As I wrote predictions 2009 post here
The Last of 2008's Black Swan was happening here in India. The fourth largest (if you dont include Cognizant) IT Services in India Satyam has gone to such depth that rising from it may take more than 2009!
Is this the possible fate of other IT Services companies in 2009! Or something very similar.
Well Black Swans are a plenty in 2008.
We still have a day left in 2008!
May be tomorrow will turn the new Black Swan!
My Book on Strategic Decision Making
Applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Inventing a New 2009
Given the 2008 that we are leaving behind - we need to Invent a New 2009!
Invent a 2009 where, we focus more on learning as a means to live
Invent a 2009 where, we focus more on working with each other
Invent a 2009 where, we focus more on means rather than the quick wins (the low hanging fruits they say)
Invent a 2009 where, we look at Work as Joy!
Invent a 2009 where, we invent ourselves continuously
Invent a 2009 where, we celebrate life more and more every passing day
Invent a 2009 where, we are honest to our inner heart more than anyone else
Invent a 2009 where, we tolerate more and nourish actions
Invent a 2009 where, we solve more problems rather than create more problems
Invent a 2009 where, we rejoice failures and contemplate success
Invent a 2009, where, we become more human!
Invent a 2009 where, we focus more on learning as a means to live
Invent a 2009 where, we focus more on working with each other
Invent a 2009 where, we focus more on means rather than the quick wins (the low hanging fruits they say)
Invent a 2009 where, we look at Work as Joy!
Invent a 2009 where, we invent ourselves continuously
Invent a 2009 where, we celebrate life more and more every passing day
Invent a 2009 where, we are honest to our inner heart more than anyone else
Invent a 2009 where, we tolerate more and nourish actions
Invent a 2009 where, we solve more problems rather than create more problems
Invent a 2009 where, we rejoice failures and contemplate success
Invent a 2009, where, we become more human!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
TRIZ Becomes Mainstream!
When Steve Hamm writes about TRIZ at Businessweek it becomes Mainstream!
Please find the article here.
More than the article it is the specific reader comments which caught my eye
I just quote one, "TRIZ is nothing but a rehash of ideas and methods that have existed since the industrial revolution.Thomas Edison,Bell Labs, and numerious well run companies used the same methods (albiet, not in a fancy package). Same with Six Sigma."
Even if above is true, TRIZ I have found is much more powerful than any other "BOX" to structure inventiveness of human minds together!
As my friend from Altshuller Institute Richard Langevin comments at the article "TRIZ is a powerful methodology for the identification of numerous solution concepts for difficult problems. It is also food for the mind that will open your eyes to the opportunities for resolving conflict in many kinds of systems and forecasting future systems. TRIZ is the best kept secret in the world."
It is a secret indeed - as doing it requires very hard work initially - which the fast mover superficial minds of the western world have a bigger problem. The "Not Invented Here" is another reason why TRIZ is taking time to proliferate. Had it been an American Process - by now whole world would have gone through multi-rounds of mass hysteria! Well - Looks like TRIZ sells slow and on its own power!
So Full Steam ahead on using TRIZ type philosophies to create a new world of continuous innovation!
Please find the article here.
More than the article it is the specific reader comments which caught my eye
I just quote one, "TRIZ is nothing but a rehash of ideas and methods that have existed since the industrial revolution.Thomas Edison,Bell Labs, and numerious well run companies used the same methods (albiet, not in a fancy package). Same with Six Sigma."
Even if above is true, TRIZ I have found is much more powerful than any other "BOX" to structure inventiveness of human minds together!
As my friend from Altshuller Institute Richard Langevin comments at the article "TRIZ is a powerful methodology for the identification of numerous solution concepts for difficult problems. It is also food for the mind that will open your eyes to the opportunities for resolving conflict in many kinds of systems and forecasting future systems. TRIZ is the best kept secret in the world."
It is a secret indeed - as doing it requires very hard work initially - which the fast mover superficial minds of the western world have a bigger problem. The "Not Invented Here" is another reason why TRIZ is taking time to proliferate. Had it been an American Process - by now whole world would have gone through multi-rounds of mass hysteria! Well - Looks like TRIZ sells slow and on its own power!
So Full Steam ahead on using TRIZ type philosophies to create a new world of continuous innovation!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
LIST Workshop at TRIZCON 2009
TRIZCON 2009 to be held in March 2009 in US, will also be hosting a workshop to be conducted by Crafitti Consulting on Lean Inventive Systems Thinking.
Navneet Bhushan
Post Graduate Diploma in IPR (NLSIU, Bangalore), Diploma Patent Information (The Netherlands), M.Tech (Computer Science & Engg) IIT Madras, M.Sc (Software Science) Allahabad University, B.Sc (Hons.) Physics (Delhi University)
Navneet Bhushan (Navneet) is a founder director of CRAFITTI CONSULTING (www.crafitti.com) – an Innovation and Intellectual Property Consulting firm focused on imbibing Lean, Inventive and systems thinking to co-craft Innovation in global enterprises.
Navneet has close to two decades of experience in the fields of Defense Research, Information Technology, Intellectual Property and Management Research. He is a leading expert, researcher and consultant on Innovation Management and has built a variety of frameworks, methodologies and techniques to craft innovation in business and technology contexts.
He has authored more than 40 technical research papers and an invited speaker at various International and National Journals, Trade Magazines and Conferences. He is the principal author of Strategic Decision Making- Applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process published by Springer-Verlag, UK, as part of the Decision Engineering Series and featured at the Harvard Business School.
Navneet Blogs at http://innovationcrafting.blogspot.com
Karthikeyan Iyer
Pursuing Post Graduate Diploma in IPR (NLSIU, Bangalore), Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from Mumbai University, India
Karthikeyan (Karthik) Iyer is a founder-director of Crafitti Consulting, an innovation and strategy Consulting firm focused on facilitating Lean and inventive and systems thinking to co-craft innovation in global enterprises.
He has close to a decade of experience in the IT industry and over the past several years has consulted on innovation in processes, product strategy, technology, intellectual property and organizational innovation capability. Several of his articles on innovation and strategy have been published in leading online journals.
His current areas of interest include innovation culture and chaos theory, open innovation, inventive principles and technology evolution trends. Karthik is currently pursuing his post-graduate diploma in IPR (National Law School India University, India); he has a Bachelor's degree in computer engineering from Mumbai University, India. Karthik blogs at http://kartzpot.blogspot.com.
For those interested the details for registration and other information are available at Attending LIST Workshop at TRIZCON 2009
LEAN INVENTIVE SYSTEMS THINKING (LIST) framework with applications in Ultra Large Scale Systems Design, Services Design and Software Design
The globe is being re-engineered rapidly. Our businesses of today are not what they used to be even a decade back. Our existing methods of thinking – based on analytic and logical methods developed over last couple of centuries are suddenly looking in-effective in the new world of increasing globalization, increasing complexity and unprecedented pace. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the growing field of service and software design and innovation. Further, we are increasingly looking at the needs for designing Ultra Large Scale Systems.
In this context, Lean Inventive Systems Thinking (LIST) framework brings three key thinking dimensions –Lean Thinking, Inventive thinking and Systems Thinking to invigorate innovation in the design process. These three thinking dimensions integrate symbiotically with the dimensions of analytical thinking and logical thinking that has helped mankind succeed in the last few centuries.
The LIST framework holistically looks at needs, functions, structure and behavior of systems under an overall set-based evolutionary approach to design and includes the following elements:
Value Streams and Value Nets as a means to decode the concept of value
Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) to bring holistic systems thinking and inventive triggers to create novel ideas,
Set-based concurrent engineering (SBCE) approach to the process of design
Dependency Structure Matrix (DSM) as a tool and approach to understand relationships and dependencies,
Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to facilitate complex decisions in multiple-criteria scenarios
The workshop will lead the participants through the elements of the framework using a “learning-by-doing” approach. The three main application areas – Ultra Large Scale Systems, Innovative Services and Software architecture and design will be explored during the workshop.
Navneet Bhushan
Post Graduate Diploma in IPR (NLSIU, Bangalore), Diploma Patent Information (The Netherlands), M.Tech (Computer Science & Engg) IIT Madras, M.Sc (Software Science) Allahabad University, B.Sc (Hons.) Physics (Delhi University)
Navneet Bhushan (Navneet) is a founder director of CRAFITTI CONSULTING (www.crafitti.com) – an Innovation and Intellectual Property Consulting firm focused on imbibing Lean, Inventive and systems thinking to co-craft Innovation in global enterprises.
Navneet has close to two decades of experience in the fields of Defense Research, Information Technology, Intellectual Property and Management Research. He is a leading expert, researcher and consultant on Innovation Management and has built a variety of frameworks, methodologies and techniques to craft innovation in business and technology contexts.
He has authored more than 40 technical research papers and an invited speaker at various International and National Journals, Trade Magazines and Conferences. He is the principal author of Strategic Decision Making- Applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process published by Springer-Verlag, UK, as part of the Decision Engineering Series and featured at the Harvard Business School.
Navneet Blogs at http://innovationcrafting.blogspot.com
Karthikeyan Iyer
Pursuing Post Graduate Diploma in IPR (NLSIU, Bangalore), Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from Mumbai University, India
Karthikeyan (Karthik) Iyer is a founder-director of Crafitti Consulting, an innovation and strategy Consulting firm focused on facilitating Lean and inventive and systems thinking to co-craft innovation in global enterprises.
He has close to a decade of experience in the IT industry and over the past several years has consulted on innovation in processes, product strategy, technology, intellectual property and organizational innovation capability. Several of his articles on innovation and strategy have been published in leading online journals.
