Russ Schoen

Well after years of resisting the trend, I recently received an ipod nano as a gift for my birthday and I have to say it is indeed cool. From design to function, this is a great product!

So from an innovation perspective, where did the i-pod come from? how was it developed? and what can you learn about the innovation process from it?

Like many people, I mistakenly assumed the ipod was born from a huge idea that was just sitting on the shelf waiting to be discovered…Well this is just one of many myths that have been floated about the development of the ipod. The truth is a bit different according to a great article by Leander Kahney of Wired Magazine. In fact, the idea was really born from people within Apple asking an open ended question -"What can we do to make more people buy Macintoshes?" and then them being very deliberate about finding solutions. This question led those within Apple to start looking at digital music as an opportunity. First they developed a digital music store (which eventually became) i-tunes and then they found a huge opportunity by looking at digital music players. According to Apple VP Greg Joswiak (as quoted by an-online article by newsweek,) Apple looked at existing digital music players and realized, "The products stank." 

Steve Jobs jumped on the opportunity to develop a great digital music player and the -ipod was born. Well not exactly. In fact, it took about 9 months to get it done and lots of resources. But in October of 2001, the i-pod made its public debut.
 
One of the interesting points of the i-pod story to me was the process Apple designer’s use. As noted in the Wired Magazine article, "Apple’s designers spend 10 percent of their time doing traditional industrial design: coming up with ideas, drawing, making models, brainstorming," Robert Brunner, former head of Apple’s design group said. "They spend 90 percent of their time working with manufacturing, figuring out how to implement their ideas."

So what can someone interested in innovation take away from this story…? One of the key lessons from my perspective is the innovation process itself is more than just an idea! In fact, the idea is just one small piece of the innovation puzzle. Asking the right question, coming up with an idea and then devoting resources (time, energy, money) to refine that idea is what helps push innovation forward.

In our innovation workshops, we teach a deliberate thinking process and common language that promotes innovation. The four main steps are…

CLARIFY - what is the right question to ask that can unlock a big opportunity

IDEATE -  come up with possible solutions

DEVELOP - select the best ideas and refine the solution

IMPLEMENT - get it out into the world by devoting resources and time to the project

To learn more, contact me… or check out foursightonline.com

I am off to listen to some tunes on my new i-pod!