Demo Driven Innovation at Jazoon 2012

7/31/2019 Demo Driven Innovation at Jazoon 2012

1/23

demo-driveninnovation

www.tudorgirba.com

innovation?

innovation improvesthe status quo

Before we go on, what is innovation?

Innovation has two components:- it has to be new- it has to improve the status quo


2/23

the status quo?

the status quothe existing state of affairs

Picture by _FXR

F = m a.

But, what is the status quo?

Status quo is normality. It is what we are accustomed with. It is the best we know. It represents thesecurity of the proven path.

Innovation is neither mystical nor mythical. It is the act of revealing what is already lying in plainsight.

Apples have fallen for thousands of years, and many millions of people only saw the opportunity toget fed in this act. It took Newton to see something completely different.

Picture by _FXR http://www.flickr.com/photos/_fxr/2335186114/


3/23

E = m c. 2

Picture by _FXR

post-it

After Newton, many people thought that we got to the end of Physics. Einstein took a differentroute.

Picture by _FXR http://www.flickr.com/photos/_fxr/2335186114/

But, innovation does not have to be monumental, or theoretical.

A process is a place for innovation as well.


4/23

We used to think that the only way to produce something of quality is to think it very well inadvance. While this works reasonably well in some areas, it does not in evolving environments.

But, why is it so hard to innovate? Because we are trained to push routine activities to thesubconsciousness.

How many lines do you see?


5/23

the status quothe existing state of affairs

the status quo

the sum of our assumptions

the existing state of affairs

Do you see three lines now?

Status quo is normality. It is what we are accustomed with. It is the best we know. It represents thesecurity of the proven path.

Defining the status quo simply as the state of affairs does not shed light. I call the status quo thesum of our assumptions.

It is these assumptions that make it hard for us to see the obvious in front of us.


6/23

development

Hans Rosling:The problem is not ignorance. It is preconceived ideas

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/92

Assumptions are everywhere. They help us function. But, they also make us get stuck.

For example, today, when we think of software development we think of the active act of building

the software.


7/23

assessment

development

www.humane-assessment.com

the status quothe existing state of affairsthe sum of our assumptions

challenge

However, for some 50% of the time, developers do not build anything. They assess what exists.They try to figure out what they have to know what to do next.

This activity is current implicit, and because it is so, nobody talks about it and developers simplyread code. This does not work. We can do better. The first thing to do is to identify the wrongassumption and make it explicit. Only afterwards will we have a chance to fix it.

http://humane-assessment.com

Defining the problem shapes the solution.

The status quo is not what exists, but what we see it to exist.

Our own assumptions are the main enemy of innovation.

The first step is to challenge your assumptions. All the time.


8/23

challengedesign

challengedesign

present

presenting is storytelling

Of course, once you think you know what you want to go for, you have to design your solution.There are many things to say about design. That is why I am not saying anything about it at thispoint.

The worst enemies are your own assumptions. For this reason, innovation is almost neverlonesome.

Your goal is to obtain feedback. The best feedback comes from interested people. And you get tointerest people by showing them what your idea is made of. The act of presenting is critical.

The act of presenting became synonym with shooting bullet points at people. This fails to animatethe imagination, because everyone is busy dodging the bullets.

To best way to get people on board is through stories. Presenting is storytelling.


9/23

To provide a genericmeta-model forexpressing softwareevolution analyses,

we need to recognizeevolution as an explicitphenomenon and modelit as a first class entity.

Take a look at this ad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rTttFOWJV4

There is no doubt as to what the story is.

Stories can be so powerful, that you do not even need to spell the message:http://www.coloribus.com/focus/part-of-durex-history/10385305/

The message is clear. But, what should remain with you is that there is a single message in there.

You might say that ads and movies are just for entertaining.

But, a PhD dissertation is also about one thesis. 3,4,5 years of work and all you get to defend is

one single statement.


10/23

tudorgirba.com/blog

This is how a blank slide looks like.

And this is how it looks on white. You should be able to deliver your story using empty slides.

Recommended resources.

http://presentationzen.com

http://thebackofthenapkin.comhttp://blog.duarte.comhttp://tudorgirba.com/blog


11/23

www.ted.co

m

presenting is storytelling

challengedesign

present

A great place to find examples of amazing talks is www.ted.com.

http://www.tudorgirba.com/blog/ted-talkshttp://www.tudorgirba.com/blog/favorite-ted-talks-posted-until-2008http://www.tudorgirba.com/blog/favorite-ted-talks-posted-in-2009


12/23

challengedesign

presentdemo

content form

Do not just present. Demo. Make your ideas palpable.

Hans Rosling:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/92

Designing and building the form is typically perceived as an effort that comes after the main effortof designing and building the content. That is not an optimal process, because we cannot reasonabout content in the absence of form.


