Innovation: Don’t confuse optimization with change
Ever now and then something finally clicks. For quite some time I have been thinking about the term, innovation as it seems to be one of the big buzzwords going around in the business world. At the same time I have also been extremely bothered by the the lack of commitment to optimization in the areas of design, programming and media in general. The term optimization doesn’t sound very exciting but when you are talking about true innovation it’s my opinion that it’s all about optimization instead of change for the sake of change. In the world of sports and in particular, racing it’s about optimization, how the engine can be fine tuned, how much weight can be removed, etc.
Why do we seek innovation? We seek innovation to make our lives and business more productive. A bigger bang for the buck if you will. One of my companies products is web site design and often I hear the phrase from potential customers, “We need to redesign our web site.” That may be true but if your desire for a new or redesigned web site is to just look cool then I recommend you take a little more time to think about the reason for the change. Obviously a site should be considered for redesign if;
- It need a way for content creators to add new information to the site
- Update security
- Usability issues (are people have a hard time navigating your site, etc?)
- Optimizing images - (I see way too many sites created with “cookie-cutter” programs that don’t optimize the images for faster downloads, etc.
- Search engine optimization
- Consistent branding - does your web site match your companies or organizations other marketing materials?
If you are going to get your site redesigned I would definitely talk to you about the above topics as well.
This post was targeted to web site design but I could probably name just about any other product line or service. Can you share some examples of products or services that have changed but didn’t really optimize and thus were truly innovative even though it was marketed as “New and Improved”? I’m a little tired of hear innovation as a buzzword for “new stuff” but rarely is the conversation mentioning how products and services can be optimized. What’s your take?
