SUCCESSFACTORS for Deep Innovation
Software is a new medium of expression. It allows to crystallize ideas into usable products almost out of thin air. It is like electricity. It can enable us to achieve enormous things, if applied well. I first started writing code in 1996, which means that i was pretty late to the party, but still early enough to experience a significant path of the journey and evolution of what we now know as the Internet.
On the level of humanity the effect of this new medium cannot be overstated. We now have the power to bake culture almost immutably into solutions that touch every aspect of our lives and will very likely continue to touch more. When we set out to start delodi, our objective was to serve our higher purpose of contributing towards making the planet a good place by creating software that is of high integrity both from an ethical as well as a technical perspective.
We did not expect that our journey and our learnings would reach far beyond building software. In retrospect that was very naive, especially given the above understanding that software is just an enabling technology for any aspect of life. Of course, this would raise questions far beyond building the software itself! What we learned along the way can be summed up in five building blocks, five factors that are required for a successful project.
These five factors reach far beyond software and deeply into the individual and the collective compass and purpose. They are necessary to provide not only direction but also to navigate the uncertainty that is inherent in building for the unknown future. We packaged these five factors into products that can work standalone and by themselves, but only in combination can they unfold their true nature and full power.
I have heard people say that it is too abstract or too philosophical for them. I have tried hard in the past to respect the wish for making it more concrete and graspable. I put so much work into this because i have seen time and time again that people start at the wrong end, fail, learn and repeat until they have iterated through all five factors, from the wrong end, expending a lot of energy that then was missing for building the vision.
It is easy for me to ask you to trust me on this - to trust me to take it one step at a time, beginning at step one. After all, i went through the entire journey the wrong way multiple times before i knew how to apply what i had learned along the way, again and again. I can't and i won't press you into a specific journey but i want to offer it in the hope that someone out there will use it wisely and avoid the mistakes i had to make.
1. ROOTSFACTOR
It begins with you. Allow me to get philosophical for a moment and allow yourself to follow. A lot is possible in the space of all possible. Now imagine your life as a vector within the space of all possible paths a human life can unfold. Imagine a project somewhere in the vast space of all possible. Pretty eerie, right?
Without knowing your position in this vast space of the possible, without knowing where you want to go, you, your life, your project is a random vector in the space of possibility. It begins with you.
ROOTS is a journey into the inside - a tool for positioning yourself firmly and with confidence in the vastness of this space. Knowing where you stand gives you a foundation, roots, connection - it gives you your ROOTSFACTOR.
2. LUCIDFACTOR
To form a vector in the space of the possible, we need a starting point and an endpoint. LUCID helps you to gaze through the haze of the unknown future and give meaning to the shapes you see.
Most of the things you do in life you don't do alone. Regardless of where the partners in your current project might be in the space of all possible, unless they see the same shapes in the unknown, you are likely going to end up in different places.
LUCID helps you and your partners with this too - it helps you to identify a shared top of the mountain, a shared objective, regardless of how and from what side you are climbing the mountain. Knowing, you are all in the same game, towards the same goal - gives you your LUCIDFACTOR.
3. JUNGLEFACTOR
The path between the here and the there, the now and the then, leads through the JUNGLE. No-one has been here before. You have to navigate and map unknown territory. You have to notice the alligators, snakes and traps before they notice you.
You have to do all of this before the food runs out. Your valuable resources are limited. You need to be precise, direct and avoid anything that might lead you off track. Once you have the map and the tools to warn you of imminent dangers, that is when you have your JUNGLEFACTOR.
4. CHEETAHFACTOR
Moving through the jungle as fast as possible is critical. The faster you learn new things about your new environment, the faster you move towards safety. The best way to explore the new and the unknown is by playing. Playing allows you to act as if things were real.
Acting as if things were real gives you experience in the new without losing ground and connection to the old. As a baby, you started playing walking for about 400 times before you knew enough to actually get some walking done. You never let go of crawling until you felt safe walking.
Learning includes failing, standing up again and trying again. The faster you manage to learn, the faster you know what works and what doesn't. Once you achieve the highest possible learning velocity, that is when you have your CHEETAHFACTOR.
5. CRAFTSFACTOR
Yes, the kid of your aunts gardener also knows how a table works - and yes, there such a thing like Lego - and yes, there is a robot somewhere that knows how to build a table a minute - but that does not mean that building a really good table for you is like playing with Lego. Building really good furniture is an art, a craft that requires experience and constant honing of tools. The same is true for houses, clothing, surfboards, software and any kind or custom production.
Even putting together and managing a team of excellent people to build the result you need can be considered a craft. Once you have the right team, the fitting processes and the best tools, that is when you have a good CRAFTSFACTOR.
Get a factor-analysis for free
We are currently developing the factor-analysis with our partners at Cultura 52 in order to ensure scientific integrity. The analysis will be ready in early 2021. Please reach out to Thomas Schindler if you want to be notified of the launch!