Innovation Quotes: expert wisdom

From: "1486 ...so many centuries after the Creation it is unlikely that anyone could find hitherto unknown lands of any value.

Committee advising King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain regarding a proposal by Christopher Columbus."

To:"1981 640K ought to be enough for anybody.

Bill Gates"

Incorrect predictions @ wikipedia

Famous Authoritative Pronouncements


"The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is a novelty - a fad" A banker advising Henry Ford's lawyer not to invest in the Ford Motor Co.

"If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have asked for a faster horse." Henry Ford

"Television won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night." Darryl F. Zanuck

"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" Harry M. Warner, Warner Bros Pictures, 1927

"Everything that can be invented has been invented." Charles H. Duell was the commissioner of the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 1899 (seems to be apocryphal, but anyway...)

Singin' in the Rain - A film about Innovation

"Singin' in the Rain" is a film about innovation. The possibility to synchronize sound with images in the 1920's was a major overhaul for Hollywood film industry.



During the film.

We can see how people react to innovation when a "talkie" is presented during a private event. A quote excerpted from that time: "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" Harry M. Warner, Warner Bros Pictures, 1927

Don Lockwood is able to adapt to this new environment while Lina Lamont, who is good looking but features an awful high pitched voice, cannot do it.

OK, Innovation is here, but the 1st version of the talkie is awful. Then the participants find a way to really take advantage of this new technology by recording sound and film separately and then post synchronizing both afterwards. "Genius is one percent inspiration, and ninety-nine percent perspiration." Thomas Edison

There are also several brainstorming sessions. "To have a great idea, have a lot of them." Thomas Edison

Then a final battle occurs between the "voice" and the "image" that do not come from the same person anymore. Innovation triggers new challenges.

By the way, it's really a great film...

Looking for a local job

All jobs on a google map. Try : http://jobcompass.net/

Googling for Jobs - How to Use Google to Find a Job from Jim Stroud on Vimeo.

invention is not innovation

"To turn really interesting ideas and fledgling technologies into a company that can continue to innovate for years, it requires a lot of disciplines." Steve Jobs

There’s often a gap between the invention of something and the point where it becomes an innovation. The computer mouse was invented at Stanford University in 1968, and the Graphical User Interface that takes full advantage of the mouse was invented at Xerox’s PARC labs shortly after that. But neither really became an innovation until they were both included in the Xerox Star PC in 1981. That’s about a 12 year gap between invention and innovation – and gaps like that aren’t unusual.

"Genius is one percent inspiration, and ninety-nine percent perspiration." Thomas Edison

read further: http://timkastelle.org/blog/2009/10/invention-is-not-innovation/

"Think of invention as the laying of an egg, innovation as the laying, incubating and hatching." Gordon Graham

Here are some excerpt that I found interesting from the discussion "invention is not innovation" that I initiated on LinkedIn:

• Gideon Gimlan wrote: 
• "Invention" is supply-side centric; and
• "Innovation" is consumption-side centric.
• Ken Jacobsen wrote: "Innovation is the packaging of invention"
• Siddharth Shah wrote: "When does an invention become an innovation:
  1. At concept stage (for sure not)
  2. Design Phase
  3. prototyping/ development Stage
  4. Trial phase
  5. Market introduction stage
  6. Acceptability stage??"

 In http://www.isu.uzh.ch/entrepreneurship/Teaching/FS10/FS10/Chapter1Thearrivalofinnovation.pdf you can read:
Invention then Innovation then Diffusion

The idea: science base → basic research → applied research → invention →
prototype → development → commercialization → diffusion → technical
progress → economic growth
(Sometimes the entire process in red is referred to as innovation)

My comment: failed innovation can stop at any step, and as a matter of fact there are often desisions to be taken when going from one step to another.


Some Other "Innovation Quotes"

When decisions are hard to make...

