How Failing Fast Removed the Wonderment From Technology
Technology is no longer exciting and revolutionary. That’s the type of conclusion you could arrive at after spending a few minutes following the Apple Watch launch on MacRumors’ forums. Or, just listen to Leo Laporte, who has been covering Apple and other consumer technology companies for the past two decades, describe how pointless the Apple Watch is on episode 507 of This Week in Tech.
These sentiments aren’t unique to the Apple Watch either. After Facebook unveiled three dimensional virtual reality at F8 this past year, here’s what Chris Davies from SlashGear had to say:
To herald the upcoming support of 360-degree virtual reality content right on your Facebook wall, the company was offering to “teleport” people from San Francisco to the company HQ in Menlo Park, courtesy of an Oculus-powered headset and a whole load of cameras. Still slightly disappointed at having put on my Star Trek uniform for no good reason, I found the reality of 360 VR might not live up to Mark Zuckerberg’s enthusiasm, either.
What happened? Why does it seem like technology is no longer innovative? To answer that question, we have to look toward startup culture.
In 2011, Eric Ries published a book called Lean Startup that went on to radically change startups forever. The mantra was simple. Iterate quickly. Fail fast. Pivot (change direction) frequently. Instead of spending years developing the perfect product, these startups were cutting the time to market from years to months. And it worked amazingly.
Corporations were quick to catch on to the success. Samsung now releases over 50 new phone models per year. Microsoft releases a new version of Windows every year, instead of the five year eternity between Windows XP and Vista. Even Apple, who previously remained extremely secretive about changes in their software, now maintains a public beta program months before a major software release.
The end result? A smoothed out innovation trend line. No longer will major innovations be batched up like in the iPhone. Instead, as is the case with the Apple Watch, smaller innovations will occur more frequently.
Is this the end of exciting consumer electronic releases? Possibly. You may never freak out over a new cell phone again, but this doesn’t mean the industry is stagnating. Simply compare your electronics from today to something in a drawer from a couple of years ago. The world is still changing; it’s just less noticeable.
