking post on the question of whether there is such a thing as innovation running away with the fairies. Entertaining as the post is - making fun of buttons to start cars rather than keys (will this be the nail in the coffin of promotional key ring manufacturers, or will […]