His current areas of interest include innovation culture and chaos theory, open innovation, inventive principles and technology evolution trends. Karthik is currently pursuing his post-graduate diploma in IPR (National Law School India University, India); he has a Bachelor's degree in computer engineering from Mumbai University, India. Karthik blogs at http://kartzpot.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Puppets of Chemistry
Where is the free Will
Where is the so called Mind
Where is the so called Body
- We all are really the Puppets of Chemistry!
Where is the so called Mind
Where is the so called Body
- We all are really the Puppets of Chemistry!
Predictions 2009
December is the month of predictions - for next year! This is a great pass-time of many analysts and futurists and in general everyone!
Last year in December 2007 - I looked at the some of the predictions at my post here
and asked a question can we find any black swan in those predictions - and as we have seen 2008 played out rather differently -
1. Greed of the Rich (in US) creating a ripple impact of eliminating Trillions of Dollars from the markets (what the hell was sub-prime crisis)
2. Most momentus year in which 100 and 150 years old financial institutions vanished from the face of earth.
3. US Government - started behaving Like the socialist govenment of USSR to save the Automotive Giants in Detroit - from their own greed! (Is it possible?)
4. Mumbai attacked in the most outrageous terrorist attacks on India from across the border and BBC calls them "Gunmen"!
5. Bush "Shoe-gated" in Iraq - in what could be the most iconic feedback to the US and west about what people really think about their continuous greed for OIL!
- It is not over 2008
- we still have a fortnight left - and there might the biggest Black -Swan Lurking somewhere - will it be in this year - anyway 2009 will bring its own black swans!
Last year in December 2007 - I looked at the some of the predictions at my post here
and asked a question can we find any black swan in those predictions - and as we have seen 2008 played out rather differently -
1. Greed of the Rich (in US) creating a ripple impact of eliminating Trillions of Dollars from the markets (what the hell was sub-prime crisis)
2. Most momentus year in which 100 and 150 years old financial institutions vanished from the face of earth.
3. US Government - started behaving Like the socialist govenment of USSR to save the Automotive Giants in Detroit - from their own greed! (Is it possible?)
4. Mumbai attacked in the most outrageous terrorist attacks on India from across the border and BBC calls them "Gunmen"!
5. Bush "Shoe-gated" in Iraq - in what could be the most iconic feedback to the US and west about what people really think about their continuous greed for OIL!
- It is not over 2008
- we still have a fortnight left - and there might the biggest Black -Swan Lurking somewhere - will it be in this year - anyway 2009 will bring its own black swans!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Screw your Employees - The strategy for screwed-up times
My friend Sunil writes a very nice blog the recent post is very nice to read -
I like to give the following title to his post
In Screwed-up Times strategy should be to Screw your employees -
Sunil gives the action plan as well -
Screw your employees as they are 80% of the operation cost for IT companies..they have nowhere else to go! (Apologies for being rude but I think it is more effective to use strong words)
a. Put them in any project any technology...throw them into the first available project....if they dont survive fire them
b. If your employees ask for change or roll off from engagement lower their performance rating
c. reduce their salaries
These are the strategies especially for IT companies.
I think for others - the advise would be same!
I like to give the following title to his post
In Screwed-up Times strategy should be to Screw your employees -
Sunil gives the action plan as well -
Screw your employees as they are 80% of the operation cost for IT companies..they have nowhere else to go! (Apologies for being rude but I think it is more effective to use strong words)
a. Put them in any project any technology...throw them into the first available project....if they dont survive fire them
b. If your employees ask for change or roll off from engagement lower their performance rating
c. reduce their salaries
These are the strategies especially for IT companies.
I think for others - the advise would be same!
Innovation is Power!
Innovation (and not knowledge) is Power
This may look cliched - Really thinking about Power - power, I wrote in a paper in 1998 which became a chapter in my book Strategic Decision Making , is the ability to change something from its current situation and if you know Innovation is also about change
I think Innovation is Power is the right Equation!
What say you, dear reader?
This may look cliched - Really thinking about Power - power, I wrote in a paper in 1998 which became a chapter in my book Strategic Decision Making , is the ability to change something from its current situation and if you know Innovation is also about change
I think Innovation is Power is the right Equation!
What say you, dear reader?
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Classification of Social Networks
Searching for any papers or taxonomy on classification of Social Networks.
Could not find any - or what we need!
Hence had to create our own classification - Let us see how it goes!
Will share later! If readers have any pointers - will appreciate!
Could not find any - or what we need!
Hence had to create our own classification - Let us see how it goes!
Will share later! If readers have any pointers - will appreciate!
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
The Network is the Innovator
Collaboration Rules by Philip Evans and Bob Wolf in HBR July-Aug 2005 compares Linux (the open source community) and Toyota Production System to find remarkable similarities between these two organization systems. Salient quotes below:
1. "Monetory Carrots and accountability sticks motivate people to perform narrow specified tasks. Admiration and applause are far more effective stimulants of above-and-beyond behaviour"
2. "The Network is the Innovator"
3. "Leading is not treated as a discipline distinct from doing"
4. "Trust is a viable substitute for market contracts and hierarchical authority"
1. "Monetory Carrots and accountability sticks motivate people to perform narrow specified tasks. Admiration and applause are far more effective stimulants of above-and-beyond behaviour"
2. "The Network is the Innovator"
3. "Leading is not treated as a discipline distinct from doing"
4. "Trust is a viable substitute for market contracts and hierarchical authority"
Sunday, December 07, 2008
The Mistakes General Motors Made
The article in NY times explains it. The mistakes made by General Motors
The article states three mistakes - agreeing to expensive union contracts, not investing enough in smaller cars and failing to convert its plants so they could build more than one type of vehicle.
The Biggest Mistake as pointed out in the article was, "G.M.’s biggest failing, reflected in a clear pattern over recent decades, has been its inability to strike a balance between those inside the company who pushed for innovation ahead of the curve, and the finance executives who worried more about returns on investment."
If you hand over your company to accountants - be sure this is what you will get! It is imperative that you build your own dreams together -rather than helping accountants get their ROI formulas working and killing innovation!
The article states three mistakes - agreeing to expensive union contracts, not investing enough in smaller cars and failing to convert its plants so they could build more than one type of vehicle.
The Biggest Mistake as pointed out in the article was, "G.M.’s biggest failing, reflected in a clear pattern over recent decades, has been its inability to strike a balance between those inside the company who pushed for innovation ahead of the curve, and the finance executives who worried more about returns on investment."
If you hand over your company to accountants - be sure this is what you will get! It is imperative that you build your own dreams together -rather than helping accountants get their ROI formulas working and killing innovation!
Eigen Value Centrality, Social Network Analysis, Happiness and System Architecture
The recent study on dynamical spread of happiness in social networks uses the Eigen Value Centrality. I would like to quote the relevant portion from the paper
Figure 1 also suggests a relation between network centrality and happiness: people at the core of their local networks seem more likely to be happy, while those on the periphery seem more likely to be unhappy. We tested this by computing eigenvector centrality measures for each subject. Generalised estimating equation regressions show that ego centrality is significantly associated with improved future happiness: a 2 SD increase in centrality (from low to medium or medium to high) increases the probability of being happy at the next examination by 14% (1% to 29%, P=0.03). Moreover, the relation between centrality and future happiness remained significant even when we controlled for age, education, and the total number of family and non-family alters. Thus, it is not only the number of direct ties (at one degree of separation) but also the number of indirect ties (at higher degrees of separation) that influence future happiness. The better connected are one’s friends and family, the more likely one will attain happiness in the future. Conversely, happiness itself does not increase a person’s centrality at subsequent time points (see appendix on bmj.com). That is, network centrality leads to happiness rather than the other way around.
Interestingly I have used eigen value centrality to computer system complexity and distribution of complexity in large scale software systems ( Please see a case study published in TRIZ JOURNAL). This framework called System Complexity Estimator and System Change Impact Model (SCE-SCIM) has proved extremely potent.
Unfortunately the eigen value centrality is not easily understood by business world - Well if you need to know - send me an email ... I shall be able to help you in applying this for various applications!
Figure 1 also suggests a relation between network centrality and happiness: people at the core of their local networks seem more likely to be happy, while those on the periphery seem more likely to be unhappy. We tested this by computing eigenvector centrality measures for each subject. Generalised estimating equation regressions show that ego centrality is significantly associated with improved future happiness: a 2 SD increase in centrality (from low to medium or medium to high) increases the probability of being happy at the next examination by 14% (1% to 29%, P=0.03). Moreover, the relation between centrality and future happiness remained significant even when we controlled for age, education, and the total number of family and non-family alters. Thus, it is not only the number of direct ties (at one degree of separation) but also the number of indirect ties (at higher degrees of separation) that influence future happiness. The better connected are one’s friends and family, the more likely one will attain happiness in the future. Conversely, happiness itself does not increase a person’s centrality at subsequent time points (see appendix on bmj.com). That is, network centrality leads to happiness rather than the other way around.
Interestingly I have used eigen value centrality to computer system complexity and distribution of complexity in large scale software systems ( Please see a case study published in TRIZ JOURNAL). This framework called System Complexity Estimator and System Change Impact Model (SCE-SCIM) has proved extremely potent.
Unfortunately the eigen value centrality is not easily understood by business world - Well if you need to know - send me an email ... I shall be able to help you in applying this for various applications!
Idea Crafting - Crafitti Workshops
We have started offering IDEA CRAFTING Framework for large global organizations from Crafitti.
IDEAS are those thoughts that bring in the genesis of change – many times fundamental. These are thoughts that one doesn’t get in regular run-of-the-mill thinking.
IDEAS can happen serendipitously in human mind. They can happen at any time. They can be fleeting glimpses of problem solutions, can be dreams of possible new opportunities, can be new design structures or simply new experiences.
IDEAS doesn’t happen just like that. They come to prepared minds. Only prepared minds can transform these thoughts into change. It requires an ability to generate and execute at the same time.
