I’m neck deep in work. Behind where I want to be and more work piling than I know how to handle. Staying up late, waking up early, the typical, inhuman hours. Two days ago I was on Amazon ordering a book on jQuery to learn more about jQuery. I had to order one more book to qualify for free shipping. I have a very long wish list on Amazon but I wasn’t feeling very excited about reading any of the books on that list, which is unusual. I found an interesting book called “How Breakthroughs Happen” by Andrew Hargadon. Both books arrived today, and despite my busy schedule I began reading “How Breakthroughs Happen”. I couldn’t put that book down. I think it is a must read for startups, engineers, entrepreneurs, designers, managers, scientists, and students.
I think part of the reason I fell in love with the book instantly was how relevant it was to me, doing an an early stage GreenTech startup. The book shatters myths on innovations, explains the difference between invention and innovation, analyzes prior technological revolutions as well as companies that changed the technological landscape. Even though it’s now 4AM, I feel so energized after having read the book and want to share some of my favourite excerpts from the book.
- Innovation is as much social as it is technical
- Technologies are formed of tightly coupled arrangements of people, ideas, and objects. Innovation is a process of taking apart and reassembling these elements in new combinations
- It is one thing to know of a technology. It’s something different to know how to apply it, what else it can do, and how to adapt it to new settings
- In 1900, the automobile industry was in its infancy. There were fifty-seven firms devoted to building cars in the United States, and those firms built 1,681 steam-powered, 1,575 electric-powered, and 936 gasoline-powered vehicles. At the time, owning a car was an extravagance afforded mainly by the rich. By 1905, however, the industry was taking shape, offering glimpses of what it might look like when it matured. in those five years, for example, the design standardized around the internal combustion engine, reducing understainty on the part of entrepreneurs, investors, and potential owners alike. And by 1906, Henry Ford knew the direction the market was going: “The greatest need today is a light, low-priced car with an up-to-date engine of ample horsepower, and built of the very best material… It must be powerful enough for American roads and capable of carrying its passengers anywhere that a horse-drawn vehicle will go without the driver being afraid of ruining his car”. He wasn’t the only one with that vision. The idea of a low-cost car was no different than the idea of a low-cost computer today. The problem, like today, was building one.
- A closer look at the origins of mass production reveals the role of recombinant innovation at the Ford Motor Company. Ford invented neither the automobile nor the technique he used to mass produce it, but he did bring these ideas together in a way no one else had before
- Flanders and Wollering stayed long enough to show Ford the value of dedicated machine tools for the production of accurate parts at high volumes, but not so long as to set in place their old understanding of how to use them. [They left after 2 years at Ford]
- Too many times entrepreneurs have attempted to walk in the footsteps of Edison, Ford, or whoever – determined to be as boldly individualistic as history tells us these long geniuses were. But they weren’t. What set them apart … is the recognition that innovation requires not just a new idea (built from combinations of old ones) but also the collective effort necessary to make that new idea work. Innovation requires building a community of like-minded and wholly committed individuals who see their shared future in the success of the emerging technologies and industries
