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The Rocky Road to Innovative Software Products – An Example

By Gerd Waloszek, SAP User Experience, SAP AG – December 11, 2002

German version

In this article, I would like to present a way of arriving at innovative software products. My thesis will show that creativity, which is often cited, does not come out of thin air, rather from the environment of human activities and needs.

 

Where Do You Get Ideas?

The Easy Web Transactions (EWTs) initiative, now known as Internet Applications Components (IACs), joined SAP's Enjoy initiative for R/3. The aim of this initiative was to develop a few hundred new and simple Web applications. However, it quickly became apparent that this goal primarily faced one problem: there were no good ideas for new Web applications. At first, the initiative relied on "standard" ideas and improved on some older ones, but then it slowly started running dry — good ideas became rare. The situation was similar later on for the MiniApps for the Workplace: everyone suggested the stock ticker and the currency converter, but real new ideas were a rare commodity.

These examples show that good ideas do not come from nothing. You need a climate, surroundings or "primordial soup" in which ideas can be "concocted". According to many thought psychologists, new ideas are created from the novel association of already-familiar contents and ideas. In their opinion, therefore, a basis already exists upon which new ideas can be built. In the case of the EWTs and MiniApps, one possibility of arriving at new ideas — and this applies to other applications as well — would be to find the way to the customer and to their work environment and to keep one's eyes and ears open. Then it is just a question of time until the ideas start flowing. Typically, the round table merely results in ideas that everyone has already come up with previously.

 

And Now Things Get More Methodical

Observation, Intensive Work and Healthy Laziness

One way to arrive at new ideas, therefore, is to observe one's environment well. You can also develop ideas by systematically dealing with your view of particular problems. Luck can also get you going in the right direction. Laziness is also a good source of ideas — but not the kind of laziness where you stubbornly use the old method instead of thinking of a simpler way. Even this strategy can be effective and economical in many cases, especially if you are never going to repeat the activity again, because you do not need to strain your brain and because this stubborn activity can be conducted quickly thanks to enough training. But it is often worth the effort to think about the solutions and to find ways that are simpler and more economical. Then, others can also benefit. Therefore, "healthy laziness", not mental laziness, is a possible source of ideas. In summary, I have described three approaches to creativity: observation, intensive work, and healthy laziness.

Recognizing Patterns

In my opinion, two further abilities are just as important for developing new ideas: recognizing patterns and establishing associations. The ability to recognize patterns or regularities is attributed to inductive thinking. One generalizes one's observations and derives a rule from them, for example: that someone does not want to greet another person because he/she has not done so on two consecutive days. Yet such generalizations based on few examples are dangerous, since the person doing the generalizing often assumes or claims that these generalizations are universal — and this is not the case. In mathematics, only one counter-example is enough to invalidate a hypothesis. However, inductive conclusions are well suited to generate ideas: they provide hypotheses or "mini theories", that is ideas, which we can then process and check against reality. In "normal" life (as opposed to mathematics), it does not matter whether something is 100% correct — we are able to function well with approximations (heuristics) in our "fuzzy" environment. In terms of a product, this means that it is not necessary that everyone purchase this product; instead, an adequate number of purchasers is sufficient.

Establishing Associations

Establishing associations is also an "illogical" activity; in other words, it is non-deductive. This activity is also based on a form of pattern recognition, even if the patterns might come from totally different fields. Being able to recognize the "fit" or analogy here is what many people view as being "creative". It requires a special ability of abstraction, since the level on which the analogy exists is completely open. And another point: you do not have to be an abstract thinker in order to have this ability — associations are often created intuitively or subconsciously.

How does one acquire the skill to establish associations? The associating itself is a subconscious, automatic process — I myself experience it as though a bell has been struck in me. However, a bell can only strike if there is a bell present. This means that experience, gained either through observation or dealing with things, forms the necessary prerequisites for establishing associations. Experience is more than knowledge: it is "processed" knowledge that is linked either consciously or subconsciously to other knowledge. This process is a constant one. Given the right environment and enough time — leisure often helps here — it can also lead to uncommon and novel associations. This brings us back to the beginning — you don't get anything without effort, and this is also true for new ideas.