IDEAS need to be crafted through orchestrated immersion. Contrary to popular belief of organization having lots of ideas and it is all about execution, our experiences show ideas need to be crafted through orchestrated immersion of minds that work inside and with the enterprises.
Idea Crafting framework help us work with large enterprises in generating ideas that become the genesis of change for the enterprises
IDEAS are those thoughts that bring in the genesis of change – many times fundamental. These are thoughts that one doesn’t get in regular run-of-the-mill thinking.
IDEAS can happen serendipitously in human mind. They can happen at any time. They can be fleeting glimpses of problem solutions, can be dreams of possible new opportunities, can be new design structures or simply new experiences.
IDEAS doesn’t happen just like that. They come to prepared minds. Only prepared minds can transform these thoughts into change. It requires an ability to generate and execute at the same time.
IDEAS need to be crafted through orchestrated immersion. Contrary to popular belief of organization having lots of ideas and it is all about execution, our experiences show ideas need to be crafted through orchestrated immersion of minds that work inside and with the enterprises.
Idea Crafting framework help us work with large enterprises in generating ideas that become the genesis of change for the enterprises
Saturday, December 06, 2008
The Butcher - Movie by Arun Bose
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-UR5-MTHAM
The above link points to a movie by my friend Arun Bose. The movie is titled The Butcher.
He explains the genesis and reason for this movie on this blog as well.
The above link points to a movie by my friend Arun Bose. The movie is titled The Butcher.
He explains the genesis and reason for this movie on this blog as well.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
A Couplet - for our Nation
{Original in Hindi}
Andhere
Had andheron ki kuch to
Hui hogi kam,
Humne yun hi nahi
Dil jalaye apne!
(translated in English)
Darkness
The borders of darkness
Must have been reduced somewhat,
We haven’t burnt our heart
Just in vain!
Andhere
Had andheron ki kuch to
Hui hogi kam,
Humne yun hi nahi
Dil jalaye apne!
(translated in English)
Darkness
The borders of darkness
Must have been reduced somewhat,
We haven’t burnt our heart
Just in vain!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
DIXGLEACK for GIXBang World
In the Globalizing Innovation compleXity (GIXBang) world, what are the dimensions that enterprises - large and small need to focus on? Before we explore this question, let me explain the GIXBang world as I characterized it sometime back at this post
I think - GIX will change the actors and the rules will be defined and created as the GIX Bang move faster and faster. So all those actors who want to follow command and control and want to control GIX Perestroika and GIX Glasnost (remember Gorbachev in late 1980s) - should really understand the GIXBang - it is all about co-creation. If you are not co-creating, you are out!
What should Enterprises focus on in the GIXBang World?
The DIXGLEACK Model gives nine dimensions or pillars for crafting success in the GIXBang World. These dimensions are:
1. Decision Making: How does the enterprise make decisions at all levels? This is not a trivial question. Despite the centuries of work, it is not known. In fact, typically this is not studied. Understand how decisions are made and create a continuous improvement capability to make decisions at all levels of the enterprise. Decisions need to be Engineered!
2. Innovation: How does the enterprise innovates? This is also a non-trivial question. Innovation need to be crafted at all levels of the enterprise.
3. compleXity: How does the enterprise embrace complexity? Does the enterprise optimize complexity at all levels? compleXity need to be Embraced?
4. Globalization: How does the enterprise explore its globalization and how does the enterprise experiment with globalization? The pace at which globalization need to happen should be balanced. Globalization need to be Explored and Experimented with?
5. Learning: How does the enterpise design Learning at all levels. Traditionally enterprises are not designed to learn. Learning requires relaxed alterness, experience immersion, active processing of experiences. Learning need to be designed in the enterprise.
6. Entropy: Meaure of disorder is enterprise entropy. How to utilize entropy rather than demolish enterprise structure is a question that needs to be answered through continuous exploration. Entropy need to be utlized for ideation and exploration.
7. Adaptability: How does the enterprise adapts to change. As we know the best way to adapt to change is to create it. Still there are extreneous factors that need to be understood as change is part of evolution anyway. Adapability should be the inherent mindset of the enterprise.
8. Customer Value: The most important reason that enterprise exists is that it has customers. What value it is delivering and how to continuously enhance the value should be paramount for the enterprise. Everything else is part of delivering value.
9. Knowledge: This is such a cliched area that what knowledge managers does for the enterprise as of now, need to be relooked. It is about ignorance realization. The more you know, more you know how less you know, is the vicious circle of knowledge. Knowledge should be based on Continuous Ignorance Exploration.
I think - GIX will change the actors and the rules will be defined and created as the GIX Bang move faster and faster. So all those actors who want to follow command and control and want to control GIX Perestroika and GIX Glasnost (remember Gorbachev in late 1980s) - should really understand the GIXBang - it is all about co-creation. If you are not co-creating, you are out!
What should Enterprises focus on in the GIXBang World?
The DIXGLEACK Model gives nine dimensions or pillars for crafting success in the GIXBang World. These dimensions are:
1. Decision Making: How does the enterprise make decisions at all levels? This is not a trivial question. Despite the centuries of work, it is not known. In fact, typically this is not studied. Understand how decisions are made and create a continuous improvement capability to make decisions at all levels of the enterprise. Decisions need to be Engineered!
2. Innovation: How does the enterprise innovates? This is also a non-trivial question. Innovation need to be crafted at all levels of the enterprise.
3. compleXity: How does the enterprise embrace complexity? Does the enterprise optimize complexity at all levels? compleXity need to be Embraced?
4. Globalization: How does the enterprise explore its globalization and how does the enterprise experiment with globalization? The pace at which globalization need to happen should be balanced. Globalization need to be Explored and Experimented with?
5. Learning: How does the enterpise design Learning at all levels. Traditionally enterprises are not designed to learn. Learning requires relaxed alterness, experience immersion, active processing of experiences. Learning need to be designed in the enterprise.
6. Entropy: Meaure of disorder is enterprise entropy. How to utilize entropy rather than demolish enterprise structure is a question that needs to be answered through continuous exploration. Entropy need to be utlized for ideation and exploration.
7. Adaptability: How does the enterprise adapts to change. As we know the best way to adapt to change is to create it. Still there are extreneous factors that need to be understood as change is part of evolution anyway. Adapability should be the inherent mindset of the enterprise.
8. Customer Value: The most important reason that enterprise exists is that it has customers. What value it is delivering and how to continuously enhance the value should be paramount for the enterprise. Everything else is part of delivering value.
9. Knowledge: This is such a cliched area that what knowledge managers does for the enterprise as of now, need to be relooked. It is about ignorance realization. The more you know, more you know how less you know, is the vicious circle of knowledge. Knowledge should be based on Continuous Ignorance Exploration.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Making India Happen
The Question to Ask is
" How to Make India Happen" -
If the world has to progress or may be continue to exist - it is becoming clear - India has to Happen - Else world has no hope!
The young minds will be here in near term, medium term and in long-term.
I think all of us - whether we are in India, outside India, Indians or non-Indians, need to MAKE INDIA HAPPEN!
" How to Make India Happen" -
If the world has to progress or may be continue to exist - it is becoming clear - India has to Happen - Else world has no hope!
The young minds will be here in near term, medium term and in long-term.
I think all of us - whether we are in India, outside India, Indians or non-Indians, need to MAKE INDIA HAPPEN!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Small Start-ups with Funny Names - are needed
"the small start-ups with funny names get founded and get funded." Says Google's CEO Schmidt as reported in the article here
When we were starting Crafitti (Crafitti Consulting Private Limited) we tries to search for many names - thought and thought about what they could be then sort of looked at Graffiti as a metaphor for innovation emergence. Yet we needed to convey that it can be crafted hence CRAFITTI!
We look forward to more start-ups to work with us!
When we were starting Crafitti (Crafitti Consulting Private Limited) we tries to search for many names - thought and thought about what they could be then sort of looked at Graffiti as a metaphor for innovation emergence. Yet we needed to convey that it can be crafted hence CRAFITTI!
We look forward to more start-ups to work with us!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Innovation, Ignorance, Serendipity and Letting it happen
The detailed post combining many points in the blogpost titled The emergence of Serendipity 2.0 and Innovation 2.0 gives multiple articulations by many on the concept of Innovation Emergence. The post starts with a simple para and I quote,
In the past many discoveries and innovations have come by accident or by chance, rather than a team hurting their heads with too much innovation think, “no matter how much I try I just can’t think of an innovation”. It doesn’t usually happen if you sit around doing nothing, it happens when you are involved in life, participating, interacting, only it’s not what your chasing, it’s what happened on the way, it’s what’s triggered, it’s the accidents (the gifts from the gods;) etc…
I liked the line "It doesn’t usually happen if you sit around doing nothing, it happens when you are involved in life, participating, interacting"
It is satisfying to note that the author found two posts from innovationcrafting to be quoted - it seems he found after the post was written and hence he included these afterwards
first is my post on INNOVATION IS AN EMERGENT FEATURE OF A SYSTEM!
and second is the proposal to create an IGNORANCE MANAGEMENT Initiative
Continuous focus on trying to improve and change what you are doing leads to innovation and it happens through tinkering, failing, learning, experimenting and ultimately - LIVING!
The question to ask is - how many of us are living LIFE!
In the past many discoveries and innovations have come by accident or by chance, rather than a team hurting their heads with too much innovation think, “no matter how much I try I just can’t think of an innovation”. It doesn’t usually happen if you sit around doing nothing, it happens when you are involved in life, participating, interacting, only it’s not what your chasing, it’s what happened on the way, it’s what’s triggered, it’s the accidents (the gifts from the gods;) etc…
I liked the line "It doesn’t usually happen if you sit around doing nothing, it happens when you are involved in life, participating, interacting"
It is satisfying to note that the author found two posts from innovationcrafting to be quoted - it seems he found after the post was written and hence he included these afterwards
first is my post on INNOVATION IS AN EMERGENT FEATURE OF A SYSTEM!
and second is the proposal to create an IGNORANCE MANAGEMENT Initiative
Continuous focus on trying to improve and change what you are doing leads to innovation and it happens through tinkering, failing, learning, experimenting and ultimately - LIVING!
