If you blindly follow the research, you'll lose

In a 2001 column, World magazine publisher Joel Belz called relying too much on research "the fallacy of false precision." Precision is what Ford was seeking when it famously passed on launching the minivan. Hal Sperlich, who ended up taking the concept to Chrysler, recounted in a 1994 Fortune article that Ford balked because research couldn't prove there was a market for such an unprecedented vehicle. "In 10 years of developing the minivan we never once got a letter from a housewife asking us to invent one." Call it a hunch, call it intuition or insight, call it whatever—Sperlich and his team were correct, regardless of what the research said (or didn't say).

As is animated movie studio Pixar, time after time, as it churns out one hit after another. Andrew Stanton, director of WALL-E, admitted in a 2008 Wall Street Journalcolumn, "We selfishly make movies for ourselves that happen to be juvenile enough that they cover the kids' interests. We've learned to trust our own instincts about what we like and not rely on, or trust, what the outside world tells us is going to work." Apple's Steve Jobs is cut from the same cloth."We do no market research," Jobs told Fortune in a 2008 interview. "We just want to make great products." I think he has proven his approach works.

Market research is a compass, not a map—it can give you a sense of where you are, but it can't tell you where to go. Measure to guide, don't measure to lead, and when you do talk to customers, remember you can't always go through the front door—sometimes you have to sneak in through a window to find out what they really think. Figuratively speaking, of course.

Steve McKee, "The Perils of Market Research," BusinessWeek, 12 Mar 2010,
www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/mar2010/sb20100312_705320.htm.

he has made shipping new products an art form

Great execution is every bit as important to innovation as empathy and creativity are. Now is the time to bring ideas to life faster. To make changes that let great things happen. To develop a bias for action. As Stanford University engineering professor Jim Adams once noted, 'Good companies reward success, punish failure, and ignore inaction. Great companies reward success and failure and punish inaction.' Since Steve Jobs returned as Apple's CEO in 1997, the company has been celebrated for its design-driven approach to innovation. What's rarely discussed is the well-oiled execution machine that gets Apple's products out the door. Soon after his arrival, Jobs unleashed operations whiz Tim Cook on Apple's troubled supply chain. For years, Apple struggled to clear out older models. Cook reduced Apple's inventory from 54 days to less than a day, going from near-worst in the industry to leaner than cost-leader Dell. Fixing the supply chain and slashing nonessential businesses freed up resources for new ideas, such as the iPhone and the iPad. Steve Jobs is renowned for saying that 'real artists ship.' And he has made shipping new products an art form."

Dev Patnaik, "The Fundamentals of Innovation," BusinessWeek, 10 Feb 2010,
www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/feb2010/id2010028_823268_page_2.htm.

heuristic

Note: The nature of a heuristic is that it stops short of an absolute rule; it gives us a better shot at success but doesn't guarantee it. A heuristic is well enough formed to allow us to act on it, but may not be clear enough that we can fully articulate it to ourselves or others. And that may well be where the breakdown between the Weinsteins and Disney took place. Harvey didn't have an algorithm, a sure-fire mechanism for success. And as time went on, other studios copied the approach, diminishing the appearance of Harvey's unique vision.

Roger Martin and Jennifer Riel, "The 'Inglourious' Decline of Miramax Films," BusinessWeek, 4 Mar 2010, www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/mar2010/id2010034_725045.htm .

patterns

5:20 - A vision of something which can be, which may be, based on knowledge, but is as yet unproven... It comes down to four basic principles:

• Learn from everyone
• Follow no one
• Watch for patterns
• Work like hell

"Scott McCloud on comics," video on TED.com, TED 2005, filmed Feb 2005, posted Jan 2009, www.ted.com/talks/scott_mccloud_on_comics.html via Ty Hatch

Simplicity sells

A few quotes from a TED talk by David Pogue:

06:44 - The software upgrade paradox - If you improve a piece of software enough times, you eventually ruin it.

20:41 - This cult of doing things right is starting to spread.

20:57 - If you are among the people who create this stuff: Easy is hard. Pre-sweat the details for your audience. Count the taps. Remember the hard part is not deciding what features to add, it is deciding what to leave out. And best of all your motivation is simplicity sells.

"David Pogue says 'Simplicity sells'," Video on TED.com, TED 2006, posted June 2006, www.ted.com/talks/david_pogue_says_simplicity_sells.html.