When I was in practice, I likened my partners to the Knights of the Round Table. Dedicated, ethical, loyal, proud but above all wound up tight as a drum, stiff as a board and conservative in the extreme. You might as well have put a sign on the front door saying ‘No Risk Here Thanks.’ Talking to professionals in recent weeks, I get the impression very little has changed. Guess what – you’re not alone. Read on and view this as a metaphor for the profession.
Reading through Charlie’s Bess’s post over at EDS Next Big Thing I am deeply worried about the kind of thinking that says:
The next big thing that affects an organization will not be a single product or solution but will likely be the alignment of multiple solutions into something that generates significantly higher business value.
It worries me because there is no indication how this will arise. Magic? But Charlie’s post was in response to a CNet News.com piece entitled: IBM: The ‘next big thing’ no longer exists. In that piece, Nicholas Donofrio, IBMs executive vice president of innovation and technology is quoted as saying:
“The fact is that innovation was a little different in the 20th century. It’s not easy (now) to come up with greater and different things,” Donofrio said.
“If you’re looking for the next big thing, stop looking. There’s no such thing as the next big thing,”
What? Is this guy for real? The whole interview becomes increasingly confused because it then goes on to quote Donofrio as saying:
…innovation today is more about services, process, business models or cultural innovation than just product innovation.
Ok – fair enough. But then:
“IBM did a survey of 750 (chief information officers), and all of them listed innovation as a top priority. This is what I spend my time on, what I worry about.”
And finally, in relation to the results of re-introducing IBM’s version of the suggestion box:
IBM employees have contributed close to 5,000 ideas to date, and about 100 of those are being evaluated. The ideas cover products, processes and services.
So let me get this straight. The guy who is champion for innovation in the world’s largest high tech company worries about innovation 24×7 because CIOs are telling him it’s their top issue but only 2% of suggestions are being evaluated? What kind of company is it that can only garner suggestions from 1.5% of the total workforce? Experience tells me that when it comes to innovation, you’re lucky if 5% of ideas that go forward stick. If that’s correct then IBM has about 5 people in its entire organisation capable of thinking about coming up with innovation that delivers world beating value. I don’t believe that from the company that says it is championing open source development and which has thousands of bloggers engaging in conversations around development.
But then I read this highly convoluted argument from James McGovern as to why Ruby on Rails – a fast track development platform – is supposedly no good for larger businesses. It’s actually better to read the interpretation by David Heinemeir Hansson, the inventor of Ruby on Rails first and then go to the comments on James’ posting before reading the post. Largely because there are problems with James use of English but also because of his mixing arguments in a haphazard manner. In my opinion, James’ views are the kind that IBM consultants love to hear because they represent a cue for billable hours and reinforce the status quo. So what’s this about from a professional perspective?
On the basis of what I’m seeing, there is every chance that the one and two man bands who understand the value of innovation will eat the larger practices for lunch. To me, we’re in a period where the dinosaurs may rule the earth, but the cataclysmic events that brought about their demise are on the horizon. And if my natural history serves me correctly, it was the shrews who survived.
Technorati Tags: IBM, innovation