The question to ask is - how many of us are living LIFE!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
New Services from Crafitti - Facilitated Kaizen Blitz and Technological Alternatives Study (TAS) on a Patent
We at Crafitti consulting have started two unique services
1. Facilitated Kaizen Blitz
2. Technological Alternatives Study (TAS) on Patent
The posts at the Crafitti Blog explains these in much detail (Click on the links below)
FACILITATED KAIZEN BLITZ
Technological Alternatives Study (TAS) on a Patent
We already completed one project each in each of these streams from Crafitti and I must say these were immensely satisfying - the results and impact that these created at our client organization.
These services are in line with our promise of going beyond innovation lip-service and co-crafting innovation with our customers! We deliver the promises!
1. Facilitated Kaizen Blitz
2. Technological Alternatives Study (TAS) on Patent
The posts at the Crafitti Blog explains these in much detail (Click on the links below)
FACILITATED KAIZEN BLITZ
Technological Alternatives Study (TAS) on a Patent
We already completed one project each in each of these streams from Crafitti and I must say these were immensely satisfying - the results and impact that these created at our client organization.
These services are in line with our promise of going beyond innovation lip-service and co-crafting innovation with our customers! We deliver the promises!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Business Model Design - The New Innovation
The article on India Inc. in Businessweek
India Inc.: A Lesson in Business Design
Ambitious, resourceful, and unencumbered by convention, India offers the world a dramatic demonstration of business design
By Heather Fraser
The article explains the resurgence of new energy in making things happen. I think the business model is a amazing area for innovation - and more of it is based on making collaboration happen.
India Inc.: A Lesson in Business Design
Ambitious, resourceful, and unencumbered by convention, India offers the world a dramatic demonstration of business design
By Heather Fraser
The article explains the resurgence of new energy in making things happen. I think the business model is a amazing area for innovation - and more of it is based on making collaboration happen.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Articles from Crafitti in Realinnovation and TRIZ Journal
Crafitti Consulting (http://www.crafitti.com) has been seeing publications in open journals. Below are some of the recent ones and may be of interest to the readers
1. Define and Quantify Customer Value - Reveal the Needs
2. The Elegant Solution and TRIZ
3. Implement a Holistic Patent Strategy for Maximum Value
May be of interest for the readers of Innovation Crafting !
This is my 400th Post to the Blog!
A Big Thanks to all the readers and contributors!
I promise to post regularly from November 10 2008 ! One per day post!
1. Define and Quantify Customer Value - Reveal the Needs
2. The Elegant Solution and TRIZ
3. Implement a Holistic Patent Strategy for Maximum Value
May be of interest for the readers of Innovation Crafting !
This is my 400th Post to the Blog!
A Big Thanks to all the readers and contributors!
I promise to post regularly from November 10 2008 ! One per day post!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
GIXBang Scenarios 2009
The Globalizing Innovation Complexity (GIX) is showing up now. We have a situation where the wealth of nations, corporates and individuals is going off at such a rapid pace that people who are not adapting to this world are going to face severe problems. Peeping into future through GIXBANG Scenario Writing, I envisage 4 possible scenarios from now till April 2010.
Scenario I: The Economic Ripple Effects Continue and world has lost 40% of large monolithic MNCs or Global Corporations
Scenario II: The world starts gaining the wealth back and its back to a situation of 2006-2007
Scenario III: There is a Major War with have-nots of the past world overtaking political, military, economic and social fabric to launch an offensive against the haves
Scenario IV: A new type of structure emerges for wealth creation - where many small organizations or even individuals combine together to create value everywhere - They actually replace the large monolithic hierarchical social structures or large organizations by networked peer-to-peer social relationships.
I shall be developing these scenarios over next few weeks - please comment and add your scenarios. Lets do an open scenario writing!
Scenario I: The Economic Ripple Effects Continue and world has lost 40% of large monolithic MNCs or Global Corporations
Scenario II: The world starts gaining the wealth back and its back to a situation of 2006-2007
Scenario III: There is a Major War with have-nots of the past world overtaking political, military, economic and social fabric to launch an offensive against the haves
Scenario IV: A new type of structure emerges for wealth creation - where many small organizations or even individuals combine together to create value everywhere - They actually replace the large monolithic hierarchical social structures or large organizations by networked peer-to-peer social relationships.
I shall be developing these scenarios over next few weeks - please comment and add your scenarios. Lets do an open scenario writing!
Sunday, October 05, 2008
What is your Innovation Quotient? Take this TEST
Answer the following questions to find your Innovation Quotient: (Copyright Navneet Bhushan :))
1. How many times you think to change or do differently whatever you are doing (including driving and eating) :
(a) Always (b) Almost Always (c) Sometimes (d) Never
2. How many times you actually do differently what ever you have been doing in a particular way:
(a) Always (b) Almost Always (c) Sometimes (d) Never
3. How many times you follow whatever is written as an instruction for you to follow:
(a) Never (b) Sometimes (c) Almost Always (d) Always
4. How many times you share with others whatever different results you have achieved by doing something differently
(a) Always (b) Almost Always (c) Sometimes (d) Never
5. With how many people you share different results or failed experiments of yours that have you have achieved by doing things differently
(a) Everyone (b) Whoever is willing to listen (c) Some very close friends (d) Nobody
----------------------------------------------
Give 4, 3, 2 and Zero marks for each (a), (b), (c) or (d) respectively.
Score 18 and above: Maverick - Innovation is in your Blood: You are likely to continuously change the world around you - it can be for positive or negative I am not sure - but overall in a time period the results will be positive. However, take time to chill out sometimes as well and accept there are others who may like to share something. You are the maverick.
Score between 14 and 17: Balanced Innovator/Planned Innovation: You have nicely balanced it out. You think about consequences and do systematic Innovation based on planning and take the results to world in an organized manner. Sometimes you need to bring in a dash of maverick inside you and sometimes you may need a more systematic approach. However you are a balanced innovator.
Score between 11 and 13: Manager of Status Quo: You have been trained to follow authorities. Accept things as they are and likely to reproduce results following a particular process. In a world where predictability and certainty are norms you will be successful. The word that describes you is a solid manager. However the world is changing very fast - please take time out to understand that managing something as is may be less risky - however in a world which changes at tearing pace - it is the riskiest situation to be in. Please come out and start doing things differently. May be have some mavericks in your group. You are the solid manager.
Score Less than 10: Why do we need Innovation? The fear of change, the shyness, the acceptance of your life as is - makes you either an extremely wise man - who thinks that this world and the material things including social connections are just a mirage and real you is not the body nor the mind - it is your soul that you need to connect to and why to change anything when it is just a dream. Well if that is really you - don't get perturbed by this survey and carry on your path of enlightenment - may be you are closer to nirvana than others - however if that is not the reason - please get up and think about what you want to do - take up one initiative at least and follow it up with focus - get more vocal about what you are doing and take little more risks in life. Unless you are detaching yourself from life towards eternal bliss.
Please send me a feedback on this survey at navneetbhushan@gmail.com - I shall reply
1. How many times you think to change or do differently whatever you are doing (including driving and eating) :
(a) Always (b) Almost Always (c) Sometimes (d) Never
2. How many times you actually do differently what ever you have been doing in a particular way:
(a) Always (b) Almost Always (c) Sometimes (d) Never
3. How many times you follow whatever is written as an instruction for you to follow:
(a) Never (b) Sometimes (c) Almost Always (d) Always
4. How many times you share with others whatever different results you have achieved by doing something differently
(a) Always (b) Almost Always (c) Sometimes (d) Never
5. With how many people you share different results or failed experiments of yours that have you have achieved by doing things differently
(a) Everyone (b) Whoever is willing to listen (c) Some very close friends (d) Nobody
----------------------------------------------
Give 4, 3, 2 and Zero marks for each (a), (b), (c) or (d) respectively.
Score 18 and above: Maverick - Innovation is in your Blood: You are likely to continuously change the world around you - it can be for positive or negative I am not sure - but overall in a time period the results will be positive. However, take time to chill out sometimes as well and accept there are others who may like to share something. You are the maverick.
Score between 14 and 17: Balanced Innovator/Planned Innovation: You have nicely balanced it out. You think about consequences and do systematic Innovation based on planning and take the results to world in an organized manner. Sometimes you need to bring in a dash of maverick inside you and sometimes you may need a more systematic approach. However you are a balanced innovator.
Score between 11 and 13: Manager of Status Quo: You have been trained to follow authorities. Accept things as they are and likely to reproduce results following a particular process. In a world where predictability and certainty are norms you will be successful. The word that describes you is a solid manager. However the world is changing very fast - please take time out to understand that managing something as is may be less risky - however in a world which changes at tearing pace - it is the riskiest situation to be in. Please come out and start doing things differently. May be have some mavericks in your group. You are the solid manager.
Score Less than 10: Why do we need Innovation? The fear of change, the shyness, the acceptance of your life as is - makes you either an extremely wise man - who thinks that this world and the material things including social connections are just a mirage and real you is not the body nor the mind - it is your soul that you need to connect to and why to change anything when it is just a dream. Well if that is really you - don't get perturbed by this survey and carry on your path of enlightenment - may be you are closer to nirvana than others - however if that is not the reason - please get up and think about what you want to do - take up one initiative at least and follow it up with focus - get more vocal about what you are doing and take little more risks in life. Unless you are detaching yourself from life towards eternal bliss.
