1 IS1109 – Business Systems Analysis and Visualisation Guy Kawasaki’s “Rules for Revolutionaries”

2 1. Create the Next Curve – Think Different Revolution vs. evolution. 1. Purge – challenge old assumptions and procedures 2. Prod – attack challenges in a way that forces you to consider new solutions Look for powerlessness Separate form and function Work the edges 3. Precipitate – emergence of new solution from thought Be lucky – harvest naïveté, unintended findings and exploit latent potential. Examples:  Amazon.com and traditional booksellers.  Ryanair

3 2. Don’t Worry. Be Crappy “Shift then test” – don’t wait for perfection. Guy Kawasaki on Innovation. Must be 10 times better than existing standard, e.g.:  Laser printer - daisywheel  Telephone – telegraph Great products are  D eep  I ndulging  C omplete  E legant  E vocative

4 Great Teams  Strong leader IQ Emotional intelligence  Idealistic, busy people  Small, separate team  Who to Hire. Who to Hire. Great Practices  Find fault with existing products and services  Go with your gut  Design for yourself  Build prototypes – keep it simple  Ignore naysayers "I'm an educator, I am a motivator of people, I excite their imaginations"

5 3. Churn, Baby, Churn! Rapid improvement of revolution.  Assume you will have to do it – problems will emerge after you ship product.  Fail quickly but last long.  Build in the means to improve/revise – open architecture, redundancy and documentation.  Use your own product/service. Example: MS Windows

6 4. Be prepared to break down barriers A “chasm” exists between the market of early adopters and the market of more pragmatic buyers. - Crossing the Chasm. Geoffrey A. Moore Problems:  Ignorance  Inertia - reluctance to change  Complexity  Channel Issues  Price

7 Solutions:  Enable test-drive/demos  Create a sense of ownership  Outrageous positioning  Jump on existing bandwagon  Deliver “whole product” – Geoffrey Moore Or, do things the old-fashioned way:  Focus on a subset of customers Choose a strategic position: variety-based, needs-based or access-based positioning  Erect Barriers Strategic position requires trade-offs Activities should fit together and reinforce one another - locks out competitors. - What is Strategy? Michael E. Porter (HBR 1996)

8 5. Make Evangelists (not sales) Importance of early adopters – people who “believe” in the product and try to convert others.  e.g. Mac Evangelists  Add emotive sales pitches to a great product  Let people use your product in ways you didn’t imagine.  Seed the clouds and watch the seeds grow. Seed the clouds and watch the seeds grow.

9 6. Defy the death magnets Avoid the common mistakes:  “Our product sucks less”  Creeping adulteration – sacrificing quality for cost  “Kiss of yes” – being afraid to have niche products, trying enter every market  Brand as a hunting license  “Monkey see what gorilla do”.  The best product wins

10 7. Eat like a bird, poop like an elephant Devour information (about industry, customers and competition)  Use amateurs to gather information  Get 1 st hand information – institutionalise the process  Observe instead of asking  Use wide variety of human and other sources Spread the information  To group, company and even competitors (legitimise the revolution)  The more inevitable your type of product or service is, the more you should strive to establish a standard.  Use the web; get all levels of your organisation involved.

11 8. Think digital, act analogue Importance of relationships Use technology carefully Identify the right decision makers:  Go for the people who “get it”  Ignore people’s titles Create a Virtual Community

12 9. Never ask people to do something you wouldn’t do Get over paranoia Empower your employees Put customers in control –give them accurate information and allow them to make decisions Under-promise and over-deliver

Don’t let the bozos grind you down “Everything that can be invented has been invented” - Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899 “640k ought to be enough for anybody” - Bill Gates, 1981 Etc…