“The secret of moonshot thinking is it’s easier to do something 10X better than to do it 10% better.”
Moonshot Innovations
Moonshot innovations require big thinking and should meet the following criteria: (1) addresses a large market, (2) a major breakthrough and (3) a10x improvement. A pithy and concise way to frame this thinking is Larry Page's Toothbrush Test: "Is this something you will use once or twice a day, and does it make your life better?" Considering other innovation frameworks can also be helpful, like the Blue Ocean Strategy, which encourages expansion into new, uncontested markets. Some examples of large-scale, moonshot innovations from my work projects include:
Hexagram's multi-screen display functionality: unlocking and displaying content by considering a variety of inputs including geospatial data, geo-fencing, image recognition SDKs and AI chatbots. The system was praised as a breakthrough in the ARG space.
Hexagram's The Vampyre of Time and Memory for the band Queens of the Stone Age - A Google Chrome Experiment which synchronizes music videos in an immersive 3D walkthrough installation. The experience was entirely unique and innovative.
Yahoo! Shopping feed scoring algorithm: A major break-through in analyzing, scoring, sorting and ranking product-related structured data, leading to insights that were previously unattainable. The system was a clear product differentiator and unavailable elsewhere in the CSE marketplace.
Iterative Innovation
Google has had a track record of encouraging people to think big and aim for major breakthroughs, as the outcomes of iterative innovations tend to be less favorable. That said, incremental, iterative innovations and optimization can be applied throughout routine work to improve operational efficiency. Most of the examples of incremental innovation from my work experience are customer-focused innovations:
Feed processing SLA improvements through parallel processing at Yahoo! Shopping
Leveraging Yahoo! Pipes to import CMS content including coupons, deals and reviews content.
Applying advanced analytics to SMB customers at SingleFeed.
Standardizing app content pipeline at Aedeas.
Improving the contract requirements review process at Hexagram.
Selected Sources:
Dave Power, Innovation Strategy: 4 Key Tactics of Top Growth Companies, Harvard Division of Continuing Education Blog, 2016
Diego Rodriguez, 7 Innovation Insights from an IDEO Design Entrepreneur, August 2015
Gary P. Pisano, You Need An Innovation Strategy, Harvard Business Review, June 2015
Scott Anthony, Don’t Make These Mistakes When Entering a New Market, Harvard Business Review, October 2012
Scott Anthony, The Little Black Book of Innovation…, HBR Press, 2012
Eric Jackson, Six Things Jeff Bezos Knew…, November 2011
Robert Sutton, Weird Ideas That Work: How To Build a Creative Company, Free Press, May 2007
Robert Sutton, Stimulating Innovation and Creativity in the Workplace, Stanford University, Stanford Technology Ventures, August 2006
Faith Popcorn, Brain Reserve, http://www.faithpopcorn.com/
K-Hole Trend Forecasting Group, http://khole.net/
Innovation Best Practices
Define Success: Use Metrics and KPIs to define and track success.
Kill good ideas: Even if they seem like good ideas, innovations that don’t meet the pre-defined goals aren’t good enough.
Remove roadblocks: Reduce myopic / short-term thinking, impatience, stakeholder blockages, fear of failure.
Make space for innovation: Encourage innovation and optimization within existing products. Hack days can be a fun way to demonstrate impact for broader innovations.
Embrace experimentation and failure: Create a structure and parameters where failure is an accepted and expected aspect of developing new ideas.
Unauthorized Work: Expect that the team members who bend / break rules and ignore management objectives will often be a source of innovation.
Sharing Insights: Reduce knowledge silos and encourage thoughtful, open discussions throughout the company.
Wisdom: Thoughtful choices are required to identify where innovation is needed and which strategies are best suited to the situation.
Too much innovation: Strike a balance between routine, well-tested work and risky innovation (often with high failure rates).
Innovation Strategy Matrix (adapted from Gary P. Pisano, Harvard Business Review)
Astro Teller at Stanford University
Astro Teller, director of Alphabet's moonshot factory, X, describes how smart bets on world-changing innovations are aided by a culture that celebrates only the most audacious projects and rewards teams for showing the courage to find the biggest flaws. He also discusses how innovation can be systematized regardless of business type, resources or role at your company.
Astro Teller defines Moonshots as project that meet these criteria:
Huge Problem: If you made a change of substance people's live would be radically better.
Science Fiction: Product or service that if you made it, will make the world a better place.
Getting started: A clear idea about how to make the product or service; Some reason to believe that you can start the project.