Innovation

To measure innovation, measure inputs, outputs and process performance.

Innovation is about finding new ways to create customer value.

Differentiate between innovation and invention.

Incremental innovation is by Toyota.

Breakthroughs are important but not urgent.

Three best innovations of recent years are:

1. the Web
2. Google
3. iPod

All these three have following characteristics:

1. They all have simple UI
2. Reuse existing information
3. Created by small groups of people, not cumbersome committees.

Beauty of the web is that you just click on the blue word. These three innovations make existing information easier to find and organize and allow person to recombine text, photographs and music in ways uniquely useful to the user. None of these are philosopher's stone, turning lead into gold. Rather, each recycles.

Ray Ozzie is the creator of Lotus Notes program.

Old fashioned methods delivered in new fangled ways, can spur innovation.