Please send me a feedback on this survey at navneetbhushan@gmail.com - I shall reply
Monday, September 29, 2008
10 Most Absurd Social Networking sites
This one is very interesting. The report list down 10 most absurd social networking sites
HotEnough.org
Dogster.com (social networking of pet dogs :))
Kirtsy, Geek Match Making, Coolspotters, RedKaraoke.com, Familybuider, Foretal, nclüdr, and Line for Heaven.
Slideshow is here
HotEnough.org
Dogster.com (social networking of pet dogs :))
Kirtsy, Geek Match Making, Coolspotters, RedKaraoke.com, Familybuider, Foretal, nclüdr, and Line for Heaven.
Slideshow is here
Ignorance Management
I think it is about Ignorance Management.
Every organization talks about knowledge management - by focussing on knowledge - what we know - we leave lot of areas that we dont know, or may be are not even aware of that we dont know. Hence we need to have Ignorance management - to find out how ignorant we are about past, present and more importantly about future.
Ignorance is bliss - as the saying goes - may be thats true anyway - still - understanding what we dont know - about what we are ignorant and how to use ignorance management practices, may be we shall be better off!
Every organization talks about knowledge management - by focussing on knowledge - what we know - we leave lot of areas that we dont know, or may be are not even aware of that we dont know. Hence we need to have Ignorance management - to find out how ignorant we are about past, present and more importantly about future.
Ignorance is bliss - as the saying goes - may be thats true anyway - still - understanding what we dont know - about what we are ignorant and how to use ignorance management practices, may be we shall be better off!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
More we Globalize - More Terrorism will increase?
Globalization
Terrorism
The Google Trends shows some sort of correlation
The GIXBANG World that I am studying -
Terrorism and Globalization - how are they related - is there a relation?
Friday, September 19, 2008
Primitive Emotions, Herd mentality and Raging Hormones - The way we make decisions
The clean, mathematical, rational and logical way is the way we make decisions!
Well, the real us make decisions using
Well, the real us make decisions using
- PRIMITIVE EMOTIONS
- HERD MENTALITY
- RAGING HARMONES
Well, this is what scientists and economists are saying - at the link here.
We are irrational and driven by the chemicals we produce inside us due to various stimuli - Can we understand our own chemistry?
Thursday, September 18, 2008
The Age of Innovation - Black Swans of 2008
2008 Black Swans
1. Decades/Centuries old financial companies of the world gone off the face of the earth - Lehman and ML { I remember someone associated with ML telling that "we merrily lynch people's money"}
2. US Government buying AIG - The state becomes the savior - open markets, individualism wins, survival of the fittest - What happened to these principles?
3. Old black swans of HP buying EDS - is a smaller one now ..................................
Let us go back to December 2007 - when predicting trends was the fashion - no one - really no one told us 1,2,3 - well! here goes the power of prediction!
The oil price - will go high and high - well 147$/bbl has become 90$/bbl !
The science of innovation will become the output of the age of innovation! We will see the emergence of Innovation science - my prediction for 2008!
1. Decades/Centuries old financial companies of the world gone off the face of the earth - Lehman and ML { I remember someone associated with ML telling that "we merrily lynch people's money"}
2. US Government buying AIG - The state becomes the savior - open markets, individualism wins, survival of the fittest - What happened to these principles?
3. Old black swans of HP buying EDS - is a smaller one now ..................................
Let us go back to December 2007 - when predicting trends was the fashion - no one - really no one told us 1,2,3 - well! here goes the power of prediction!
The oil price - will go high and high - well 147$/bbl has become 90$/bbl !
The science of innovation will become the output of the age of innovation! We will see the emergence of Innovation science - my prediction for 2008!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
entrepreneurship - stick to what works
What is Entrepreneurship (I asked my friend about entrepreneurship - he started Dolcera (The chat script below)
navneet.bhushan says: after things are done then only we say we were doing whatever has happened :)
Lakshmikant says: That's what has to be done in entrepreneurship
Lakshmikant says: just stick to what works
navneet.bhushan says: ok
navneet.bhushan says: meaning try everything and see what is working?
Lakshmikant says: thing is it is hard to know what will work!
navneet.bhushan says: after things are done then only we say we were doing whatever has happened :)
Lakshmikant says: That's what has to be done in entrepreneurship
Lakshmikant says: just stick to what works
navneet.bhushan says: ok
navneet.bhushan says: meaning try everything and see what is working?
Lakshmikant says: thing is it is hard to know what will work!
Vedic Inventive Principles - BarcampBangalore
Karthik made a presentation at the Barcamp held last weekend at IIM on his interpretation of Vedic Mathematics Sutras as Vedic Inventive Principles. The presentation can be downloaded from the link at Crafitti.
The presentation was well received by the audience - the best part was a small exercise on inventing improvements on the - next whiteboard marker. Here with a combination of TRIZ 9 windows and Vedic Inventive Principles - audience were engaged in impromptu brainstrorming session.
Very interesting thoughts came up due to triggers! I thought may be whiteboard marker should be a glove to be worn in the hand and each finger can be a marker of different color and palm is the duster.
Later on I came home and just like that searched the patent data base - lo and behold - Taiwanese Patent number TW265010 describes the invention - substancial part of the invention - 
Monday, September 15, 2008
Barcamp Bangalore IIM 14 September 2008
Karthik had registered himself for the Barcamp BCB 7 and was speaking on Vedic Inventive Principles. This was orginally planned to happen on Saturday. I could not attend the saturday event as I had to attend to some personal exigency. But to my good fortune, Karthik attended another event at IIM on Saturday and re-scheduled his talk on Sunday.
This led me to spend my Sunday at the barcamp at IIM.
My Take
1. Making Money by Blogging : I reached half way through the talk on sponsored content on your blog and how to monetize your blog by writing sponsored content. The speaker talked very convincingly about how to earn more and more money by writing the blog for someone's furniture sale and any product review - give in to crap!
The speaker made lot of sense about making money on the fly - however - the utter uselessness of it was missed by many. If some one pays me for my blog - I make money - I would be not only happy - I would like to work that out so that I spent regular hours blogging. However, if someone tell me to write about - a particular store or a particular product and based on number of words I will get so many dollars (USD), I dont think I have the stomach for this. If you need to know - here are his links!
2. Contextualized Location based Mobile Pictures - AirMe's presentation by Apporva was very interesting. The airme's single click contextualized mobile picture upload to flixter and other open picture sites - has the potential to change many of the mobile users usage of cameras on mobile! We thought we will have a discussion with AirMe on some further thoughts! Lets see.....
3. Movie about Start of the Start - A film was made by some budding entrepreneurs or may be students (am not sure) about lessons learned by existing entrepreneurs who has build their business to some extent now
a) http://www.lifeblob.com/ entrepreneur said -
This led me to spend my Sunday at the barcamp at IIM.
My Take
- The energy level in the camp - really good!
- The content - could be little more wider!
- The techniness - of how to do things - could also be compensated by more science - why are things the way they are! (May be that is my preference)
- Missing deeper ideas - the real gems are sort of beneath the surface - pure energy without the aspirational and design direction leads to lot of waste and one gets the feeling the wealth of the young minds is being taken away!
1. Making Money by Blogging : I reached half way through the talk on sponsored content on your blog and how to monetize your blog by writing sponsored content. The speaker talked very convincingly about how to earn more and more money by writing the blog for someone's furniture sale and any product review - give in to crap!
The speaker made lot of sense about making money on the fly - however - the utter uselessness of it was missed by many. If some one pays me for my blog - I make money - I would be not only happy - I would like to work that out so that I spent regular hours blogging. However, if someone tell me to write about - a particular store or a particular product and based on number of words I will get so many dollars (USD), I dont think I have the stomach for this. If you need to know - here are his links!
2. Contextualized Location based Mobile Pictures - AirMe's presentation by Apporva was very interesting. The airme's single click contextualized mobile picture upload to flixter and other open picture sites - has the potential to change many of the mobile users usage of cameras on mobile! We thought we will have a discussion with AirMe on some further thoughts! Lets see.....
3. Movie about Start of the Start - A film was made by some budding entrepreneurs or may be students (am not sure) about lessons learned by existing entrepreneurs who has build their business to some extent now
a) http://www.lifeblob.com/ entrepreneur said -
- need to balance finance+ technology + marketing
- Lonliness is part of the start - cope up with it!
- Get a Mentor
- Close a Business - if it is not working - with satisfaction
b) http://www.muziboo.com/ entrepreneur said -
- Word of Mouth has its limitations
- Get Marketing Budget
- Think about Value Proposition
c) http://www.tringme.com/ entrepreneur said -
- Lots of careful planning
- Passion
- If dont want to come out of comfort zone - dont do
- No Distraction - Complete Focus
- Patience
- Believe in your product
- Stay Connected (dont get isolated)
- Be ready for delays of all kinds
d) http://www.redbus.in/ entrepreneur said -
- Life style changes
- Attitude should be to learn
- Biz Ethics
- Ready for Huge Pressures
4. Vedic Inventive Principles - These are the type of topics I would like to see more and participate also, not because Karthik did it, but the fact that it was focussed on doing something at the end - the ideation exercise - that was really the value (I will write a separate post on that next)
5. The Marriage and Relationship - We left this presentation in between - as the four penalists could not decide what the hell they wanna speak about and who is the single speaker! Might have been interesting - but we somehow felt like watching a TV Reality Game Show where the participants fight with each other and the judges as well - Is that staged on TV?
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Modeling Globalizing Innovation Complexity
I have been struggling to make a model of Globalizing Innovation Complexity (GIX)
Using a freely available system dynamics modeling and simulation tool I am trying to look at the factors impacting GIX and their interrelationships.
This is work in progress - hence it will be good to get inputs from all!
Using a freely available system dynamics modeling and simulation tool I am trying to look at the factors impacting GIX and their interrelationships.
This is work in progress - hence it will be good to get inputs from all!
