Game changer - Google's turn by turn

Well, I think we've just witnessed a shift in the GPS industry with Google's launch of their free turn by turn service on the Android platform.

Google is now offering not only free map functionality found on competitor devices, but a free turn by turn navigation application that we have all grown to love (And we are used to paying for). The equivalent applications on the iPhone cost around $99 from the App Store, but they are absolutely free on the Android platform. Not only is it free, but it now links in to Google's traffic data, helping route you around congested routes (In supported cities).

Google is able to do this because they have spent the time developing their own data to pull from, rather than relying on the two providers of turn by turn data. All other GPS manufacturers and iPhone app developers have to license this data from one of two companies. This means that if Apple wants to have a similar application free on their device, they are going to have to take a loss on the application because they will have to pay for the data the application will use.

Not only do users get the application for free, but Google (From what I've heard, but I can't confirm this) will be paying the carriers a portion of the Add revenue generated from the use of Google's application, Search and related advertising. This is a less than free model that Apple and RIM can't compete with. As a carrier, why would you chose differently? You can charge a customer for the handset AND get a portion of the add pie from Google.

If I was Apple, RIM or a GPS manufacturer, I would be scared for the future, especially with the costs of producing these handsets coming down. Why would I have a GPS and a phone, when I can have an Android handset with both?

Personally, this is causing me to wait to buy a smartphone. I'll be happy to replace my Blackberry with a Android device when the timings right. Sorry Apple.

The changed world

Wow, what a difference a year can make. I remember trying to hire people 12 months ago and it was painful! It is still painful now, but in a completely different way. Our team has only had one opening in the last few months and we were flooded with resumes. Before we'd be lucky if we had two qualified applicants and they would expect the world. Now we have a dozen over qualified candidates competing for a job that will come with a $20,000 wage decrease. As someone in the position to hire, it is hard to tell all these people "No, sorry, we won't be offering you the position." You think about their family and the impact of either getting or not getting the position will have.

On the personal side, our family is holding off on the big purchases, the over seas vacations and staying at home. Even next summer we're planning on sticking closer to home and camping more with our kids.

This really brings me to the point of this post! I'd like to hear from everyone how the economic downturn has effected you personally and how you've reacted to changing circumstances. What innovative ideas have you seen or been a part of? How has you approach to innovation changed with a changing economic situation?

Tech tools - Help us out with some collaboration advice

Everyday a new tool floats across my inbox... Today wasn't a new tool, but Gmail added an "Undo" to sent emails... What an awesome idea! This new feature gives us 5 seconds to recall that email and look it over for one more round of edits or to throw it out completely. No more forgetting to attach a file, no more nasty emails... I now have five seconds to recognize that I shouldn't have hit the send button.

In the last two weeks I have run across so many tools including Twine (Twine.com), Google Reader (Okay, this one isn't new, but I've fallen in love) and Twitter (Again, not new, but man, I can't get enough).

All of these tools further our connectedness and potential for collaboration, but how does this translate into the work place? The Gmail "Undo" sent option sure would translate, but would Twine or Twitter?

Clearspace and other new collaboration platforms are now being adopted in organizations as they try and capitalize on the existing knowledge capital they've acquired over the years. Lots of companies have had success, but many have not realized what they had intended. Why? We are embarking on a journey at our company and what do you think it will take for us to be successful?

I've got no answers for anyone, so I'm hoping that readers of this blog can help us share their stories (Good or bad) about experiences with collaboration software in a corporate environment. We are hoping to drum up some advice to help us with our implementation, so please share! Help me and my team out!

Thanks in advance!
Laurence

Innovation as an excuse to write software

I've worked at a number of development shops in the past and I've had the pleasure (And pain) of working with many different developers. I've come to recognize a trait amongst many of the developers that I've worked with; most of them have a passion for Software Development. That passion is great; it leads them to learn new ideas and to development interesting software that we love to use. The downside to that passion is the vast majority of developers always treat every problem as a development problem. They skip past the step where they look for existing solutions and immediately jump to development (Or, those more experienced jump to the planning of the development).

Now, I'm not saying that development isn't important, especially when it comes to innovation. Development is key and without Software Development, we wouldn't have any new products to use! The most important decision is not whether there is going to be development for an IT innovation project, but where you will focus your expertise, time, effort and dollars. Every time a company goes to put up a new web application, they don't start off by building a new operating system. They leverage what is already in existence. They don't go an write a new database. They use one that is tried and true. Smart companies pick where they are going to develop and where they will plug in components to help speed up their innovation initiatives and reduce costs.

What many developers and companies fail to do is to take the next step beyond picking out an OS, Database, web server and development language. I've seen many projects embark on an "Innovation" exercise where they end up re-creating the wheel. They don't go and put rubber on tire, the rebuild the whole tire all over again. Companies and more importantly the developers that work for companies need to take some time (Albeit a short amount of time) to investigate what components exist in Commercial Off The Shelf offering (Or Open Source, or even what other products exist within a company).

We all need to learn where to best spend our time to add value to a company and I believe that building on top of existing software allows us to do things quickly.

