When it comes to design-led innovation, we love the big idea — those breakthrough inventions that signal a disruptive change. But these big ideas are rarely the result of a single moment of genius. Instead, it comes from the culmination of smaller ideas, developed over time, from the minds of many. The ideas that really stick in our fast-paced digital world are the ones that “live in beta” — embracing a culture of learning, adapting and improving everyday. In Little “i” Innovation, we will explore how the process of continual, incremental improvement has been used to develop some of the worlds most innovative and dominant consumer brands.
Little “i” Innovation: Why Small Ideas Matter as much as Big Ones
1. LITTLE ‘i’ INNOVATION
WHY SMALL IDEAS MATTER AS MUCH AS BIG ONES
Guthrie Dolin
DMI Design/Management Thinking 24 Executive Director of Strategy
@gee3
2. Body goes here...
WE’RE ODOPOD, a new kind of design consultancy
— one that thinks like a start-up, understands brands
like an ad agency and creates products and services
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like an innovation firm.
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5. BIG INNOVATION 9000 BC
The domestication of plants and animals
(also known as farming). A big innovation
that really settled us down — so to speak.
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6. BIG INNOVATION 1996AD
The first mammal was cloned. A sheep
named Dolly — born from a somatic cell
using the process of nuclear transfer.
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7. BIG INNOVATION 3500 BC
The wheel. Arguably the most important
mechanical invention of all time — and one
of humankind's most significant.
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8. BIG INNOVATION 1902 AD
The mass production of affordable
automobiles debuted. And the suburbs
followed shortly thereafter.
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9. BIG INNOVATION 1440 AD
Gutenberg developed a complete printing
system, including movable type — leading
to the mass production of books.
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10. BIG INNOVATION 2007 AD
Amazon released the first gen Kindle.
E-book sales triple year-over-year while
paper books decline in every category.
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11. BIG INNOVATION 77 AD
Encyclopedias, reference books filled with
printed articles of factual information, have
existed for more then 2,000 years.
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12. BIG INNOVATION 2001 AD
Wikipedia launched. The collaboratively
edited encyclopedia has fundamentally re-
architected information publishing.
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15. Why do we love them so much?
THEIR SIMPLE SWEEPING NARRATIVES ARE SEDUCTIVE, BUT...
16. “
It’s very, very rare to find cases where
somebody on their own, working alone,
in a moment of sudden clarity has a
great breakthrough that changes the
world. And yet there seems to be this
bizarre desire to tell the story that way.
STEVEN JOHNSON | AUTHOR OF WHERE GOOD IDEAS COME FROM: THE NATURAL HISTORY OF INNOVATION
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17. Most big ideas come from little ones.
CULMINATION CONNECTION CAPACITY
Many big ideas are more of a ‘slow Innovative ideas often come from the Often a technological advancement,
hunch’ that develops over time — from connection or the collision between devoid of specific purpose, will inspire
multiple inputs and perspectives. smaller (or even half-baked) ideas. new, sometimes innovative ideas.
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18. But, this isn’t about big versus little —
it’s about considering them together.
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19. Think of it as an “innovation portfolio.”
TRANSFORMATIONAL
ADJACENT
CORE
FROM
MANAGING YOUR INNOVATION PORTFOLIO
HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW — MAY 2012
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20. Think of it as an “innovation portfolio.”
TRANSFORMATIONAL
ADJACENT
EXISTING CORE
MARKETS AND Optimizing
CONSUMERS
what’s existing
EXISTING
PRODUCTS
AND ASSETS
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21. Think of it as an “innovation portfolio.”
TRANSFORMATIONAL
CONTIGUOUS
ADJACENT
MARKETS AND Expanding into into
CONSUMERS neighboring territories
CORE
Optimizing
what’s existing
RELATED
PRODUCTS
AND ASSETS
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22. Think of it as an “innovation portfolio.”
ENTIRELY NEW
MARKETS AND
TRANSFORMATIONAL
CONSUMERS Inventing new things for
AND/OR NEEDS markets that don’t yet exist
ADJACENT
Expanding into into
neighboring territories
CORE
Optimizing
what’s existing
ENTIRELY NEW
PRODUCTS AND
ASSETS
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23. Think of it as an “innovation portfolio.”
TRANSFORMATIONAL
Inventing new things for
markets that don’t yet exist
20%
ADJACENT 70%
Expanding into into 10%
neighboring territories
CORE
Optimizing
what’s existing THE GOLDEN RATIO
For most companies the 70/20/10
split is a good starting point.
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24. And, 90% of the investment is here...
90%
INCREMENTAL
UNHERALDED MAJORITY
Yet these efforts are often ill-
considered and/or underestimated
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25. Who are the little “i” innovators?
JUST A FEW EXAMPLES, AND THEY MIGHT SURPRISE YOU.
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27. APPLE’S IPOD A HISTORY OF INCREMENTAL INNOVATION
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28. 1998 They have followed (continually) with
Google Search had an
index of about 60 million
smaller core and adjacent innovations to
pages in their engine. their initial search offering ever since.