Friday, September 12, 2008
Innovation Ignition Workshops by Crafitti Consulting - this month in Bangalore
CRAFITTI CONSULTING (www.crafitti.com) offers two days of Innovation Ignition workshops on our world-class frameworks developed and practiced to solve business and technical problems in large global organizations. These comprehensive frameworks are being offered for the first time in India in workshop settings.
Workshop 1:
Lean Inventive Systems Thinking – A Framework for transformation
September 26, 2008
Hotel Ramanashree, Richmond Road, Bangalore, India
Workshop 1:
Lean Inventive Systems Thinking – A Framework for transformation
September 26, 2008
Hotel Ramanashree, Richmond Road, Bangalore, India
Workshop 2:
Advanced Patent Analysis using TRIZ and other concepts
September 27, 2008
Hotel Ramanashree, Richmond Road, Bangalore, India
Are you, your team, your organization or your business
Impacted by rapid increase in Globalization?
Impacted by explosive increase in complexity?
Overwhelmed by continuous pressure to think out of box?
Faced with decision paralysis due to information de-coherence?
Feeling the heat of unknown competitors doing unprecedented things to eat away your business?
Trying to make sense of Patents and underlying value in Patents?
If most of your answers are YES, these workshops will help you find answers.
Do you think
“Decision Making” is your one of your teams’ core strength?
“Problem Solving” and “Innovation” are embedded in your teams’ attitude?
Your team manages to avoid getting into crisis most of the time?
You know the value that you are creating or delivering to your customer?
You are sufficiently leveraging Patent information openly available to build your business and technology?
If most of your answers are NO, these workshops will help you find answers.
To register, kindly fill the attached registration form and send it to us at info@crafitti.com.
Questions or comments? Email us at info@crafitti.com or call at +91-80-41688077.
For news on upcoming events at Crafitti, do visit www.crafitti.com.
Please feel free to forward this email on to your colleagues and friends who might be interested!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
BIG Thinkers India Series
Karthik has given me info about the Yahoo Big Thinkers series happening today in BANGALORE.
And Guess What - Duncan J Watts is the speaker - I have been reading his books and especially the math laden first book called SMALL WORLDS......
Fascinating!
Looking forward to the session!
And Guess What - Duncan J Watts is the speaker - I have been reading his books and especially the math laden first book called SMALL WORLDS......
Fascinating!
Looking forward to the session!
7 Months ClustrMap Hits to InnovationCrafting
Number of hits to InnovationCrafting from 9 Feb 2008 - 9 September 2008 (7 Months period) is 4122! - This means every month I get about 586Hits! This is about 20 hits per day!
I am planning to restart the clock from today! This time I think it will give me the true sense of readers from all over the world - and also give some sort of idea about am I getting same set of readers or different sets!
Another problem is since u might have subscribed my blog - you may not visit the site at all. So really this may not be the true measure of the reach - nevertheless - i can track how many readers came and from where!
A BIG THANKS TO ALL THE CONTRIBUTORS and READERS to INNOVATIONCRAFTING!
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Innovation Defined!
"Do something. Do something to that, and then do
something to that. Pretty soon you’ve got
something. "
—Jasper Johns, painter
I think this definition of innovation is close to my heart!
Monday, September 08, 2008
Crafitti Article published at realinnovation.com - Patent Strategy
It is with great pleasure and pride - I am writing this post!
One of Crafitti's papers has been published at the realinnovation site. Please look at the link here.
Karthik's paper on "Holistic Patent Strategy for Maximum Value" explains the key value determinants for maximizing the value of a patent. We started Crafitti about few months back and we can already see how things are going to move ahead in innovation and IP consulting space.
Please be on lookout for more thoughts from Crafitti - we are continuing our journey in pursuing what we really believe in - a model of continuous co-creation!
One of Crafitti's papers has been published at the realinnovation site. Please look at the link here.
Karthik's paper on "Holistic Patent Strategy for Maximum Value" explains the key value determinants for maximizing the value of a patent. We started Crafitti about few months back and we can already see how things are going to move ahead in innovation and IP consulting space.
Please be on lookout for more thoughts from Crafitti - we are continuing our journey in pursuing what we really believe in - a model of continuous co-creation!
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Recent Questions - from Blogs that I connect to
I have been reading blogs of some of my colleagues and friends - regularly. Sometimes I connect with them - or the minds connect with my mind in very interesting ways.
Sunil Raghunathan in his Blogpost explains Reverse Offshoring of IT Services
Then he asks what should be done to stop this in the next blog entry.
As a purely intellectual excercise and seeing the power of randon triggers - I thought let me look at what other bloggers in my blogroll list are writing and use these as a trigger to come up with solutions to the above problem.
1.) Lets look at Karthik's blog - WoW- he writes on
Business Technology - co-innovation space .... and I quote,"However more often than not, the quadrant of co-innovation remains untouched, invisible, unthinkable, infeasible and is tagged as foolish, impractical, futuristic and taboo.The co-innovation quadrant is the region of maximum value. Can we reach it faster? Can we aim not to be satisfied with a business++ / technology++ approach?"
2.) Lets look at Prashant's blog - WoW - He writes on
Indian Innovations –Crowd Management at Kumbha Mela ....... and I quote,"There was total influx of 20 million people during this mela. As per the Guinness Book of World Records, the sangam mela becomes the largest township on earth." He ends the articulation as, "Mela proceeding went well without a single stampede incidence. Can we not take pride in this achievement? Salute to Mr. Alok Sharma and all the organizers of Melas and also to all the pilgrims. It is a classic case of Innovations & discipline which always go hand in hand. "
3.) Lets look at Balaji's Blog -WoW - He writes on
Prof Athish Chattaopadhyay on Marketing Plan .....and I quote, "Athish encouraged us to change the product centric view to customer centric view. Then he made a case for systematic approach to marketing. And walked us through the set of questions to ask ourself to come up with a plan."
I will continue this exercise - of finding answers to questions posted in the blogo-social system. But initial solution directions are following
1. Shift productcentricity to customercentricity
2. Manage Scale through innovation and discipline
3. Dont be satisfied with ++ get into maximum value through co-innovation!
I think Sunil this is not a bad start! Thanks Karthik, Prashant and Balaji!
This is amazing tool to brainstorm!
Sunil Raghunathan in his Blogpost explains Reverse Offshoring of IT Services
Then he asks what should be done to stop this in the next blog entry.
As a purely intellectual excercise and seeing the power of randon triggers - I thought let me look at what other bloggers in my blogroll list are writing and use these as a trigger to come up with solutions to the above problem.
1.) Lets look at Karthik's blog - WoW- he writes on
Business Technology - co-innovation space .... and I quote,"However more often than not, the quadrant of co-innovation remains untouched, invisible, unthinkable, infeasible and is tagged as foolish, impractical, futuristic and taboo.The co-innovation quadrant is the region of maximum value. Can we reach it faster? Can we aim not to be satisfied with a business++ / technology++ approach?"
2.) Lets look at Prashant's blog - WoW - He writes on
Indian Innovations –Crowd Management at Kumbha Mela ....... and I quote,"There was total influx of 20 million people during this mela. As per the Guinness Book of World Records, the sangam mela becomes the largest township on earth." He ends the articulation as, "Mela proceeding went well without a single stampede incidence. Can we not take pride in this achievement? Salute to Mr. Alok Sharma and all the organizers of Melas and also to all the pilgrims. It is a classic case of Innovations & discipline which always go hand in hand. "
3.) Lets look at Balaji's Blog -WoW - He writes on
Prof Athish Chattaopadhyay on Marketing Plan .....and I quote, "Athish encouraged us to change the product centric view to customer centric view. Then he made a case for systematic approach to marketing. And walked us through the set of questions to ask ourself to come up with a plan."
I will continue this exercise - of finding answers to questions posted in the blogo-social system. But initial solution directions are following
1. Shift productcentricity to customercentricity
2. Manage Scale through innovation and discipline
3. Dont be satisfied with ++ get into maximum value through co-innovation!
I think Sunil this is not a bad start! Thanks Karthik, Prashant and Balaji!
This is amazing tool to brainstorm!
Is India Toyota's Nemesis?
The news item about Toyota's launch of Corolla at Economic Times at the link here starts as, I qoute,
"It may be the largest carmaker in the world, but the famed Toyota is finding the going tough in India. The Japanese major has revised its sales target and delayed its 10% marketshare plans by five years to 2015. The company aims to sell 4-lakh vehicles by 2015 from this fiscal’s sales target of 63,000. "
Is this an indication of failure of the Toyota Innovation Engine to adapt to peculiarity of India, the complexity of multiplicity of co-existence that India has designed through robust evolutionary processes springing from deep principles of Indian culture of acceptance, assimilation and assertion through exploration. The truth is beyond the mind and beyond the body - as Indian philosophy says!
India calls for a Toyota rethink! Many fans of Toyota (I being one of them) would like to see how things evolve for Toyota in India.
Meanwhile, Ford motors have woken to the new world - may be two decades late I think - as there is a new found insight - "Small Cars Can Be Profitable"
The link above is very interesting.
What Tata motors proved to the world with its Nano Small Car, is being realized by the Biggies now! The world may be perplexed with the revolt against Nano in West-Bengal.
But we need to realize - This is India - We invite all to assert through exploration!
Its is continuous celebration of mind and body - knowing fully well - truth is beyond mind and body :)
"It may be the largest carmaker in the world, but the famed Toyota is finding the going tough in India. The Japanese major has revised its sales target and delayed its 10% marketshare plans by five years to 2015. The company aims to sell 4-lakh vehicles by 2015 from this fiscal’s sales target of 63,000. "
Is this an indication of failure of the Toyota Innovation Engine to adapt to peculiarity of India, the complexity of multiplicity of co-existence that India has designed through robust evolutionary processes springing from deep principles of Indian culture of acceptance, assimilation and assertion through exploration. The truth is beyond the mind and beyond the body - as Indian philosophy says!
