I have a cool job. I get to spend time with a bunch of really good folks (those in the public safety field are great if you’ve never had a chance to meet with them), listen to their challenges, and figure out if we can build something to solve their issues. Sometimes I can’t figure anything out, sometimes I can’t figure out how to do anything profitably, and once in a while we end up with a cool new product.
Over the last couple weeks I’ve had a number of meetings that have really got me thinking about the prism through which we innovate. Each of us looks at challenges through the lens of our experience. In my meetings what struck me was how much that lens can bias or even obscure how we think about solving a problem. Consider the music business. The “value chain” consisted of musicians, producers, record labels, radio stations, promoters, and others. Each of these players works to optimize their piece of the pie. Then suddenly a tool comes along, let’s call it iTunes, that changes the playing field. The musicians realize they have a more direct means of distributing music, and the value chain changes drastically.
I’m not in the music business, but I’ve seen this trend repeated time and time again. In fact, it's possible I'm repeating the trend and don’t even realize it yet. The challenge is that we are tainted by our experiences. Every day I speak with public safety executives. Every day I work on the same technology platform with the same people. My viewpoints are biased based on what I experience. I think about solutions based on the vantage point to which I’ve been exposed.
Lately, as I’ve met with folks in my industry who create solutions targeted at other parts of the value chain, I’ve wondered why they don’t see things I think are so clear. The reality is that my vision is only clear when seen through my lens. Traditionally, I’ve always thought that listening to the customer was the best way to innovate. I still believe that is true, but have now grown to realize that to truly innovate you need to make sure your definition of the customer encompasses all parts of the value chain or you risk not being part of that chain in the near future.
