There is seldom a single heureka-moment

We sometimes hope for the moment when we just get it and we invent something truly great. We wish for the?heureka-moment.

There are lots of forces and causations at play when we invent great new services.?We cannot foresee which problem and which solution is the "right" one. Insights appear and they mix together. The world is complex and every customer has their own unique viewpoint. I sometimes think I've got it. That now I'm so right and I've found something that cuts through the complexity with a simple solution.??

The complexity of the world will throw at least a few spanners in the wheel. The picture is no longer as clear.?

There's always many ways to skin the cat. You can cut through the complexity. But it is not going to be a single clean sweep. It is a number of interlocking choices and solutions that make up the whole.??

Excellence is cumulative.?Strategy can be cumulative. It is a set of interconnected choices that fit together and amplify each other. Bit by bit, one can build a position that is unique. Product leadership is cumulative.?

Do the work. Build more novelty into interesting ideas. Nudge selected ideas into greatness.?

This writing right away brings to me a memory. It is a story by Marc Randolph – the founder of?Netfix. His story is about their realisation one day that you can ship DVDs by standard post service. "You can fit a DVD disc into a standard letter." "That just might work" they told each other. And they immediately knew what to do.??

There's more to this. The Netflix founders had been tossing around many many?ideas. Their brains were primed to notice the opportunity. They had done the work to get to a place where they recognised a great idea from the many they had created. And they had created the volume of ideas that allowed this one great idea to appear. They did the work, and then?heureka?struck.??

Then the Netflix founders rushed on and tested the idea of mailing DVDs. They went onto experimenting and de-risking their idea. And there's countless of product riddles that Netflix had to solve before they made it commercially. The single?heureka?was not nearly enough.??

PS: For TikTok users (yes, I'm one): Follow Marc Randolph there. He tells the backstories of the Netflix history. Totally fascinating. Here's the link: ?https://www.tiktok.com/@marc_randolph?lang=en