Forcing People to Innovate

Taking Away Degrees of Freedom to Rekindle the Innovative Spirit

“Necessity is the mother of invention.” – Plato

My son came back from a trip during which he broke a guitar string that he could not replace. He was actually delighted with the experience, having had to invent a different way of playing the instrument, and discovering new harmonies. With one string missing, he had to work out the other to a whole new level.

This is an innovation classic. Other examples include legislation on car emissions that have led to innovation in the combustion engine and the rise of hybrid and electric vehicles, or Apple making the explicit decision to ban the use of stylus, which led to the famous touch-screen products that we all know.

Innovation can be enhanced not always by adding new degrees of freedom, but sometimes by cutting some.

Don’t miss an article (3,200+) – Subscribe to our RSS feed and join our Innovation Excellence group!

Yann Cramer is an innovation learner, practitioner, sharer, teacher. He’s lived in France, Belgium and the UK, he’s travelled six continents to create development opportunities with customers or suppliers, and run workshops on R&D and Marketing. He writes on www.innovToday.com and on twitter @innovToday.