Kashif Zaman » Innovation

Next sustainable digital revolution: innovation that leads back to basic human intuition

Kashif Zaman — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:45:06 +0000

I am very impressed by the thought-process this MIT genius introduces with his SixthSense Technology. While tech cool hunters spam each other with augmented reality examples (that may or may not have any real application), this guy is for real. He is showing us a path that leads to basic human intuition. It makes me feel much better.

Very interesting that Apple iPad pitch is all about basic intuition uses lines like “holding internet in your hands” and “you don’t think about it, you just do!”. I think the next sustainable revolution is intuitive devices like these.

“Design of business” and Blue Ocean Strategy

Kashif Zaman — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:41:13 +0000

I listened to Roger Martin, the coauthor of Design of Business on the HBR ideacast. He talks about going half way towards analytical approaches and using inductive and deductive logic for business decision. Funny that I mentioned the process of design in my last post and I am thinking why not! The iterative process of design can be used in business decisions. In fact that is what we do (more of less).

When he mentioned the example of Cirque De Soleil, I instantly connected it to the Blue Ocean Strategy. We are kind of talking about the same thing. Just more creativity and intuition in decision making. I will read the book and post again. But I do think that people struggle with the idea of using too much intuition in business especially in public companies with stockholder pressure and a epitite for short-term gains.

At the same time, if wall street is OK with taking ridiculous risks with “mortgage backed securities” why not take a risk with some of these other “crazy” ideas.

Innovation is now driven by demand not dreams

Kashif Zaman — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:04:46 +0000

As I walked through the halls Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry listening to stories of Industrial Revolution, something dawned on me. In the Industrial Age, the dreams and imaginations of visionary inventors drove innovation. Has anyone realized that tables have turned? Innovation is now in demand and there’s simply not enough raw creativity, persistence and motivation – the traits of all those great industrial pioneers.

Take long awaited mobile revolution? After years and years of text messaging being the coolest thing Sony, LG and Samsung “smartphones” could offer, Apple finally invented something that stirred something up. All of a sudden everyone has figured out how to make touch-screens work.

We seriously lack real innovation. There is just too much marketing fluff. Is this a side effect of our version of free market economy that does not have a real solution to the ’short term gains’ issue?