HCD Principles & Thomas Edison. Unlock Innovation with Intent

This week, I want to reflect on Thomas Edison to discuss inventions, intentions, and repeatability in value creation. Over the years, I've found ways of working and mental frameworks?that can?help product teams and founders increase the likelihood of success with product innovations. It's worth discussing how Thomas Edison and his teams unlocked so much innovation.

Let's start by talking about inventions.?Humans are natural tool builders. Inventors are a particular type of builder, often seen as eccentric or peculiar. Thomas Edison,?often?called the father of invention, created the light bulb, phonograph, motion pictures, alkaline batteries, and more! Despite his quirks, ad Dr. Pavan Soni points out, Edison embodied key innovator traits: holistic systems thinking, uninhibited by failures or others' opinions, collaboration, iterative pursuits, and working visually.

Edison's personality attributes and intellectual abilities were crucial to his success, but?intent?was even more significant. He didn't invent all his patents alone; he had a team. He set idea quotas for all his workers. They embraced experimentation to get inventions right. It took over 50,000 experiments to invent the alkaline battery and 9,000 to perfect the light bulb. By focusing their energy on the problem, keeping their eyes on the desired outcome, and not falling in love with each incremental idea, Edison and his team created a culture of intention to unleash innovation. Edison famously said,?"I have not failed; I've only found 10,000 ways that won't work."

Edison and his teams created a culture of invention with impressive repeatability in value creation. Although "Human-Centered Design Thinking" emerged later, Tim Brown of IDEO noted that Edison and his teams may have pioneered this framework. Here are ways to embrace Human-Centered Design Thinking:

• Empathy: Understanding users' needs and contexts.
• Define: Clearly articulating the problem.
• Ideate: Generating a wide range of solutions.
• Prototype: Building tangible models to test ideas.
• Test: Refining solutions based on user feedback.

Edison's approach mirrored these principles, even if not formally labeled as such. His success in creating repeatable innovation through these practices is a powerful example for anyone aiming to improve the human condition.

"Interesting story; how does this apply to us?"?This mental framework applies to designers, product managers, engineers, scientists, executives, program managers, and anyone who builds anything. Embracing human-centered design thinking helps gain clarity on intent, focus on customer needs, build experimentation into processes, and create repeatable, differentiated value.

In the age of AI, elevating our craftsmanship, critical thinking, and empathy is mission-critical. Human-centered design ensures AI-enabled solutions remain intuitive, trustworthy, and valuable.

Able?is working?with startups, mid-market growth companies, VCs, and PEs to help unlock innovation using Human-Centered Design for product strategy, product discovery, product validation, and?in our end-to-end software development partnerships.

How could you use these principles and?ways of working?to focus on intent and invent a better future??