13/23

yesterdaysweather

30% 90%

Let me tell you a story about the first paper I ever wrote. It was about predicting changes in asoftware system using a Yesterdays Weather metaphor.

http://www.tudorgirba.com/blog/yesterday-s-weather

In Switzerland, using yesterdays weather as a predictor for todays weather is a poor predictionmodel.

However, in Sahara, it is a great way to predict weather, given that most days look like theprevious one.

This prediction model is contextual to the place, or system, in which it is to be applied. So, beforeapplying this technique on a software system, we first have to see if it proved to be reasonable inthe past.

Once I had the basic idea, I just implemented it. And indeed, it turned out that my assumption wasright. On some systems it makes sense, on others it does not.

I was happy, but I had a problem: I could not explain my approach to people.


14/23

Even if Smalltalk is a beautiful language, my code was plain ugly.

And I knew it was ugly and that I should do something about it. I just did not know what.


15/23

present

past future

YesterdayWeatherHit(present):

past:=all.topChanged(beginning, present)

future:=all.topChanged(present, end)

past.intersect(future).notEmpty()

prediction hit

hit hit hit

YW = 3 / 8 = 37%

hit hit hit hit hit hit hit

YW = 7 / 8 = 87%

So, I stepped back and rethought the model behind. What exactly was I doing?

I eventually created a small picture and based on that I rethought the model. It turned out that thealgorithm to check the assumption for each day was three lines long.

And I could explain it to people in 3 minutes. And they got it.

And obtaining the overall value was just an average.

And, in the end, even the actual implementation became similarly simple (and even more generic).

All in all, it was because I could not present the idea, that I had to rethink the approach altogether.

Of course, I could have just accepted that the problem is just too complex and cannot be madesimpler, but that is never a good enough point.

http://www.tudorgirba.com/blog/yesterday-s-weather


16/23

content form

Content and form must go together.

V. S. Ramachandran is a neurologist. Among other things, he invented a simple cure for thephantom pain.

The idea is that people with phantom limbs can still feel pain in the non-existent part of themember. The problem is that this pain cannot be treated directly because it is actually not real.

But, it is a serious problem, with people that constantly feel deep pain for decades.

The treatment turned out to be extremely simple and cheap. A mirror is placed on a table, andtypically the phantom limb is placed in a box behind the mirror, and the healthy limb is placed infront of the mirror. The patient is then asked to look into the mirror and do exercises with the

healthy limb. As the patient looks in the mirror, it appears that the phantom limb is actually moving.Through these kind of exercises, the pain goes away.

You can find more information in his very interesting TED presentation:http://www.ted.com/talks/vilayanur_ramachandran_on_your_mind.html


17/23

content form

challengedesign

demo

challengedesigndemolisten

Form is important, but it is often addressed at the end of the process. Thats too latebecause you will not get it right the first time. You need to test and iterate. And, here is themagic: To test your idea you need the form, and when the form gets clean, the contentbecomes simple. The act of creation must address both content and form at the sametime. This, to me, is at the core of the innovation process

Demoing is the first step towards feedback. If your demo is a piece of software, you already had toconvince the computer to do what you intended. This is a great first step. The second step is to getit out there to anyone willing to listen.

If the demo is remotely successful you will obtain some feedback. And you will be tempted to fightit, especially if it is negative. Dont. Just stand still and listen.

Feedback is a fragile creature. If you fight it, it will go away.


18/23


enable

its not Lupus

Innovation takes time and effort. This is why you have to plan for it. You have to enable it.

Dr. House provides good examples of looking for solutions to odd problems.

Fight the temptation of going for the first answer.

It can be Lupus, but its not necessarily so. In fact, in most cases it is not Lupus. That is why you

have to continue your search.


19/23

dis

ruptiv

e

establishe

d

Its very easy to kill a new idea.

The innovators dilemma applies to ideas, as well. If you compare the two paths at the verybeginning, you will discard the new idea.

But, if it is disruptive, it can have an exponential path.

Enable new ideas. Plan for new ideas. Give them some slack.


20/23

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

9 10 11

1213 14

15

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

9 10 11

1213 14

15

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

9 10 11

1213 14 15


21/23

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

9 10 11

1213 14 15

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12

13 14 15

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16

Management might perceive the little empty box as waste, and it will try to fill it with productivework. This will prevent you from moving into any unexpected direction. You will get entrenched inthe routine that proved useful today.


22/23

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12

what

wherewhenwhohow why

Actually, management will try to go even further. This will kill any chance for something different.

A better approach is to plan for the slack.

And what do you do with the slack? Exercise the inner kid. Ask questions.


23/23


enable

demo-driveninnovation

www.tudorgirba.com


enable

Date post:	05-Apr-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	tudor-girba
View:	216 times
Download:	0 times

Demo Driven Innovation at Jazoon 2012

Documents