The Myth of Leapfrog Ideation
It's bull shit. Don't waste your time on trying to ideate the next big thing. Instead, spend your identifying new problems that can be solved, improve current solutions and execute with excellence.
But wait. Why do you say that James? Surely, there have been many examples of leapfrog products on the market. The iPhone and the iPad immediately come to mind.
I never said there is no leapfrog products. There are many examples of them in the market today, but I assert that leapfrog products only exist in hindsight. It's extremely difficult to come up with a truly new and groundbreaking product idea. Smartphones have existed for years before the iPhone existed. And so has Tablets. Tablet PCs have been around for ages before the first iPad was shipped. Both of these products just improved an existing category so much that they are deemed 'groundbreaking'. But neither are truly new.
If you are trying to come up with an awesome idea for a product or feature, having brainstorming meetings that focus on coming up with the next big leapfrog idea probably isn't the best way to go. Many 'leapfrog' products on the market are simply products that have been executed extremely well, and they were not born out of any leapfrog ideation process. Over the past 3 years, I have spent many hours in many brainstorming meetings with a lot of smart people, trying to come up with leapfrog ideas. And guess how many we have come up with? Zero.
The point is not that you shouldn't aim to have breakthrough products. The point is that it's very difficult to have a breakthrough product just by dreaming up of breakthrough ideas. You will have much better odds if you focus on problems people have, think about how to solve them in the best way possible, and execute like mad.
