Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Why most Enterprise Architecture Teams are incapable of innovation...
The first step to innovation is if the culture allows folks to think out loud...
Thinking out loud is the act of expressing in recoverable and external form new thoughts which you encourage your mind into exploring. Often these lead to new avenues of thought. When you think out loud you detect and explore ideas and concepts which are either unknown, or as yet unexplored. Enterprise architecture teams should ask themselves when was the last time they established a forum for this sole purpose?
Listed below are some of the ways that enterprise architecture teams can first attempt to innovate themselves before forcing it on others:
| | View blog reactionsThinking out loud is the act of expressing in recoverable and external form new thoughts which you encourage your mind into exploring. Often these lead to new avenues of thought. When you think out loud you detect and explore ideas and concepts which are either unknown, or as yet unexplored. Enterprise architecture teams should ask themselves when was the last time they established a forum for this sole purpose?
Listed below are some of the ways that enterprise architecture teams can first attempt to innovate themselves before forcing it on others:
- Offer thoughts for all to see before they are fully baked: Let those around you hear what you're thinking and invite input on your thoughts. The effect of doing thinking out loud and publicly is that it will probably evoke opinions which either support, amplify or contradict and minimize. Ideas that are ultimately reflected on will most certainly lead to better interaction and dialog. Don't ignore the notion of the Wisdom of the Crowds.
- Brainstorm out loud: One of the best ways to brainstorm is to blog. When you have a thought, write it down, whether at work, at home, on your throne, etc. One can come back at a later time and review the thoughts having had additional time to think about whatever you were noodling at the time. Of course, if the idea is of competitive advantage then don't make it public, otherwise if it can benefit others, then share it publicly.
- Intellectual property rarely exists: Of course you will meet folks who are only capable of having a singular original idea in their career but for those who are truly innovative, we shouldn't attempt to protect them. Consider that I share lots of original ideas in my blog so that others can benefit from what I have learned and experienced. Innovation comes faster by others not starting from scratch. For me, ideas are like going to the faucet, they simply flow. Some think, if you give away all of your ideas you will have nothing when it reality, giving away ideas is more like giving away a photocopy and not like giving away physical property.