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29. All while developing
transformational ones
for the broader brand.
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30. Not the first-mover, but the best mover.
8 Text 25 900+
MIL MIL MIL
2002 2003 2004
FRIENDSTER MYSPACE FACEBOOK
One of the first social networks with Launched to improve on Friendster — Launched as “hot or not” —
over a million users. Today, it’s a social got seedy, looked awful and now is continually innovated and now has
gaming site — big in Singapore. focused on music entertainment. nearly a billion users worldwide.
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31. Then there’s Justin Timberlake.
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32. Singer-songwriter, musician, record producer,
dancer, actor, comedian, businessman — JT is
constantly pivoting with core and adjacent
innovations to evolve — and in doing so he’s
enjoyed a successful, long lasting career in this
extremely fickle consumer environment.
LET’S REVIEW
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33. The Innovation Timeline of Justin Timberlake
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34. The Innovation Timeline of Justin Timberlake
1982
JT debuts his bright smile.
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35. The Innovation Timeline of Justin Timberlake
1992
JT, the child country singer (with a bright smile).
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36. The Innovation Timeline of Justin Timberlake
1993
JT sings and smiles as a child star.
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37. The Innovation Timeline of Justin Timberlake
1995
Child star becomes teen heartthrob.
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38. The Innovation Timeline of Justin Timberlake
2002
Heartthrob gets heart broken, and goes solo.
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39. The Innovation Timeline of Justin Timberlake
2002
(Britney cries a river)
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40. The Innovation Timeline of Justin Timberlake
2004
JT precipitates a sexy “wardrobe malfunction.”
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41. The Innovation Timeline of Justin Timberlake
2006
And then brings sexy back, officially.
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42. The Innovation Timeline of Justin Timberlake
2006
JT puts his sexy in a box.
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43. AN OMELET
D*CK IN A BOX
BARRY GIBB
A BEER
A SINGLE LADY
BON IVER A BREAST IMPLANT
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44. The Innovation Timeline of Justin Timberlake
2006
And puts sexy on the runway.
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45. The Innovation Timeline of Justin Timberlake
2007
Brings sexy to the big screen.
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46. The Innovation Timeline of Justin Timberlake
2010
JT makes Internet entrepreneurs sexy.
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47. The Innovation Timeline of Justin Timberlake
2012
And now, JT is a real Internet entrepreneur.
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48. Taking notes young Padawan?
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50. EMBRACE CHANGE
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51. EMBRACE CHANGING
Life is flux. Plan and work accordingly.
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52. Adopt an agile approach
Develop flexible frameworks and smart toolkits to
enable ideation — avoid locking into ridged processes
or dictatorial methodologies.
• Be responsive and ready to adapt your plans
• Work iteratively in smaller, faster cycles
• Establish a pace that you can sustain, continuously
• Maintain focus, favoring clarity over certainty
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53. “
Profound and powerful forces are
shaking and remaking our world. And
the urgent question of our time is
whether we can make change our
friend and not our enemy.
PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON | 42ND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES — FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS
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54. FOSTER EXCHANGE
Chance favors the connected mind.
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55. Develop a “platform” for sharing ideas
Innovation isn’t something you stick in a secret lab in the
basement — you need to encourage innovative thinking
everywhere, and from everyone.
• Let ideas fly (no judgement) and see what sticks
• Create an environment for serendipitous discovery
• Invite unexpected people and perspectives
• Reward participation and reduce friction (make it fun)
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56. “expand the range of your possible
...
next moves by exposing yourself to as
much serendipity, as much argument
and conversation, as many rival and
related ideas as possible; to borrow, to
repurpose, to recombine.
STEVEN JOHNSON | WHERE GOOD IDEAS COME FROM: THE NATURAL HISTORY OF INNOVATION
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57. THINK ECOLOGICALLY
Examine the whole as intimately as you do the parts.
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58. Consider the full ecosystem
No view on innovation is good if it’s myopic — don’t get
lost iterating on the details, or go “all in” on one big idea.
• Clarify your innovation goals and move with purpose
• Strike the right balance with your ‘innovation portfolio’
• Place little bets, double down on what’s working
• Coordinate efforts, considering how it all works together
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59. “
Rather than hoping that their future
will emerge from a collection of ad
hoc efforts, smart firms will manage
for “total innovation.”
BANSI NAGJI & GEOFF TUFF | MANAGING YOUR INNOVATION PORTFOLIO — HBR MAY 2012
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60. INNOVATE EVERY DAY
Actively seek improvement, daily.
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61. Our perennial design questions
• What isn’t there that should be?
• What is there that doesn’t need to be?
• How can I make this more valuable?
• How can I make it more delightful?
• What do I understand today that I didn’t yesterday?
Compete with yourself.
And, don’t fall in love with ideas!
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62. 1 EMBRACE CHANGING
2 FOSTER EXCHANGE
3 THINK ECOLOGICALLY
4 INNOVATE EVERY DAY
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63. Please keep in mind, this is about
attitudes and a culture not adhering
to some stone-chiseled doctrine.
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