One on One with Sarah Nelson and MX Speaker Scott Berkun
In the following interview highlights, Adaptive Path design strategist Sarah Nelson talks to author, software industry veteran, and MX closing speaker Scott Berkun about the struggles of innovation, the emotional risks of creativity, and his latest book, The Myths of Innovation. (For the rest of the story, read the full interview.)
Sarah Nelson: I have Scott Berkun here with me today, and we’re going to talk about his upcoming book. But first: Scott, could you give us a little bit of a background and tell us about yourself?
Scott Berkun: Sure. So, my background’s in computer science and design. I went to Carnegie Mellon University. I was a computer science major there, but I also learned very quickly that I was not going to be a great programmer, so I studied user interface design before I left. I got hired at Microsoft in ‘94, and I worked as a usability engineer and as a program manager on Internet Explorer. I did that for maybe five or six years. I did all kinds of management stuff: Led software development, wrote specs, made decisions, treated all its bugs. I left Microsoft in about 2003 to write books, and my first book was called The Art of Project Management, which was published by O’Reilly in 2005. That book did really well, so well that they were willing to let me write another book, called The Myths of Innovation, which is what I’m talking to you about today.
SN: One of the things I’ve been wondering about is the idea of “source of innovation” within a company. Do you think it’s actually possible to create an environment in which innovation occurs?
SB: Oh, that’s a really good question. I think that you can create an environment, and it’s very simple. I think that whoever has power over a budget, and whoever has power over what features are included in a product or go up on the website, they enable innovation by saying “yes.” That’s really the fundamental thing that they have to be willing to do. When someone shows up with an idea — “Hey, why don’t we change the navigation system from this older design to this new design I’ve been thinking of? Can I get some money to go and prototype this?”— all that has to happen is the person with power says, “Yes, I will give you a week to go and prototype that and we will review it when you have the prototype, and then we’ll consider actually making those changes.” And once everyone witnesses the person in power saying “yes” to a new idea, then they’ll be comfortable bringing another idea, or a third idea. And then all of a sudden, you have an environment that is very receptive to new ideas and innovations, as opposed to the more common complaints about environments, where new ideas are like wanted men: They’re shot down pretty quickly.
SN: What types of things do you think that designers, or anyone who finds themselves charged with innovating or developing a new idea, can do to encourage the person in power to say “yes”?
SB: Blackmail’s good. Stealing their cat and putting it up for ransom. All those things are time-tested. The person in power has some set of motivations or some set of goals, and you have to understand what those are and then cast your idea, or filter through all the ideas that you’re thinking of and pick the ones that are most inline with the boss’s interests or goals. And then you can walk into the room and say, “Hey, you’re working on goal number five. Well, I’ve got this great idea that might help us deliver on goal number five.” And then the context of the conversation isn’t how cool your idea is, or how much you want to prove yourself as an innovator, the context from the boss’s perspective is, “Oh, one of the people on my team is trying to help me solve one of my goals. Okay, I’ll have this conversation. Okay, I can find a budget for that.” And now it’s in a context that is much more palatable. That’s a simple technique and you can find all kinds of stories of people who have crazy ideas, but they’re very careful to pitch them in ways that don’t sound so crazy.
SN: Right. Now here’s another question just about organizational structure. One of the posts I read on your blog was about “VPs of Innovation,” and the development of groups that are specifically charged with “being innovative.” Are these kinds of groups successful?
SB: First I have to say that there’s no 100% wrong way or right way to do any of this stuff. So, there are VPs of Innovation who probably do fantastic jobs, and there are groups that are charted with innovation — innovation task forces or whatever — that actually provide value to their companies by coming up with great ideas and delivering on them. And that’s great. But according to most of the experiences that I’ve come into contact with, or stories that I’ve heard, as soon as you label something as innovative, or label one person or one group as the creative nexus of the universe, you set yourself up for all kinds of problems that are avoidable. If we have two teams and both teams think they’re smart, and the CEO goes to team A and says, in front of the whole company, “Hey, you guys are now the innovation team,” what is team B going to think? Team B is going to have some sort of negative response. Also by setting up this nexus, this focal point of innovation, it creates a whole bunch of mixed messages that are difficult to manage. For instance, how is this group supposed to interact with the rest of the company, or the organization, or even within the group? So, I’m not a fan of that kind of innovation and isolation. I think labeling a team or a person in that way is usually a mistake. On the other hand, I think that picking a project that is going to try out new things or have a new set of goals, or new approach with a different set of rules, and piloting that and allowing it to develop on its on, away from the rest of the group, that’s fine. But I would never call that an “Innovation Team.” I would never give that group a name that would communicate to the rest of the company that I didn’t expect them to be innovative, too. I wouldn’t like it if my mom came over and told me, “In this household, your brother is the innovative kid, so you have to do all the ordinary things.”
SN: It seems that emotions play a big part in a group’s success.
SB: How could it not — what’s more emotional than creation? It’s one of the most personal things that people deal with, especially if they are working in the tech sector, or working in a competitive industry where people are expected to work really hard and put a lot of their psychological energy into what they’re doing. Of course emotional aspects come into play. And I think leading a team that’s trying to innovate means providing a safe place for those emotional investments to take place. And also protecting the people who are taking all these personal risks, putting two months of their lives into proposals that are radical or have a high chance of not being accepted. The manager has to not only make you feel comfortable investing in those sorts of efforts, but protect those investments and make sure people are coached, and mentored, and guided, and respected in the investments that they make. That’s the stuff that very rarely gets talked about, certainly not in the tech sector: The emotional life of an innovator. It’s probably a good topic for another book or something.
The UX Intensive in Chicago, April 23-26: Register Today!
Adaptive Path’s new UX Intensive is a four-day workshop that examines the essential elements that go into creating successful interactive experiences. Key topics include design strategy, user research, interaction design and information architecture, all tied together with a broader discussion about how these factors fit together. Sign up for the full four-day package, or mix and match a combo of favorites. Seats are already filling up fast, so hop to it!
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Friday, March 2, 6:30 PM at 363 Brannan Street, San Francisco.
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