Creativity as an Iterative Process

Prepared for MGT150 Technology ManagementUC Davis, Feb 2010

Yee Lee www.linkedin.com/in/yeeguy

Product Manager

Investor/Advisor

Entrepreneur In Residence

Surgeon General's Warning:This talk primary applies to consumer internet companies.

CREATIVITY THEORY

Brainstorming Best-practicesBrokeringChallenge

Supp

ort

Freedom

DiversityEncouragement

Incentives

Risk-takingRep

eated

Trial

s

Umm, why are we doing this?

Why not just start here?

Creative Business Tasks

Business planningMarket-entry segmentationProduct/website information architectureMarketing call-to-action contentChoosing a color palletHow to implement a query functionHow to keep your team motivated

Common characteristics● Non-deterministic impact on business goal● No clear “correct” a priori solution

How to manage and evaluate creativity in dynamic businesses?

● Partial/ambiguous goals● Unbounded solution space

Evolutionary Strategies

Iteration & LearningDiversityIncrements & RevolutionsThink: loops, not linear flows

YOU ARE HERE

Jump forward? Look for mines?Step left? Shout for help?

If (slope > 0) {1 step forward}Else {rotate 30 right}

Wireless Data Encryption

Financial Data Encryption Wireless

Money Transfers

Email Payments

Email Payments for eBay Sellers ???

Desktop Realtime

Photosharing

Desktop Chat

Desktop Newsticker

Screensaver NewstickerScreensaver

Games

MySpace Photosharing Facebook

Apps ???

Value of Creativity

Diversity of testable ideas → provable or negatable

Impactful, normative testse.g., “double-down” or “fold”

Testing ConceptsTest vs. Control (A/B split tests)Measurable outcomes (analytics)Statistical significance (Chi square)Cohort analysisCompetitive benchmarking

Crap. Now what?

Creative AdvantagePaceRun quick & cheap experimentsFast decision-making

ConsistencyRepeatable experimental processWillingness to drop losing ideas

MotivationHigh morale, despite repeated failureIncentives and games

Rapid Iteration ResourcesSteve BlankFour Steps to the Epiphany (available on Amazon.com)www.sgblank.com

Eric Reiswww.startuplessonslearned.com

Sean Elliswww.startup-marketing.com

Google:“customer development”“lean startup”“minimum viable product”

Creativity as an Iterative Process