Sideways Ideas

Amongst the hustle and bustle of a busy Thanksgiving weekend I found myself with some free time (somehow!) on Black Friday. Due to naps and shopping the 12 people who had taken up residence at my parent's house were all busy or otherwise occupied. Taking advantage of this I grabbed a beer, my trusty bluetooth speaker and headed to their hot tub (The suburbs aren't always awful!)

Due to some weird echoes in our neighborhood I decided to not broadcast the gory sci-fi book I was listening to (Book II of Red Rising) for fear of forcibly subjecting any children in the area to the graphic book. I opted for one of my favorite podcasts, Reid Hoffman's Masters of Scale. If you're not familiar, Reid (co-founder of LinkedIn) talks to startup founders about how to properly scale businesses like Instagram and Netflix from a couple people with an idea to giant billion-dollar organizations. It's chocked full of great business advice, even if you are just an IT guy at a ~90-year-old construction company and I would highly recommend it.

The episode I fired up and forced anyone in a nearby backyard to listen to was Episode #12 with Diane Green, co-founder of VMware. Diane and Reid talk about having a vision, starting a software virtualization company during the dot-com boom (Software is dead!) and the importance of processing "Sideways ideas." This quote from Reid hit home:

" Quiet conversations among colleagues are critical for any idea that comes to you sideways."

My team and I aren't building the next Netflix, we're not working toward an IPO and hoping Facebook acquires us, but this quote applies so well to our team and our process. So many of our ideas stem from "I was out walking my dog" or "On the way in I was thinking" and turn into quick hallway meetings that can turn into innovation. The importance of having solid company culture that encourages cooperation and free thinking is crucial to the success of any team, not just tech teams. I know I can bounce ideas off of my boss or other team members without fear of them trying to steal credit or sugar coating a potentially terrible idea.

Having people around you that you can freely bounce sideways or "crazy" ideas off of is what drives innovation. I might have an idea that I think is amazing and my co-worker will point out an obvious flaw I missed, or someone will have an idea they think is terrible and someone else will point out the benefit that the original idea-haver missed. Sure, there are ideas that are all-around bad and waste the team's time in vetting them, but that time-cost is nothing compared to the time + innovation created by bouncing sideways ideas off of one another.

And in order to have these quiet conversations, you need to cultivate a community culture that allows it. That's why it's so important to hire for culture (Another Master of Scale podcast on that here) vs. only hiring on ability. It's something to consider while interviewing candidates as well: "Is this someone I can bounce sideways ideas off of and will they contribute their own?" It is so important to create an environment in your team where anyone feels they can freely contribute ideas. Innovation drives the business forward, and without forward momentum the business will fall stagnant. So the next time an idea hits you out of nowhere, bounce it off your co-workers and see what they think, as it might be your next big innovation.