India calls for a Toyota rethink! Many fans of Toyota (I being one of them) would like to see how things evolve for Toyota in India.
Meanwhile, Ford motors have woken to the new world - may be two decades late I think - as there is a new found insight - "Small Cars Can Be Profitable"
The link above is very interesting.
What Tata motors proved to the world with its Nano Small Car, is being realized by the Biggies now! The world may be perplexed with the revolt against Nano in West-Bengal.
But we need to realize - This is India - We invite all to assert through exploration!
Its is continuous celebration of mind and body - knowing fully well - truth is beyond mind and body :)
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
The Co-crafting Approach
o Globalizing World – Complexity Explosion
o Globally Distributed Enterprises are the norm
o Co-Creation is the way ahead!
o We work diligently to understand customer value through our framework –before embarking on a solution
o The key elements of our approach are – customer value, social computing, decision engineering and Business-IT Alignment
o Globally Distributed Enterprises are the norm
o Co-Creation is the way ahead!
o We work diligently to understand customer value through our framework –before embarking on a solution
o The key elements of our approach are – customer value, social computing, decision engineering and Business-IT Alignment
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
How to Innovate
In the preface to the second edition of now classic, The Sciences of the Artificial, Herbert A. Simon, the noble winning MIT professor says, “…artificiality is interesting principally when it concerns complex systems that live in complex environments. The topics of artificiality and complexity are inextricably interwoven…”. When we talk about Innovation we are taking about the artificial – it is man made. We can learn from natural systems – the science of nature – explaining what is as is. The sciences of the artificial are concerned with making what we want to create – it is making, designing, inventing; it is the endeavor of human mind to achieve an objective. It is about creating by thinking – it is about crafting a system that achieves an objective or a goal.
One may argue that since man and the human mind itself is a natural system, anything that it creates automatically is considered natural – hence it is really artificial to talk about sciences of the artificial. Well, we will not get into semantics or the philosophy of the so called differences. Suffice it to say we limit ourselves to the subject of Innovation, which is concerned with a goal-oriented craft of man-made “artifacts”. We will not be concerned with explaining natural phenomenon, although we can learn from natural phenomenon to develop and describe methods to innovate. We will instead focus on crafting methods, techniques, methodologies, processes, systems, solutions to make, design, invent, produce or craft artifacts, processes, concepts, or systems that are considered output of human ingenuity.
The natural systems evolve; many of the unnatural ones are designed. We have heard of the top-down and bottom-up approaches to design, construction and creation. We also have seen changes in environment as a powerful influence on how a system evolves, changes itself or gets killed, just like many species in natural system that we know off. We also have been told about the limits of human knowledge and inherent randomness of our world – forcefully articulated in two of the recent books by NNT (“Black Swan” and “Fooled by Randomness”).
Given that all we know or may know will be useless when faced with randomness, the methods of science – explaining things as they are- are not necessarily the methods of the artificial. Further we don’t really know how to build complex systems as we believe “nature knows best” – the evolutionary, adaptive, complex, living organisms – the conceptual framework that exists. “How to Innovate” in such plethora of thoughts – does it make any sense to talk about this question at all.
It does and it doesn’t at the same time. Well, this is the typical diabolical statement that has close to zero information to most. However, information theory says uncertainty means the event has more information.
Do we have a single answer to the question, " How to Innovate"?
One may argue that since man and the human mind itself is a natural system, anything that it creates automatically is considered natural – hence it is really artificial to talk about sciences of the artificial. Well, we will not get into semantics or the philosophy of the so called differences. Suffice it to say we limit ourselves to the subject of Innovation, which is concerned with a goal-oriented craft of man-made “artifacts”. We will not be concerned with explaining natural phenomenon, although we can learn from natural phenomenon to develop and describe methods to innovate. We will instead focus on crafting methods, techniques, methodologies, processes, systems, solutions to make, design, invent, produce or craft artifacts, processes, concepts, or systems that are considered output of human ingenuity.
The natural systems evolve; many of the unnatural ones are designed. We have heard of the top-down and bottom-up approaches to design, construction and creation. We also have seen changes in environment as a powerful influence on how a system evolves, changes itself or gets killed, just like many species in natural system that we know off. We also have been told about the limits of human knowledge and inherent randomness of our world – forcefully articulated in two of the recent books by NNT (“Black Swan” and “Fooled by Randomness”).
Given that all we know or may know will be useless when faced with randomness, the methods of science – explaining things as they are- are not necessarily the methods of the artificial. Further we don’t really know how to build complex systems as we believe “nature knows best” – the evolutionary, adaptive, complex, living organisms – the conceptual framework that exists. “How to Innovate” in such plethora of thoughts – does it make any sense to talk about this question at all.
It does and it doesn’t at the same time. Well, this is the typical diabolical statement that has close to zero information to most. However, information theory says uncertainty means the event has more information.
Do we have a single answer to the question, " How to Innovate"?
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Bloodletting - only effective treatment for Hemochromatosis
In his fascinating book "Survival of the sickest" Dr Sharon Maolem states
... an ancient medical practice (bloodletting) that "modern" medical science dismissed out of hand is the only effective treatment for Hemochromatosis ...
The lesson for medical science is simple one - there is much more than the scientific community doesnt understand than there is that it does understand.
I think this is a amazing lesson of acting without deeply investigating what is going on! Blood letting - or simply bleeding patients off - is after all not a bad a option - it was in vogue before 20th century any way!
... an ancient medical practice (bloodletting) that "modern" medical science dismissed out of hand is the only effective treatment for Hemochromatosis ...
The lesson for medical science is simple one - there is much more than the scientific community doesnt understand than there is that it does understand.
I think this is a amazing lesson of acting without deeply investigating what is going on! Blood letting - or simply bleeding patients off - is after all not a bad a option - it was in vogue before 20th century any way!
Network Centric Warfare - How to understand this?
The Shift to Network Centricity
Network Centric Warfare is projected as a radically different way to prosecute wars compared to the existing ways which are considered as extrapolation of past wars. The Network Centricity in Warfare is enabled by advances made in technologies for what is termed the C4ISR (Command Control Communication Computers Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance) Systems. Combat systems based force or platform centric combat forces of the previous eras need to transform to Network centric combat forces to take care of fundamental shifts in the way networks are replacing hierarchies in various domains – Defence, Business, Governance or even in society at large.
Network Centric Warfare – The way it will be
The questions that need to be answered are what are the possible paths that current platform centric combat forces can or will take to transform into network centric combat force. These questions are based on the premise that warfare of the future will be network centric – there is ample evidence in various domains and advances made in studies of various forms of Networks already indicates that way we organize – the natural way is network centric. Be this the genome map, or neural networks in the human minds or social networks or business organizations, networks are the most natural way structures evolve.
Another way one can study this is by describing a generic framework of what the Network centric warfare will look like and then develop concepts, needs, doctrines and force structures to take care of these needs. Presumably these will be different from the existing needs.
Network Centric Warfare – Studying its nature
How does one study the nature of Network Centric Warfare? Since it is still forming, the study needs to focus on the way
(1) How networks happen naturally or are designed artificially?
(2) What happens to the elements or nodes of the networks and what are the links of the networks that emerge in time due to narural or artificial processes?
(3) What happens when the nodes of the network are intelligent themselves and forms the links as per the context or situation? Further what happens when the nodes are intelligent and learn from past as well?
(4)What happens when networks have human actors as nodes or even intelligent links between nodes?
(5) What happens when
a. Networks interact with other Networks
b. Networks interact with strict Hierarchies
c.Networks interact with loosely couples hierarchical networks
d. Networks compete with other Networkse. Networks compete with strict Hierarchies
f. Networks compete with hierarchical networks
Can one use hierarchy to understand and study Network Centric Warfare?
The way humans have been solving problems is hierarchical. In a hierarchy the lower level feeeds into higher levels and the top levels has the impacts of all the lower processes. One such hierarchy of conceptual levels for NCW has been defined as
Level 1: Force Level Characteristics of the NC Warfare – the so called Emergent Properties
Level 2: Decision Characteristics – speed and soundness of decisions are two important parameters
Level 3: Information level characterics - from relevance to accuracy many parameters of data, information and to some extent knowledge also comes into picture
Level 4: Network level characteristics – the way networks function – concurrency, reliablity etc are some of the parameters
Level 5: Physical properties of Networks – bandwidth, etc.
Can one think of another way to study NCW, non-hierarchical way as that is more closer to the natural networked form. Or for example markets forms of organization can help in studying the true nature as exemplified by Starfishes organizations – the so called leaderless organizations. Can network thinking be used for studying Network centric warfare?
What are the Ways of studying NCW – The Potential Methodologies
We know four different ways of studying any system and its properties
- Direct, empirical Measurement or observation of system behaviour
- Mathematical Modeling – analytical modeling to model the system
- Expert Judgment
- Simulation – Typically computer simulation of the system
The new ways of agent based simulation and artificial life techniques – combining cellular automata with Genetic Algorithms (GA) are another modern techniques of studying a complex system with emergent properties. However, from the puritan point of view these techniques come under simulations per-se.
The platform centric warfare has been studied through simulations, mathematical modeling, direct historical analysis of past data, expert judgment etc. However, in the NCW study, for the time being one has to resort to simulations and modeling as neither the experts are available nor enough historical data. Still, we need to explore all forms of system study technique and levels one need to study these need to be deciphered.
Social Network Analysis (SNA) has come up as a new way of studying networks, With large body of work, some defence analysts have resorted to SNA methods for studying NCW. The Force Intelligence Network and Command (FINC) methodology being one example.
