The Human-Speak Innovation
October is well in, and… it’s a beautiful time of the year. The reserved warmth of the fall season brings fond memories of …whichever warmth we have experienced in our lives, while the woods wrapped in colorful foliage gift us with some splendid views reminding that it’s time to reflect on what’s been done, and what can be done in the future before we proceed to our Christmas and New Year’s resolutions. Some of us are busy, however, just as this young lady is, focused on finishing up her work.
The Big Tech companies have also been busy as they rolled out their latest inventory of gadgets and devices, in time for holiday season pre-orders, with Google rounding up the suite yesterday. The holiday pre-season hardware events get lots of media attention, and I’ve been diligent enough to follow the coverage. And, each and every year I take note of one and the same thing: it takes time, months and years, for the folks to attain those improvements in extra pixels, or in extra inches, or in extra milliseconds of improved performance. The “under-the-hood” things that the tech people are working on far more often than on some fancy stuff do not usually look overly impressive to the non-tech crowd. And, although they never say it directly at those events, here’s what their human-speak message is — as opposed to the near-Swahili of the numbers and specifications:
“Dude, we just want to be thanked, acknowledged, and credited for the effort that we invest into making the technology work better. And, it does take months and years for us to produce those tiny improvements that make your experience crispier.”
I get this, and I appreciate the effort, and I’m thankful. However, as a consumer, I’m just not impressed whenever they attempt to blow a purely tech event into something that claims to be a life-changer (see (tech) Leaders, Managers, and Tennis Umpires). And, if I were someone in business of software products and apps, I would have certainly taken note of each and every number and specification, because the tech giants are in charge of providing hardware platforms for the apps/software products that we develop. And, since I’ve pledged to put in my two cents into educating rookie product owners, my message to them would be this:
“Your job is to stay informed and to keep an eye on all those pixels and inches, and specifications, because the software that you are in charge of must keep up to par with the hardware developments, even if your immediate job responsibilities do not require that you do so. That’s how you train yourself to see the bigger picture. That way, you’ll be able to get more and more glimpses of a progressively bigger picture, in increments, until you eventually arrive to a point where you realize that — as a person who is genuinely into improving your product, or an app, or a software service for consumers — the hardware vendors are in their “fall-season time” in terms of the platforms.”
Speaking of the fall season as applied to the hardware platforms: since I’ve been putting on a hat of a product person a lot over the years, I’ve asked myself lately: “What would I really be impressed with, as a consumer, given that the big tech hardware events do not generate too much of a “wow” effect lately?” And, the answer came in a flash. I’d be impressed with the technology that would let me carry a tiny device in my pocket, leaving my eyes, my hands, my ears, and my head free for most of the time, and yet would let me fetch the information that I want as a screen that forms in front of me, as if right in the air, and then vanishes — and leaves me free to continue my day, enjoying the … fall foliage, or whatever non-screen reality that I’m enjoying.
In case you forgot, I’m still in the process of delivering a message to the rookie product owners :) And, if I were to “transcribe” this serendipitous vision of mine into the technological lingo, the word for it would be this: a hologram. Based on what I see observing the trends, we’re on a threshold of a new platform paradigm (just love this word :), where as tech people we’d have a lot of work adapting our software products and apps to this emerging new platform. The holographic technology for consumer market is now in its budding stage, similarly to where the cellular phones were in the late-90’s — early 2000’s … and who could have imagined back then that they would evolve into contemporary smartphones, along with the advancements in communication and sharing — and with the backlash as well. As persons in charge of product, we are of greater service to our consumers — and to our businesses, or to our employers — when we see the trends well in advance before everyone jumps on the bandwagon (see Product Development: Drive or Hitchhike?).
The fall season, both the natural and the metaphorical one, seems to be asking us many questions. What’s the Next Big Thing? Are you prepared to deal with it? Are you going to be a harbinger of change, or are you in the passenger’s seat? The choice — as well as finding a balance between a change and an incumbency — is up to us.
Related:
Product Development: Drive or Hitchhike?
Featuritis and Vulnerable Visions
Further reading:
Innovation explained: Holograms
