A responsible approach to innovation

By John Westworth (opens in new tab)

Photo credit: iStock

“A good science fiction story should be able to predict not the automobile but the traffic jam.” – Frederik Pohl

Do you ever feel that there’s more to creating innovative products and features than just shareholder value and driving clicks? Have you ever had to retrofit added features to your product because of challenges you hadn’t considered? Did you first conceptualize your feature as something to make a better world, but it’s now being used for questionable purposes?

Then you may have fallen into the Innovation Trap.

I’ve fallen into the trap myself many times over the years – I’ve been blinded by the incredible potential of technology and been driven by vanity metrics like growth, while not considering the potential consequences of technology or rationalized my decisions, convincing myself I was making the right choices.

Having children has made me acknowledge my role in the current state of society, the kind of world I want to leave them and the example I want to set. I’m trying to be a more conscientious traveler and better citizen.

With that in mind, I’d like to share information about the Innovation Trap so you can learn how to avoid it.

The three attributes

First, a bit of history: In the 90s defined three attributes of an innovative business or product.

1) Desirability: Are we solving the customer’s problem? Do they really need it? Will they buy this? Even further, is it solving the right customer problem or pain point?

2) Feasibility: Can we build it? Does it build on our core operational strengths? Does it strengthen the business?

3) Viability: Is this profitable? Does it make sense for our business? Does it have a sustainable business model?

The intersection of these three is seen as the sweet spot for innovation; these attributes are the cornerstones of Design Thinking. IDEO’s Tim Brown described Design Thinking as “a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.”

Marty Cagan in his book Inspired added a 4^th attribute, which has been adopted by many product managers:

4) Usability: Can the user work out how to use it?

While all these attributes are necessary for building innovative products, are they sufficient for building responsible products?

Good Product Management, like good science fiction, should be able to predict the unintended, long-term consequences of our product or feature while not being seduced dreams of our own success.

The idea that you can succeed by just focusing on these four attributes is as alluring as a bad habit – you get instant gratification now and any likely side effect seems way off in the future. But just like bad habits, the pain you feel later will far outweigh the gains you get now. This is called “present bias,” and it’s something we all fall prey to, in that we value short-term reward over long-term consequences.

We’ve all seen examples of technology that were created with the best of intentions and have been used and abused while their creators claim innocence or ignorance. “How were we to know that {insert issue here} would happen?” Anyone who has seen the recent issues with social media platforms can appreciate that whilst the original intentions may have been good, the pressure to grow and focus on just these 4 attributes has led to issues.

Enter responsible innovation

When designing products or features, it’s important to think beyond short term gains and focus on long term sustainability. It’s about not just being innovative but being innovative responsibly. Another way to think about it is, would your work make your parents and grandchildren proud?

So, what else should we be considering in addition to desirability, feasibility, viability, and usability?

• • Supportable: Is the customer or the user able to support it, or does it create more challenges for the rest of the organization?
  • Reliable: Does it work, does it work well, and does it work consistently?
  • Sustainable: What’s the long-term environmental effect?
  • Inclusive: Have you worked with a diverse set of stakeholders or just people who look and behave like you?
  • Integrity: How are you affecting society?
  • Ethical: Can our solution be misused and abused? Are we manipulating the user to drive usage?
  • Accessible: Are we making it available to everybody or are we excluding anyone?
  • Wellbeing: Are you prioritizing the wellbeing of your product over your users? Does your feature help people get their work done, or is it designed to distract and drive engagement and usage of your product?

Whilst this list isn’t exhaustive, and not every item needs to be considered, it gives you and your team a good start in what to consider in order to create a responsible feature or product.

What could this look like in practice? One idea would be to perform a premortem analysis on your idea:

• • Think 2 – 3 years ahead and consider all the things that could potentially go wrong.
  • How would Charlie Brooker use this idea in an episode of Black Mirror (opens in new tab)?
  • How would Darth Vader/Thanos/Servalan use it?
  • Use Edward de Bono’s 6 Thinking Hats (opens in new tab) with an emphasis on the black hat?
  • Deconstruct your product using the 4Cs (opens in new tab) and consider ways your product could be used or misused that you hadn’t thought of.
  • Find an outside curmudgeon or contrarian to dissect your idea.

Then work to assess and mitigate those risks.

And if you can’t think of anything, remember the words of Peter Drucker: “If you have quick consensus on an important matter, don’t make the decision. Acclamation means nobody has done the homework.”

Like good habits, responsible innovation takes discipline, courage and the gain won’t be immediate. In fact, it will undoubtedly cause you more pain now. But isn’t it worth it to create something you can be truly proud of?

“The function of science fiction is not always to predict the future but sometimes to prevent it.” Frank Herbert

What do you think? Have you experienced the Innovation Trap? How will these ideas help you design a better product? Tweet us your thoughts at @MicrosoftRI or follow us on Facebook (opens in new tab) and join the conversation.