In Built to Last, the authors said:
In examining the history of visionary companies we were struck by how often they made some of their best moves not by detailed strategic planning, but rather by experimentation, trial and error, opportunism, and–quite literally accident.
This week I read an interview in Founders at Work with Paul Buchheit of Google. Paul was the creator of Gmail and developed the first Adsense concept. He also suggested the now-famous Google axiom “Don’t be evil.” The part of the interview that stood out most to me was that before Paul began the Gmail project, he didn’t receive a detailed spec with features, as you would expect from a company such as Google and a project of the magnitude of Gmail. Instead, Paul was given the non-specific charter to work on some type of email or personalization project. They just said, “We think this is an interesting area.” Paul went on to create the Gmail email program that has helped to revolutionize email.
Google didn’t try to micromanage Paul Buchheit. They hired a very talented employee, pointed him in a general direction, and then allowed him to do something even more amazing than what they were expecting. Google has done this repeatedly. Each of the Google developers is allowed to spend 20% of their time on a project of their choosing. In this way Google tries many new projects, and then runs with the ones that work.
The authors of Built to Last call this concept “branching and pruning”:
The idea is simple: If you add enough branches to a tree (variation) and intelligently prune the deadwood (selection), then you’ll likely evolve into a collection of healthy branches well positioned to prosper in an ever-changing environment.
Note how essential the pruning step is in this process. If we just try a lot of things and don’t prune, we will have a lot of projects falling somewhere in the mediocre to good range. To have a tree filled with great branches, or a company filled with great projects, we have to discipline ourselves to continuously prune away the less healthy branches or business concepts as we continue to add new branches or ideas.
William McNight was the visionary CEO of 3M, one of history’s most innovative companies. 3M utilized this “branching and pruning” concept extensively to develop products such as Post-It notes and Scotch tape. 3M allowed their team members to sprout tiny “twigs” in response to problems or ideas. Most of these twigs did not develop into anything. However, each twig that showed promise would be allowed to grow into a branch or even a tree.
3M developed a system which created a culture of continuous innovation. The following elements were implemented by 3M to create this systematic innovation:
- 15% Rule - allowing people to spend 15% of their time on projects of their own choosing and initiative. 3M executive Geoffrey Nicholson said “a lot of the things [that led to the Post-it] were accidental.” However, if 3M employees had not been doodling with weird adhesives during their 15% time, 3M would not have invented the Post-it note.
- 25% Rule - 25% of annual sales need to come from products introduced in previous 5 years.
- Golden Step Award - for team members responsible for new 3M business ventures.
- Genesis Grants - internal venture capital to develop ideas.
- Technology Sharing Awards - for team members who developed technology and successfully shared it with other divisions.
- Own Business - 3Mers who championed a new product could get the opportunity to run it as her own project or division.
- New Product Forums - sharing the latest innovations across the company.
- Dual Ladder - allows technical and professional team members to move up without sacrificing their research or professional interests.
- Problem-Solving Missions - small teams sent to customer sites to solve specific problems.
- High Impact Programs - each division selects one to three priority products to get to market in a short time frame.
- Profit Sharing - to stimulate individual investment.
McNight’s philosophy was captured in the following phrases which became part of the 3M culture:
- Listen to anyone with an original idea, no matter how absurd it might sound at first.
- Encourage; don’t nitpick. Let people run with an idea.
- Hire good people, and leave them alone.
- If you put fences around people, you get sheep. Give people the room they need.
- Encourage experimental doodling.
- Give it a try–and quick!
McNight understood that not all experimentation would prove favorable:
Mistakes will be made [by giving people the freedom and encouragement to act autonomously], but… the mistakes he or she makes are not as serious in the long run as the mistakes management will make if it is dictatorial and undertakes to tell those under its authority exactly how they must do their job. Management that is destructively critical when mistakes are made kills initiative and it’s essential that we have many people with initiative if we are to continue to grow.
Johnson & Johnson is another example of effectively implementing this concept of trying a lot of things, keeping the things that work, and quickly getting rid of the things that don’t. R.W. Johnson Jr. said, “Failure is our most important product.” He understood that companies must accept failure as an essential part of this innovation process.
In conclusion, the process of “trying a lot of things, keeping what works and getting rid of what doesn’t work”, if understood and harnessed, can be a powerful process to stimulate progress. For this to work I need to experiment with a lot of ideas, nurture the good ideas, quickly get rid of the ideas that don’t work, and accept failure as an essential element of the innovation process.
Find Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
(source for much of this article: Built to Last)
Posted on April 29th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Book Reviews, Business Management, Entrepreneurship, Google, Innovation, Leadership
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