When decisions are hard to make...

for recruiters

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Innovation Quotes: Selecting the right innovation

“Don't confuse the art of the possible with the art of the profitable.” David Tansley

"To have a great idea, have a lot of them." Thomas Edison

“We are surrounded by engineers' folleys: too many technical solutions still looking for problems to solve.” David Tansley

How Do Innovators Think?

The first skill is what we call "associating." It's a cognitive skill that allows creative people to make connections across seemingly unrelated questions, problems, or ideas.

The second skill is questioning — an ability to ask "what if", "why", and "why not" questions that challenge the status quo and open up the bigger picture.

The third is the ability to closely observe details, particularly the details of people's behavior. Another skill is the ability to experiment — the people we studied are always trying on new experiences and exploring new worlds.

And finally, they are really good at networking with smart people who have little in common with them, but from whom they can learn.

read the rest here: How Do Innovators Think?

Social Media Revolution

Resume: do & don't

The Fall of CVs & The Rise of Personal Branding: CVs / Resumes are dead (by the way, I do agree).

5 things you should never put on your resume

Top things to never put on your resume by readers

Make sure your career progression is not mistaken for job hopping

How to Write a Resume That Will Land an Interview

Here is a very interesting presentation I saw in London a few weeks ago at CMMI Made Practical Conference 2009:

Delivering on CMMI® with Agile Methods

In 2008, the SEI published a Technical Note, CMMI® and Agile: Why not embrace both! This new publication sought to explain why there was misunderstanding and distrust between both the CMMI® and Agile communities and how they could be reconciled. In 2009, the movement to consolidate agile methods with the CMMI® model is in full swing. This presentation will summarize the technical note and present an agile implementation of CMMI® based on the Microsoft MSF for CMMI® Process Improvement methodology developed by the presenter in 2005. The method uses W. Edwards Deming's Theory of Profound Knowledge and his 14 Points for Management to reconcile agile methods with the CMMI® model, and generates most of the evidence for a SCAMPI appraisal automatically with the development tools.

Speakers were:

David J. Anderson , David Anderson and Associates
Hillel Glazer , CEO Entinex Inc.

Where does innovation applies?

Innovations are not only technical, but they can be also marketing related for instance. I found that Professor Mohan Sawhney had the best approach for describing the areas where innovations can occur. He lists 4 main areas:

• Product Innovation - WHAT
• Customers Innovation - WHO
• Process Innovation - HOW
• Channel Innovation - WHERE
  

These 4 main innovation areas can be mapped to further sub-areas:

The way innovation is managed in some famous companies is then measured against these areas and sub-areas, in the paper Professor Sawhney wrote. He uses an "innovation Radar" for innovation measures.

Just as an illustration of this "Object of innovation" chapter, I would like to comment this quote from Steve Jobs, CEO from Apple:

"Pretty much, Apple and Dell are the only ones in this industry making money. They make it by being Wal-Mart. We make it by innovation." Steve Jobs

Dell innovated and excelled primarily in the "Channels area". "Being Wal-Mart" is also innovation, but not technical innovation as usually understood. By the way, innovation at Apple is also not only technical innovation. Apple stores are also a mix of "Channels" and "Customer experience" innovations.

LinkedIn History 2006-2009 40 Millions users

java list management and filtering without any loop (for, while)

Just a Java exercize for the fun of it: do some list manipulation / filtering without using for/while statements:

1 Have a list of people belonging to various countries:
European people: [Eric from France, Martine from France, John from Great-Britain, Martha from Great-Britain, Carine from France, Gerd from Deutschland, Giuseppe from Italia, Martha from Deutschland]

2 Get the different countries:
European countries: [Gerd from Deutschland, Eric from France, John from Great-Britain, Giuseppe from Italia]

3 List the people that belong to each country:
People from: [France]: [Carine from France, Eric from France, Martine from France]
People from: [Deutschland]: [Gerd from Deutschland, Martha from Deutschland]
People from: [Great-Britain]: [John from Great-Britain, Martha from Great-Britain]
People from: [Italia]: [Giuseppe from Italia]

Never use for while statements to perform these tasks but make heavy use of the SortedSet type. Find code here.

