I had a very vague understanding about innovation and trying to get good perspective by reading books, sharing experiences and seeing innovation live. Innovation is all about seeing things differently when your trousers go down :-). In my life, I had a great opportunity to live very closely with a person, who, in my perspective is very innovative. She is my elder sister who always moves through the problems to find solutions. She literally sees things in a different angle and many times she solved my problems. She has a great skill - she can simplify a problem and register the problem/solution at a very abstract level so that it can be applied to a different unrelated problem.
Innovation is about abstraction and simplification. You are working on a problem and it is highly likely that you will come up with a solution. This experience gets registered in your mind. Whenever you encounter a similar problem, you just apply it. You become machine. But on the other hand, the innovation is more about applying your experience and learning to a totally unrelated problem. That is humane. The first step towards innovation is simplification and abstraction. Then comes, the application of acquired knowledge.
Innovation is about abstraction and simplification. You are working on a problem and it is highly likely that you will come up with a solution. This experience gets registered in your mind. Whenever you encounter a similar problem, you just apply it. You become machine. But on the other hand, the innovation is more about applying your experience and learning to a totally unrelated problem. That is humane. The first step towards innovation is simplification and abstraction. Then comes, the application of acquired knowledge.
