A while back I gave a talk on why UX was so difficult to do in the enterprise. I spoke about the empty box problem being a critical factor in determining a company’s ability to do great UX. Simply put, ask a company, how long would it take you to ship an empty box?
This acts as a proxy for understanding the minimum level of resources and process it takes to do something. The larger the company, typically, the longer it will take them.
Lately, I’ve been using Joi Ito’s quote as an adjunct to my empty box test. He states:
“Want to increase innovation? Lower the cost of failure.”
This is the simplest and clearest articulation, I’ve read, on what large companies need to do to innovate.
When most companies realize that it takes them X weeks to ship an empty box, their reaction is “we must become more efficient”. What they need to do is lower the cost of failure.
written by Jon Lax
I think you’ve absolutely hit the nail on the head. You’re dead on when you say “the larger the company, typically, the longer it will take them.”
I think all enterprises, small, medium and large want to increase the innovation of their top talent. Many look to Google and their well known 10% policy, but that seems too broad, possibly too expensive and just risky, unless you’re Google.
I really like the idea of instead focusing on lowering the barriers to innovation and then hopefully seeing some organic attempts at innovation that just might pay off big.
Great post.