Doing things quickly is extremely important when it comes to innovation (Or most projects for that matter). Time is money as they say and the more we risk investing in innovation projects, the more we have to lose if they fail. We shouldn't be concerned with "Gold Plating" our projects and we certainly shouldn't be wasting time on software development when we have existing and appropriate solutions to pick from. We should strive for rapid prototypes and make sure we are on the right track at every point along the way. We don't want to have invested millions of dollars and years of development in a product that no one is going to use.

Innovation in the work place

Innovation is the driver for future revenue generation, without it all organizations will become stagnant and not be able to adapt quickly to a changing environment. We need to recognize that the world is changing and if we don't, we will end up in the same situation as the auto industry. Innovation is the key to our success, and in order for innovation to be successful in an organization, we need the support of that organization. Everyone needs to be on board!!

Cheap, cheap, cheap!!!!

A common argument against innovation is that it is expensive, that we will have to invest a lot in R&D and we won't realize the benefits for years to come. Innovation is not expensive, not long term and it can highly engage employees!!! An example of a cheap, quick innovation strategy to increase employee engagement and encourage groups to cross collaborate is the creation of a rubber stamp. Something that can be custom designed by a team and purchased online for less than $20. If every employee is given a passport of sorts and and every team designed a stamp, when they contribute to a project or a team, that team can then recognize the employee by stamping their passport. Employees can recognize other employees and there is an implicit motivator to collect as many stamps as possible, all for $20. Another key item to keeping innovation low cost is to rapidly prototype for customers and present to them early and often.

Rapid prototyping

Continuing on with a focus on cost, organizations need to get away from expecting perfect prototypes. The longer we spend on a prototype to demo a customer, the more we've invested in the creation. If we spend months creating a prototype that doesn't meet our customer's needs then we have spent a lot of money that did not need to be spent. If we create a culture of innovation where good is good enough (The key being that the prototype is good enough to communicate the idea or message), then we can save money and succeed sooner. "Fail faster, to succeed sooner," is a motto that I love. The faster we get a prototype out the door, the faster we can respond to our customer's demands.

If we shorten the delivery of a prototype, it also opens up the possibility to deliver more than one prototype to a customer. Why would we deliver more than one prototype you ask? Well, let's start off by looking at a common situation: I come home from work and my wife is standing in front of me with a new dress. She asks the question that every husband dreads: "What do you think of my new dress?" ... What's the response most every man going to give? Of course it looks good... We have no other choice. Our wives have put all their eggs into one basket. If we give negative feedback, our wives are crushed and we've hurt their feelings. Now how about if they've taken us to the store and presented the same dress along with six other dresses. We have the chance here to give honest feedback without the potential hurt feelings. People feel more comfortable with giving honest feedback when presented with multiple options and our customers are no different. We haven't put anyone in the awkward position of having to tell us the dress we've selected doesn't flatter us or suit their needs.

Rapid prototyping is an area to really get creative!! Don't think that these rapid prototypes need to be done in the medium of final delivery. I'll explain what I mean by giving an example. We are currently developing a new piece of software at work called SDPNet. Rather than have our software developers mock up two interfaces for our customers to review (The medium of delivery), I asked the project team to come up with two prototypes (In one week), the first done on a computer, but without a single line of code written and the second done without any computer intervention what so ever. Both of these prototypes were not to be done in the medium of final delivery. The project team decided to model the UI for this new piece of software using Connectix!! What an awesome idea and it actually opened up new ways of looking at user interaction!! Imagine a 3D UI! Not only creative but time efficient!! The project team was able to bring it together in a matter of hours!! We could present many different versions for a customer to look at and interact with and the cost was right!!

Not just products

Innovation is not limited to the realm of physical product development. We can innovate with service delivery and even process definition.

Let's take an example from the work place that those of us working in large companies are probably familiar with: Department transitions or hand offs. We have three teams within our Information Technology department at work and we are required to hand off development, sustainment and support between these three teams all the time. These transitions tend to be high stress and typically involve a lot of conflict and negotiation and someone is always unhappy with the way things are transitioned. Why would we continue to do this? Why not innovate? Why not look for a different way to transition between these teams that will de-risk and at the same time make people happier? While looking at this area for improvement the analogy came to light that this is really like a relay race. We need to transition from one team member to another team member at top flight, just like the 4x100 relay! Our Olympic team certainly wouldn't show up to the relay final without every having practiced, so why should we?

The solution was abundantly simple: practice the hand offs!

We follow an Agile software development methodology and we decided to hand off at iteration end (Usually a 2 to 6 week period). This allows us to identify problems early and correct mid project, while at the same time really creating a team atmosphere. Because the hand offs are smaller, there is less risk and less anxiety. By the time the project is ready to go into our production environment, the support teams are ready to go and we've practiced the hand offs many times! Sure there are still bumps in the road, but we correct them early and with less conflict.

Tools

No matter what you are going to innovate, you need basic tools! For our organization, we found that we need a collaboration platform to help distribute information across our distributed teams. This collaboration in turn helps us produce more innovation ideas, which fuels future growth and collaboration. You might need slightly different tools than I will, but don't forget about having the basics for creativity!

Conclusion

As I mentioned at the start, innovation will be the key to future growth! No one wants to end up in a company that's being left behind. Start small, be a champion for your company and seek out resources (Books, mentors, etc) that can help spur your innovation on!

Do you have any innovation success stories? We'd love to hear about them!

Laurence