Creativity and Innovation

Hey gang … You know, it isn’t that often that I come across people who understand the [game-]score. My background is in technology & project management — I guess that ‘history’ would put me in the “reliability” side of Martin’s (2007) graph. I decided I’m schizophrenic. My design stuff generally involves out-of-the-box applications of ‘reliable‘ components or technology. Lots of my peers grew-up in an expanding market; by implication their/our perceptions were formed with a focus on Martin’s validity

Including Design in Business

Design in Business, Roger Martin (2007).

I like this explaination, it unfolds some possible reasons behind a lot of curious project outcomes I’ve seen and others we’ve all hear about. I’m sure. Why didn’t ‘that’ on-target’ concept fly?

Martin offers five strategies each for business (reliability) types and marketing (validity) types to engage when talking to each other.

		Reliability focus	Validity focus
1.	Welcome …	Design unfriendliness, as a Design Challenge.	Reliability unfriendliness, as a Core (Management) Task.
2.	Empathise with	Design unfriendliness	Reliability unfriendliness
3.	Speak the Language of …	Reliability	Validity
4.	Share …	Use analogies and stories	Present data and reasoning; NOT conclusions.
5.	Bite-off the …	Smallest-bit to generate a proof of righteousness	Biggest-thing (you can afford) to risk failing.

Innovation is needed to keep afloat. I’m not saying “to be ahead“. Design and creativity are essential for 21st Century sustainability and survival. You might also be interested in Roger’s 2009 economic outlook comments. W I S H