Posts Tagged ‘innovation’

I just read an article in eWeek bashing Forbes’ top 100 list of innovative companies.  I too read the Forbes article on the top innovative companies and came away wondering if they missed the boat.  Just like Darryl Taft at eWeek, I also read about Google, the #7 most innovative company according to Forbes, spending […]

Although understanding your bias is important to effectively analyzing a situation, the first step in improvement is to identify your problem. What motivates you to make a change? The key to innovation is desire: the desire to do something better, faster or more easily. Consider the following thoughts on innovation: “Discontent is the first necessity […]

Pam Baker at ReadWriteWeb posted an interesting article this morning advocating the atomization and integration of enterprise software. She argues that integration and accessibility are becoming as important as features and functionality. Remember the old days, when a mainframe or PC operating system dictated what corporations would buy and support? They seem so quaint now. “Anything […]

This morning I read an interesting article by Scott Anthony called “How Iteration-itis Kills Good Ideas” in which the author details an experience he had at a company whose system and culture were accidentally stifling creativity. “We never see any good ideas,” lamented a senior executive. “People bring us ideas. But they just don’t have any […]

According to the Project Management Institute, in 2007 61% of all “IT” projects failed or were halted before completion. In 2008, more than 75% of all projects exceeded budgets by 30%. All too frequently, IT projects fail to meet customer or user expectations. There are many risks inherent with creation in an enterprise IT environment: […]

We are so often asked to “think outside of the box” that the phrase has almost reached a cliché status. What does it really mean, and how can you train yourself to do it? The first step in changing your perception is to acknowledge your background and biases. Consider the following excerpts taken from Horace […]

In the film “Up in the Air,” Ryan Bingham makes his living traveling to clients and laying off their employees with his own special charm (he is played by George Clooney, after all). His upstart colleague, Natalie, proposes a new method via videoconferencing. But before the new system can go into place, their boss convinces […]

Isn’t it an annoyance viewing a rotating carousel of a homepage that won’t stop rotating? You’re in the middle of reading some ad or introduction to a feature article, about to click the Read More button and it changes. Then you have to navigate back if there is navigation or wait until it cycles around […]

Making Typographic Images: In this tutorial from PSDTOP Blog, you can make a typographic image from a photo using Photoshop techniques. The effect looks best on images with good contrast and light backgrounds, but you can easily adjust the contrast and background using Photoshop. I used these techniques to modify an image of my guitar […]

Stock imagery doesn’t need to be boring. When working within budget constraints, there are still ways to make your design pop. One way to do that is through the use of cinemagraphic photos. A cinemagraph combines still photography with video elements to create something that is more that a photo, but not quite video. The […]

The last session I attended at UPA 2011 Chauncey Wilson’s “Brainstorming and Beyond: Ideation, Innovation, and Insight.”  The slides from his presentation aren’t yet available online (I’ll update this post with the link when available), but I’m including an earlier version that he presented with Amy Cueva. In the session he shares a number of […]

Do you hit the bull’s-eye every time? If so, you are standing too close to the target. As Woody Allen puts it: If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything innovative. Everyone has a “risk muscle.” You keep it in shape by trying new things. If you don’t, […]