Network Centric Combat Force (NCCF)
Once the NCW studies have been carried out, various elements of NCCF, its doctrine, its force structure, the way its information flows should be enabled, the way decisions should be explored and actions taken, will emerge. These can then be incorporated into operational concepts development.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Danish Industry Bench mark report
global benchmark
report 2008
DI ANALYSIS
(Danish Industry Report) 84 indicators divided into 6 main categories
One parameter I found to be very interesting
Average time to complete the procedure of closing a business, 2008
India takes average 12 years - which is highest time to close a business!
report 2008
DI ANALYSIS
(Danish Industry Report) 84 indicators divided into 6 main categories
- Growth and development
- Competitiveness
- Knowledge and Competencies
- Business Flexibility
- Enterprise and Entrepreneurship
- Costs and Taxes
- Internationalization and Openness
One parameter I found to be very interesting
Average time to complete the procedure of closing a business, 2008
India takes average 12 years - which is highest time to close a business!
Enterprise Mega Trends
Overall some new realization in the Enterprises, I call them the Enterprise Megatrends
1. Networks are ON, the network thinking is still in infancy in Enterprises
2. The Natural Networks are "Small World" Networks - including Internet
3. Organizations are "Living Organisms" - The Mechanistic View is completely Outdated
4. From "what you measure you know" to "what you create you learn" is a big shift
5. C4I2SR (Command Control Communication Computers Information Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance) of the Spider Organizations should become the social network of continuous co-creation of the Starfish Organizations
6. Learning is the key and in fact is the basis of everything that we do, However, bigger key is unlearning the previous learning - in the light of new evidence - to be ready to let go of past successes is not easy and requires very very deep capability!
Enterprises are not designed to learn!
1. Networks are ON, the network thinking is still in infancy in Enterprises
2. The Natural Networks are "Small World" Networks - including Internet
3. Organizations are "Living Organisms" - The Mechanistic View is completely Outdated
4. From "what you measure you know" to "what you create you learn" is a big shift
5. C4I2SR (Command Control Communication Computers Information Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance) of the Spider Organizations should become the social network of continuous co-creation of the Starfish Organizations
6. Learning is the key and in fact is the basis of everything that we do, However, bigger key is unlearning the previous learning - in the light of new evidence - to be ready to let go of past successes is not easy and requires very very deep capability!
Enterprises are not designed to learn!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Ignore Social Networking - prepare for business downfall
The headline of a Report on social networking says
It is a challenge!
Research and Markets: As the Number of Business Users of Social Networks Increases, Advertising Expenditures Will Rise Accordingly, Reaching an Estimated $210 Million in 2012
The New Business Doctrines of the co-creating world has to factor in the social networks. The future is Networked - we know - but it is about social networks - is a new insight and mind you pyramidal businesses built on centuries of Hierarchical thinking dont even understand networks - now how on earth these are expected to understand and leverage Social Networks!It is a challenge!
Amazon buys Shelfari
Amazon buys Shelfari
This is not such a black swan as HP buying EDS, since both Amazon and Shelfari deals with books. But really - everyone is hooked onto the social networking phenomenon.
The news item at Informationweek gives the indication of future trends. Every company will create social networking capability within and outside the company.
Question really is not about whether or not - it is when you will have your social network ?
Are you ready for Co-creation through social networks - you better be!
This is not such a black swan as HP buying EDS, since both Amazon and Shelfari deals with books. But really - everyone is hooked onto the social networking phenomenon.
The news item at Informationweek gives the indication of future trends. Every company will create social networking capability within and outside the company.
Question really is not about whether or not - it is when you will have your social network ?
Are you ready for Co-creation through social networks - you better be!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Pair Programming
Deploying Pair Programming
Please match the horoscopes before pairing!
Pair progamming as an agile way to create software quickly with reduced time for testing or bug fixing, is gaining acceptance. In this note we discuss the process of pair programming and how it can help in reducing in-process errors. We discuss some results of pair programming that have been reported in literature. The note also highlights the soft aspects of pairing, which if not done keeping the individual capabilities and compatibities in sight can create a negative influence and project can be in jeopardy.
What is pair programming?
Two programmers working side-by-side, collaborate to create the same design, algorithm, code or test. One programmer, the driver, has control of the keyboard/mouse and actively implements the program. The other programmer, the observer, continuously observes the work of the driver to identify tactical (syntactic, spelling, etc.) defects and also thinks strategically about the direction of the work. On demand, the two programmers can brainstorm any challenging problem. Because the two programmers periodically switch roles, they work together as equals to develop software
How to deploy Pair Programming?
The best way to pair program is to just sit side by side in front of the monitor. Slide the key board and mouse back and forth. One person types and thinks tactically about the method being created, while the other thinks strategically about how that method fits into the class. One may ask that all that is fine, but why it should be done at all, as we can afford more than one machine per programmer!
Why Pair Programming?
Let us assume that we need to develop a component that has five key methods or functions. In the single programmer scenario, the programmer will look at the detailed design description and start coding the functions one after another. Typically he/she may be thinking 2-3 lines ahead, while coding some simple lines. If the programmer gets stuck in a complex logic, he/she will try to wrestle with the problem in his/her mind. This can some times create highly involved logic or increase the coding duration for the component. Also because of the above reasons, the programmer may do mistakes in the syntax; logic or worse may not implement the needed functionality in the code.
A programmer when he gets a detailed design description of the component ideally should carry out planning regarding which of the functions he is going to take up first, what variables and data structures need to be described, what are the specific implementation requirements of each function, etc. Then he should start coding. However, in real life, planning and actual coding typically are amalgamated intricately and actually lead to time delays and are potential sources of errors in the output. Let us say the time durations required are as given in Table 1.
| Coding Activity | Duration (minutes) | Elapsed Time (minutes) |
| Comprehending detailed design | 120 | 120 |
| Plan F1 | 60 | 180 |
| Code F1 | 180 | 360 |
| Plan F2 | 15 | 375 |
| Code F2 | 45 | 420 |
| Plan F3 | 30 | 450 |
| Code F3 | 90 | 540 |
| Plan F4 | 15 | 555 |
| Code F4 | 45 | 600 |
| Plan F5 | 30 | 630 |
| Code F5 | 180 | 810 |
| Review | 120 | 930 |
Table 2 shows the same schedule with pair programming. As can be seen, we cut down the coding time by about 20%. One may however say that schedule compression with more effort (2x 750 = 1500 man-hours > 930 man-hours) is not a very good output. However, this may not be the true picture if we take care of the time taken to test and fix the bugs during testing phase. In fact, the output of pair programming will have less number of bugs and less effort will be spent in bug-fixing. Another benefit is that by pair programming the project creates two code-aware persons in the team, which in the current scenarios of high attritions, is a very useful benefit.
| Programmer | Coding Activity | Duration (min.) | Elapsed Time (min.) |
| P1 & P2 | Comprehending detailed design | 120 | 120 |
| P1 | Plan F1 | 60 | 60 |
| P2 | Plan F2 | 15 | |
| P2 | Plan F3 | 30 | |
| P1 | Code F1 | 180 | 240 |
| P2 | Code F2 | 45 | 285 |
| P2 | Code F3 | 90 | 375 |
| P1 | Plan F4 | 15 | |
| P2 | Plan F5 | 30 | 405 |
| P1 | Code F4 | 45 | 450 |
| P2 | Code F5 | 180 | 630 |
| P1 & P2 | Review | 120 | 750 |
Pair programming increases software quality without impacting time to deliver. It is counter intuitive, but 2 people working at a single computer will add as much functionality as two working separately except that it will be much higher in quality. With increased quality comes big savings later in the project
Programmers need to Collaborate – Cooperate to Elaborate
If the pair is able to combine the skills in a synergistic manner, it can amplify benefits in multiple dimensions for the project. If the discussions or the ad-hoc, non-formal brainstorming sessions are carried out in open, synergistic manner, leveraging the creative tension, the pair programmers can be an order of magnitude more effective.
However, there is, as always, the other side of the story also. I believe it is really important to take care of the personality’s resonance before plunging teams into pair programming.
Taking Care of the Pair Compatibility – The Other Side
Programmers who practiced Pair-programming, in experiments or in reported real life case studies have pointed out following main areas of concerns:
Egos – the members of homo-sapiens called programmers are found to be highly egoistic. Typically, they don’t have a strong affinity to create programs with others of the same breed. The amount of arguments in strong ego-duels between the pair programmers can not only nullify the benefits of pair-programming but in fact can actually create a permanent dent in the project fabric.
Speed/Skill Mismatch – If there are unbalanced speed or skill levels in the team, it can generate more negative than positives.
Fear of Incompetence – This is surprisingly an important factor. A programmer who doesn’t have enough skill may be learning on the job. This fact in a pair programming scenario will become known to the other person, which the first person may not like to disclose.
Programmers with confidence, modest ego, compatible skills and attitude to collaborate will help make the pair programming a success.
Patience and Tact – Pair programming takes a high percentage of patience, tact and a lot of social skills. This in effect means – maturity. It is a challenge for the manager to choose programmers who are mature enough to have patience, tact and social skills (Actually if one think these are the traits required for the project management job!).
Keeping an open mind and willingness to see other person’s point of view are some of the other traits came out of these studies.
What shall we do?
The increasing complexity of software in the new applications is creating extreme demands on software development teams. Counter intuitive methods such as pair programming definitely have shown a great value in balancing the conflicting demands of complexity, productivity and quality.
We advocate a step by step process of deploying pair programming in projects. The challenge really lies in communicating the benefits collaboration and remarkably reduced time needed for testing to the programmers. Second challenge is to choose one or two components earlier for developing them using pair programming. However, the biggest issue is to form the right pair, to show this as the success story for the rest of the project team.
In nutshell, please do explore experiment and deploy pair programming, but start by matching the horoscopes of the pair, and of course keep your fingers crossed!
References
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