 

Principles for Successful Products

I have described some approaches that can lead to new ideas. But not every new or innovative idea results in a successful product. There are also differences when it comes to successful products: with some, success comes immediately, while others take years before they conquer the mass market. Of course, business factors also influence the success of a product. But I would like to address more "fundamental" principles here.

One fundamental principle of successful products is that they fulfill basic human needs, for example, they accommodate natural human laziness and make operations simpler or easier. I know, all products promise this. But let's ignore these promises and look at some "bestsellers":

On the question regarding which needs the computer fills, let's limit ourselves to the business world, since this is the field in which SAP sells software. In terms of computer programs, there are at least two groups that notify SAP of their needs: the customers — that is, the companies — and the users of the programs. We have known since Alan Cooper at the latest, that users have their own goals and that these goals do not necessarily agree with those of the employer who purchased the corresponding program. Yet there is an overlapping of interests: for example, if the user wants to have his documents processed by quitting time without any malfunctions, then this is in the employer's best interests as well.

As a result, this brings us to a curious paradox: the combination of innovations — the products — with something archaic: basic human needs, which are as old as humanity itself. This paradox is especially extreme in the software industry; after all, we are dealing with the most modern technology created by humanity.

 

Need: To Make Use of Idle Time

Finally, I would like to give an example and discuss a basic need which I feel is the key for many successful products, sometimes even to the surprise of the products' manufacturers. I am emphasizing this basic need because I believe it is also a constant source of new ideas for software products — and that is ultimately the point at the SAP Design Guild.

In order to raise the level of suspense, I would first like to provide some scenarios (or observations) — and in so doing, return to the starting point of the article — before I name the actual need. What do these people have in common?

All of these people are like the Englishman in Wilhelm Busch's illustrations who travels around with binoculars, according to the motto: "it is nice elsewhere too, and I am already here anyway." These people are trying to optimize their use of time and change unproductive time into productive time. There are many unproductive times in the day of a human being: sleeping, travelling, waiting, meetings.

The need for people to avoid idle time and to fill unproductive time is therefore a possible source of ideas for innovative software products. The hardware industry recently introduced certain products that fulfill this need: mobile telephones, personal portable stereos (Walkman), PDAs, laptops, CD players, (automobile) radios, and televisions. The software industry, on the other hand, depends on appropriate hardware — this hardware must already have been invented before you can equip it with suitable software products. But you do not always need state-of-the-art technology in order to implement innovative software applications. For example, a desktop computer can fulfill the user's need to fill unproductive time if the computer determines information overnight which the user requires the next morning. If, however, the user visits customers the next business day and does not sit at his/her desk in the office, then the desktop computer has to make the information available on time to other devices, be they laptops, PDAs or mobile telephones.

A typical target recipient of software that fills unproductive time is the employee out in the field or the service technician. As it is generally known that time is money, the employee/technician does not just want to optimize their travel route, but they also wants to use the drive itself as preparation for the customer call. They can do this via voice response and voice control or on a monitor (the MIT is currently experimenting with using the windshield as a monitor). Of course, traffic safety must not be jeopardized. In this sense, train and bus travel make things easier for system developers, since the user "lets" themself be driven. A laptop or PDA with Internet access via satellite can collect the necessary data and thus support the employee's preparations for the customer call. Although these kinds of solutions already exist, solutions for the automobile still have to be developed.

 

Summary

The purpose of this article was not to introduce my own ideas for innovative software; rather, I attempted to present the prerequisites and skills that benefit the development of new ideas. These include observation, intensive work with the subject matter or "healthy laziness", as well as the ability to recognize patterns and establish associations.

In order for innovative ideas to result in successful products, it helps to orient oneself on basic principles. One such principle is the fulfillment of basic human needs. I have already presented a basic human need, the filling of unproductive time, which can channel the development of ideas for innovative software products.

Alan Cooper also addressed the importance of human needs in his "goal orientation" principle — the nicest product is of no use if it does not meet the goals and needs of the user.

 

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