Joyce Wycoff writes:
>Does that mean we're entering the "Innovation Age?"
>
>If so, what are the skills we need to thrive
>in the Innovation Age? Are they different than those
>required in the "Information Age?"
Joyce,
If innovation age means a time of rapid innovation and a very high level
of technological change, many companies have been living in that age for
several years. Rapid innovation IMO requires systems thinking. For
example, my experience with information technology developers is that they
are very good at introducing new technology, frequently well before it is
ready for prime time. If the IT shop is part of a fast-paced, high-margin
business, application developers and engineers are in a constant state of
change, always rolling out the newest and latest. And if the need is
strong enough, everything will be engineered and developed in a RAD
manner.
However, this rapid and constant introduction of new technology ignores
two very important feedback loops. The first is the cost of maintaining
and supporting new technology. The span of expertise required in a large
IT shop is enormous. Finding people with knowledge and experience in each
new technology is incredibly difficult. The sheer amount of new
technology added to the environment has a very large impact on the cost of
service and maintenance. The second feedback loop involves the quality of
the new technology when installed. Support costs are very sensitive to
the quality of the installed base. We should expect very significant cost
increases if the release is still buggy; if there is not good
documentation from both the vendor and the installing developers; if there
are not adequate tools for remote monitoring, diagnosing and debugging;
and so on.
As wave after wave of new products wash through Corporate Information
Technology departments, systems thinking, modeling and simulations are all
important to help both the developers and the business clients understand
that rapid deployment of new technology is good, but carries a very high
price for support after delivery.
Mike....
--___________________ | Michael A. Gort | | 203-316-9454 | | mail18081@pop.net | |__________________ |
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>