The trick is to use a compare function that return 0 when the guy's/lady's country does not match the country we are listing inhabitants for.

Read also the same exercize done differently in Java and Haskell:

• one using lambdaj java library.
• using haskell functional language.

How do I answer to a job posting

Let's imagine I read a job posting with the following lines:

Experience:

• Requires BSCS/EE or equivalent and 8+ years of software development experience with 2+ years in a first level management role.
• Experienced in managing embedded software development teams and developing and maintaining a training concept for the group.
• Experienced in managing the entire software development life cycle including requirement gathering, architecture, design, implementation, testing and deployment of functionality.

After writing a motivation letter, I usually copy/paste above items and specifically answer them line by line. This is a way:

1. to help the recruiter "selling" my profile to its client.
2. to show my understanding of the post.
3. to show that the job specifically interests me and that I spent some time and energy answering it.

Experience:
• Requires BSCS/EE or equivalent and 8+ years of software development experience with 2+ years in a first level management role.

• 7 years as 1st level management role @ Logitech & Mariner Networks

• 13 years of embedded software

  • 8 years for businesses

    • 5 years network product @ IBM

    • 2 years network product @ Mariner Networks

    • 1 year elevator @ Schindler

  • 5 years in consumer electronics @ Logitech

• Experienced in managing embedded software development teams and developing and maintaining a training concept for the group

• 7 years as 1st level management role @ Logitech & Mariner Networks

• Regarding developing and maintaining training concepts:
  

• I organized some courses that were also adopted by the other firmware swiss development team

• Through the years, I progressively set setting additional embedded software goals every year.

• Experienced in managing the entire software development life cycle including requirement gathering, architecture, design, implementation, testing and deployment of functionality.

• requirement definitions interacting with marketing

  • 5 years @ Logitech

• architecture

  • 2 years @ Mariner Networks

• coding

  • 8 years @ IBM, Mariner Networks & Schindler

• test management

  • 7 years @ Logitech & Mariner Networks

• field support

  • @ Logitech & IBM

emurse.com

emurse.com is yet another resume posting site:

My Resume
Web	DOC	PDF
RTF	ODT	TXT

BUT here is what I especially appreciate about this site:

• displaying who has visited your profile
• how they did find you. For instance with Google using such and such keywords: <<Your "Main" Resume has just been viewed. Below are the details:
  
  What: "Main" Resume - Webpage
  When: Friday, March 06th, 2009 11:17:01 AM
  Where: Browns Mills, NJ, United States (estimated)
  Who: verizon.net
  From: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=cmmi+methodology+in+resume&btnG=Search
  >>
  

There are also some other pluses also offered by some other sites:

• resume downloadable in different formats.
• widget as above that you can post on your blog.

Drawback is that it seems to be mainly a US site and I am living in Europe...

LinkedIn History 2006 -2009

Place Garibaldi et les Ponchettes

Un peu de nostalgie...

Clément ROASSAL (1781-1850)

Nice, la place Victor (Garibaldi)Nice, vue des Ponchettes

The process of being laid off

Developing Java Agents for Lotus Notes under Eclipse

I started developing some java agent for Lotus Notes 8.5 .

The native Lotus Notes eclipse environment does not really meet my needs.

I usually use a regular eclipse environment to develop my java applications with all its nice help features.

I wanted to develop these Lotus Notes java agents under the same environment, but when calling Lotus specific java classes, I got some errors because eclipse could not reference the right jar.

I fixed the problem by just adding Notes.jar (that I found in LotusNotes program directory) as an external jar in the build path of my eclipse project.

Prezi: the next Powerpoint?

Looking for the next Powerpoint?

Have a look at Prezi an online program with some very interessant features such as more dynamicity, online editing...

Here is a real example from Lars Hilse.

bCisive: more focused than mindmapping

I've tried bCisive . I found it interesting, because it focuses more on decision making or researching than wild brainstorming. Though doing wild brainstorming is also useful sometimes...