The Innovator’s Dilemma   Clayton Christensen

One of the most enlightening books I have ever read.  I have seen the basic concept of this book play out numerous times in my career.  Most recently, I watched with amazement as the iPhone “disrupted” Blackberry, the established mobile phone leader in the corporate market. 

Witnessing the iPhone enter through the executive office which effectively bypassed Blackberry’s hold on the IT department was just like reading Clayton Christensen’s book in real time.  While blackberry incrementally improved its basic hardware and “security focused” software, Apple’s “consumer oriented” smartphone with its apps, iTunes and user interface created a much improved user experience.  The user experience won out over the security and other IT focused attributes.  It was funny to watch the iPad take the same path into the corporate market, enter through the executive suite which dramatically reduced IT’s influence in the decision process.

Make space:  How to Set the Stage for Creative Collaboration  Scott Doorley and Scott Witthoft 

An interesting book that addresses the importance of the workspace on innovation and collaboration.  The book is written by two lecturers from the Stanford d.school and they have used a unique and engaging format for structuring the information.

The book is designed to address space across five different types of content:

•  Tools - furniture, display surfaces, etc. that you can build using included instructions and recommended materials, suppliers, etc.
• Situations – configurations that you can use within existing space and furniture to fit specific needs (e.g., project rooms)
• Design template – how the space contribute to creativity and collaboration
• Space studies – real-life case studies based on the concepts within the book
• Insights – insights and knowledge the authors learned through their own experiences

I found the structure very useful as the book is intended to be used as a toolkit and as such, you don’t have to read the entire book to get value from its content.  I can say that I have experienced the benefits of “space” firsthand during my recent time in the d.school for the Innovation Masters program. 

I found the d.school space to be extremely beneficial to learning, collaborating, communicating, prototyping and creating a open and creative frame of mind.  Contrast this to many of the corporate work-spaces that I have been exposed to over the years and I can tell you without reservation that creating a great work-space is right up there with culture in importance to instilling innovation within an organization.

Change by Design  Tim Brown

Along with Roger Martin’s The Design of Business, this book provides an introduction to design thinking, also referred to as human-centered design.    In his role as CEO of IDEO, Tim Brown has a unique position of being able to explain design thinking from a practical, experienced based perspective.  The author provides readers with a key message  that design thinking is not a sequential process, instead it is an iterative process as he describes in the following quote:

“Design thinkers know that there is no one best way to move through the process.  The continuum of innovation is best thought of as a system of overlapping spaces rather than a sequence of orderly steps.  We can think of them as inspiration, the problem or opportunity that motivates the search for solutions; ideation, the process of generating, developing and testing ideas; and implementation, the path that leads from the project room to the market.  Projects may loop back through these spaces more than once as the team refines its ideas and explores new directions.”

I would recommend that people interested in Design Thinking read this book and also Roger Martin’s book.  Additional information on this topic is available on both IDEO’s web site and also at Rotman DesignWorks.