There are undeniable examples of creativity and innovation we can all see. These capture the public imagination and help show us what’s possible. Space X and their sci-fi vertical landing booster rockets, the original iPhone setting the standard for mobile computing, the animation technology that brings the latest Marvel blockbuster to life. This list could go on for a very long time.
But let’s raise a glass to the unsung heroes of creativity, the people innovating on things that are harder to see, harder for people without a deep understanding of the context to appreciate. The behind the scenes innovation that powers the show up-front.
People look at Google and quite rightly think of how they changed search, but the thing that made it all possible, (and very profitable) was how they leveraged their technological advantage to raise the bar for online advertising – making it more contextual, more relevant and higher quality.
People see and hear the seamless music streaming experience that Spotify creates, but what they don’t see is how it organises its teams to deliver it. Constantly intreating, testing, experimenting and rolling out features, not in grand updates, but changes to experience so small most users never notice.
Project management tool Basecamp provides a great solution to organisational clutter, growing from 45 users in 2004 to nearly 3m accounts now. They were able to accomplish this sustainable growth partly through focus on the wellbeing of their people; paying in the top 5% of salary brackets, 4 day work weeks in summer, subsidised healthy food, month-long sabbaticals every 3 years, continuing education allowances, a culture of not working more than 40 hours per week… the list goes on. It’s no wonder they attract and retain top talent.
Heres to the unsung heroes of unsexy innovation.