Wake up Tech Giants

It is amazing to me how easily we can be trapped by dogma and how hard it is to see or even break this.

It seems that the bigger we grow, the bigger we can be blinded by ourselves.

20 years ago we did something different, now we are at the top of the leader board, but while we are comfortable and everyone is playing catchup, all of our friends may have moved on to a different board game . . . or perhaps even grown up.

I remember once, Microsoft had invited me as well as many business owners to an event showcasing their latest creation "Windows 8"

Microsoft was in stale water and had decided to make some radical changes. They started asking random people what they wanted to see in Windows. By the time the beta testers were protesting, it was too late. It was the first time I saw the presenter run off of the stage and head straight to the back exit!

Microsoft had amalgamated this highly filtered random market data and rolled it into some product with minimal thought to philosophy, fueled by the pure influence of pleasing the shareholders.

However, rather than this risk paying off, it backfired!

Why?

Because it did not fit into what the market needed in the present or future.

There was no rhythm, there was no rhyme, it didn't fit into harmonious accord with any other product in the market, and the user interface was offensive.

Just because the market may want something, does not mean it will need it, or even have a budget for it.

This could only be what I imagined Microsoft's research was like:

1. MS Researcher: Hey Market, would everyone like a private cook?

2. Market: Sure

3. MS Researcher: Great tell them to invest 300 Million in training cooks.

And while we're at it ...

Q: How does a Microsoft developer change a lightbulb?

A: They don't they just redefine darkness as the new standard.

How do I think market research should be done? Certainly not from a highrise in the fanciest office building in New York.

1. Progressive Researcher: Hey Mike, I like what you guys are doing here. do you mind telling me about yourself and the fascinating work you do over tea? My treat . . .

2. Mike: Sure

3. Progressive Researcher: Thanks Mike, Its been a pleasure, you really opened up my eyes to some of the struggles you face today. 

                       Back at the office:

Progressive Researcher: I met Mike today, fascinating fellow. I think that technology "X" can be implemented in this way to eliminate and reduce his workload by half? and there you have it BAM, innovation!

In order to move forward, we need to think in terms of tearing everything down and starting again. In that chaos, we might achieve or discover something great. 

It is the old discussion of the iPhone vs Android:

The market demands the best, high numbers, high speed, freedom to be wild, no restrictions ... right?

The market may want a phone with the CPU that's on a diamond substrate and operates at 300 GHz, has absolutely no need for non-volatile memory, and is a purely flash based system that operates on one mW of power supplied by the body and atmospheric changes and uses quantum entanglement to connect their phone to the network with zero latency and unlimited bandwidth.

Should we be designing a hotrod from the future?

Most tasks on a smartphone occupy only a fraction of the phone's power. Let's focus on the user experience. Let's focus on making people happy by connecting them, and helping them solve problems.

I can FaceTime my grandma, without having to show her how to install some obscure app. Some obscure app that may or may not be "compatible running on her revision of Android," or worse some all in one app that will change and take over her whole messaging interface like so many of the Google products seem to love to do.

It's the same discussion of the command line

Old school UNIX techs are fans of the command interface. The number one reason is that they can get things done faster and more efficiently at the command line. 

Many people see this as a success for the command line. I too use it the command line.

What most people don't see is our failure to develop better visual tools. customers don't need or want a command line!

Customers are real people like you and me.

• Do you really know your customer?
• Do you know what they face daily?
• Do you know their capabilities and capacities?
• Do you know their struggle?

Does the company creative guru advising you fast, no food what so ever for 4 1/2 days, to break their reality filters and see the truth, or is this just an hourly job for them?

Has your creative guru read books like Mushashi's book of 5 rings, Sun Tzu the art of war, Plato's Republic?

Does your creative guru personally know any living legends in the industry that respect them?

Do you even have a creative design guru or do you expect some engineer or tech to tell you what is needed?

?You know . . . It is a job for an artist, an inventor not a tech.

• Why do we believe what we believe?
• Are those beliefs accurate?
• What if we were starting everything from scratch today?

Once we start asking these questions, then and only then, can we start to see the future!

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