Don’t Fall for the Buzzword Trap
Today’s innovation-obsessed culture seems to have a never ending appetite for buzzwords. In my job, I’m surrounded by buzzwords — buzzwords like “synergy”, “the cloud”, “strategy”, “drones”, “experience”, “3D printing”, “digital”, etc. Even my job title — design innovation strategist — is riddled with buzzwords that mean so many different things to so many different people. If you read any tech or industry blogs you can probably spout out your own lengthy list of buzzwords.
Quite often these buzzwords focus on technology. Even a buzzword that is by definition agnostic to technology seems to always be used in association with technology. A good example is the word “disruption.” When Clayton Christensen first introduced the concept of “disruptive innovation”, he used examples involving advancements in technologies in the steel and microchip industries. But disruption can occur on other dimensions than just technology. Walmart did not unseat the mom and pop shops solely because of technology but rather because of its business model that brought “Everyday Low Prices” to customers. Japanese manufacturers did not overtake American manufacturing in quality because of better equipment but because of improved management processes.
“Disruption” is a word that Clayton Christensen takes very seriously and is very guarded about. In Christensen’s own words, “…too many people who speak of ‘disruption’ have not read a serious book or article on the subject. Too frequently, they use the term loosely to invoke the concept of innovation in support of whatever it is they wish to do. Many researchers, writers, and consultants use ‘disruptive innovation’ to describe any situation in which an industry is shaken up and previously successful incumbents stumble. But that’s much too broad a usage.” (https://hbr.org/2015/12/what-is-disruptive-innovation)
A few months ago I was writing an article about the “innovations” coming from the “internet of things.” In an attempt to further understand this topic, I reached out to Don Norman who graciously agreed to meet with me. When I met with Don and explained my article to him, he stopped me dead in my tracks with his first words, “Well, the internet of things is marketing — not actual innovation.” According to Don, any innovation must be tied to something concrete and tangible. In his opinion, IoT is really a bunch of loosely coupled ideas and concepts. Underpinning some IoT ideas are some tangible technologies that could result in some serious innovation but IoT as a whole is nothing more than…a buzzword.
The last buzzword I will talk about before getting off my soap box is “design”. This word is the epitome of all buzzwords. Don’t just take my word for it. Jony Ive put it this way, “Design is one of those massively misunderstood words. I mean there are so many different definitions of the word. To [Apple], design is far beyond what something just looks like. It’s the whole thing. It’s how it works. It’s how it feels.” (Charlie Rose interview on March 9, 2016)
Milton Glaser put it this way, “There is enormous interest in design for reasons that I don’t fully understand and the word itself has become blurred in people’s understanding. They think it is what looks good or what looks good this year.” (Another article of mine addresses the “what is design” question in detail)
In summary — don’t get caught in the buzzword trap. Make sure you do your research and understand what a concept, technology, or discipline actually means before you assume you know what it means based on how other people around you are talking about it. If you do understand a word or are the expert, be self aware that over usage of a word by the media can result in a proliferation of interpretations and therefore misunderstandings when you use it. You should use synonyms or apply adjectives to clarify your specific meaning.
For sheer entertainment, I’d like to hear from you if there are any buzzwords you hear a lot. Please add a comment with your buzzwords.
