Trending Groceries #twiglets
In Australia, kids are called vegemites in honour of that most delicious of
gastronomic inventions - yeast extract. In the UK, children have Marmite. Is it the same? Better? The debate rages.
Bitter & salty - whether you bat for the Vegemite or Marmite team, kids can't get enough of it. Which is really
weird when you consider these are the same kids who baulk at a single brussel sprout or any cheese that hasn't had all
hint of character resoundly flogged out of it.
In 1929, some clever bastard (M. Rondalin) realized you
can't run around all day with a slice of bread in your hand and had the genius idea of baking convenient little
breadsticks smothered in yeast extract. Twiglets were born and the rest is history..
The problem is that unless you live in one of those yeast-extract addicted countries, Twiglets are as rare to find as,
well, yeast extract.
So when I find them on a supermarket shelf, they are a must buy. I emptied the shelf at a local Cold Storage to get the picture below.
Clip for this post: There ain't
'alf been some clever bastards - Ian Dury & the Blockheads
See also: Trending Groceries #cider
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Open Innovation
A provocative comment by Jason on This
Week In Startups had me stop and think about the open innovation "fad".
He said something to the effect that all the open feedback and idea suggestion sites like UserVoice and GetSatisfaction were nothing but a
great way for your competition to sponge on your success and out-innovate you by just pilfering all the good ideas. And
you'd be a muppet to use one for your business.
The automatic reaction is that this makes logical sense. It is similar to the classic objection by the insecure and
IP-obsessed to justify a closed innovation processes.
Certainly, innovating in public does expose you to some risk of IP leakage. That's undeniable. But maybe it's not so
black and white: it's whether on balance you will gain more through greater engagement of an interested and motivated
audience than you lose from competitors looking over your shoulder.
Personally, I think this is a false conundrum, for two reasons:
- Good ideas are not hard to find, it's what you do with them that matters
-
- Open Innovation is not just about the ideas
Good ideas are not hard to find, it's what you do with them
As Scott Berkun writes, it is a myth that "good ideas are hard to find".
So what if a competitor can look at all the ideas suggested and rated by your users? Who has the skill and determination to sort the wheat from the chaff and execute? Unless you have the balls to believe you can out-execute your competition, you should probably think twice about running an open innovation process.
And if you are up against a company that is running an open innovation process, Dilbert has the best advice for you.
Open Innovation is not just about the ideas
So you put up a site soliciting ideas and feedback, sit back and just implement whatever comes in. Really?
Unfortunately that is plain fantasy, perhaps with a certain appeal to (a) those who don't really like dealing with people, (b) the lazy, and (c) epic procrastinators.
Opening up to your customer base and inviting them to participate in improving your products or service is not just a cheap way to downsize the R&D group.
First, it may not be that cheap, and second, you may not get many new ideas you haven't at least considered before. But done well, what you are building is a genuine relationship with your organization's most important constituents: real and potential customers. You are giving them some power over your process, engendering ownership and loyalty.
It is also not a one way street. People will soon give up on submitting new ideas and lose any warm and fuzzy feeling if it appears their suggestions just disappear into a black hole.
In other words, closing the innovation loop with feedback is critical.
It doesn't take much effort either - just commitment. Dell use a simple blog (Ideas In Action) to showcase how IdeaStorm submissions have wormed their way into actual product and service innovations at Dell. Simple and effective, and reinforces the value of participation (hopefully accelerating the innovation process in turn). Contrast the success of IdeaStorm with other innovation forums that do not have an closed-loop process (Oracle's Mix for example).
A competitor looking over the fence into your garden may be able to steal ideas, but they can't steal the community you are building, and can't replace your role in the virtuous feedback cycle.
They can however steal your business if you screw up on execution, or treat your own customers with disdain. But if that's the case, they would have crushed you whether you ran an open innovation site or not, right?
Soundtrack for this post: With A Little Help From My Friends - Joe Cocker
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