Understanding needs is pivotal to effective frugal innovation, and last time, I went into some detail on things to consider. I’ll take a specific need and use it here as an example to flesh out those ideas. Say, someone is looking to partner with a qualified programmer to write smartphone apps. He believes he needs to hire someone with a computer science degree who has studied relevant programs.
Break it down. This would-be app entrepreneur needs his ideas turned into attractive, functional applications that work on variety of platforms with an interface that meets his customers’ needs for speed, dependability, and accuracy. And he needs these apps delivered in a timely way at costs that still allow reasonable profits.
His solution – hiring a graduate of a good university program — is the standard solution, but the cost is likely to be prohibitive.
Frugal innovation might:
- Point him toward the local high school or community college computer club or even a gaming community, where expertise might exist and be available at a lower cost.
- Suggest exploring a pool of people who have taken relevant online courses.
- Direct him to study and master the disciplines themselves.
Taking it further, the need does not need to be filled by one person. It can be filled by a variety of people who each take on different parts – an artist working on the “look” of the app. A human factors analyst designing the interface. A programmer coding the functions. And so on.
A team might make more sense because each would make a smaller commitment and have deep understanding of their jobs. Even with coordination costs, it might be less expensive and faster.
The point here is that focusing on the need – good, well-defined products (apps) rather than obtaining a computer scientist – and then breaking down the need (all the required elements of the program), more options are created. This could be taken even further, by the way. If the entrepreneur wanted to create apps that helped people choose beverages, it might be worthwhile to shift the goal to, instead, create a helpdesk that provided personalized advice or a writing newspaper column or a book, or exploring adozen other ways to give his clients guidance in a specific and timely way.
Listen. As alternatives open up, it is important to present these to people involved and understand what concerns and preferences they have. If the app innovator already is comfortable with computer science, taking an online course and doing the work himself might be the best alternative. The option of hiring a local student make good economic sense, but it might bring up issues of reliability and stability if most students leave town for college or for other jobs in less than a year.
Learn about the culture and context. What if reputation or access trumps wonderful apps? Having a celebrity bartender on the team might multiply the success. Bringing it the mayor’s daughter to work on it might lead to contracts. Or a helpdesk might outdo and app if it’s sponsored by a maker of popular wines or it provides employment to people in the local community. (Providing local employment is one of the frugal innovation values.)
A key contextual element that should be considered here is technical standards and even available frameworks for applications. Some applications, in fact, can be put together with much of the work (such as interfaces) already created, and even available for simple customization. Frugal innovators take advantage of resources like this and avoid reinventing the wheel.
Recognize the role of change. If you look at most apps available for smartphones, they have many competitors. A lot of nice apps get copied and there always seem to be challenges to them by “free” apps. All depend on the good graces of the channels (such as iTunes) that deliver them, and a distributor can change the rules overnight.
Knowing what might change and what is unlikely to and understanding the time horizons is vital to succeeding at innovation.
Recognize the role of knowledge. In looking for help in frugal innovation, it is essential to balance what is revealed with what is not revealed. If our entrepreneur were to ask for help on a forum and provide no details, it would not inspire many people. Especially in cases where the help provided would be inexpensive, interest-driven, and perhaps even voluntary, this would be result in failure.
On the other hand, a detailed proposal for a novel beverage-selection app, with pointers toward meal pairing data, specific information on how photos can be used to classify available options, a vivid description of the purring voice that would suggest the best choice, etc., etc., would be an invitation for someone else to create a competitive app.
It might also alert regulators, people who control databases, political opponents, and a variety of other hostile, powerful, or greedy folks who have an interest in making it difficult for you to succeed. With frugal innovation, it is frequently a good idea to have the innovation valued by lots of people before it becomes visible to those who might oppose it.
Frugal innovation has advantages in speed, cost, passion, a lack of bureaucracy, and potential new markets. It has disadvantages in lack of traditional resources, lack of political power, dependence on voluntary activity, and difficulty in getting key perspectives. The list here is aimed on making the most of the advantages and avoiding the worst consequences of the disadvantages.
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