Thoughts on Innovation

I had a fun opportunity yesterday to speak on fm101 with RJ Yumna. It was an interesting conversation that touched on many topics and some common perception about the field. I was asked a few questions and below are some of the responses. The idea was to unwrap innovation for general listeners

- Innovation is not a high level code red locked up file, only for the selected few. It is a very approachable concept that we all work around in our everyday navigation from tasks to things. Trying something new with a value addition totally qualifies as an innovation

- Everything digital is not an innovation. And every problem does not require a digital solution. Often, I have been asked for design and strategy support with a very strong ask to digitize components for the client. Digitization, and technology in general are very useful tools, but they are not the one-shoe-fit-all-solution. Hence the portfolio approach 

- Innovation, also, is not the answer to every problem. I hear this word everyday more times than I can count. Overly used terms and jargons are not always effective. There is science behind design and innovation tools, that ought to be strategically customized as per the needs of the user, their behavior, context and the appetite. 

- Local issues are a result of system failure and not a conspiracy theory. A system can only generate the outcomes that it is designed for. Simple examples: when you make roads everywhere, you get cars everywhere: when you create for portals and channels, you get more communication streams and less cohesion: when you create more apps, you get more interfaces, more steps. While proposing any idea, a systemic lens is key. You put a scotch tape at one end of the leak, only increases the flow from the other side. 

- Social and civic problems solving, requires social/civic inclusivity. Having a great office with the view of the margalla does not mean you will make the best decisions. Top down approach toward problem solving, policy making, project conception and delivery does not work. Period. You have to bring people at the heart of the process, from the very get go. Work with them, explore the problems with the people who have to live those inconveniences day in and day out. This, empathy, needs to be the absolute engagement modality. And no, getting someone to come to do a workshop on design thinking does not substitute the immersive ethnographic praxis. 

- Adaptive and growth mindset wins half the battel. Pakistani people are the more resilient, smart, adaptive and innovation people. Give them any situation, any hiccup and they will find a way around it. From power shortage, to medication to indoor temperature controls to anything really. (Follow this space for lots of local innovation stories)

- Flux is a good place. Challenges are getting complex, the world is changing, so is the approach toward them. Collaboration is the key, shared ownership, shared resources, shared knowledge is the way to more forward. There is a huge space for capturing learnings and knowledge management in our local ecosystem, no better time than now to invest there. 

- Governance and innovation: match made in heaven. This is where I am most excited. Within government there is so much opportunity to bring in innovation and design thinking. Citizen facing services, knowledge management, policy making, engagement with citizens…are all areas where processes can be optimized and a more effective strategy can be executed, with an empathetic and experimental lens.