Innovation and (near) perfection

The commemoration of the lunar visit is another reminder that innovation is fuel for progress. Down the bumpy road we're traveling I'm convinced that innovation, not Christ's second coming, will save humanity. The problem with that though, is most humans are a bit slow to pick up and adopt new trends or new technologies. We're incredibly attached with the way things are and really need to be pushed into adopting something that is radically new. Even when improvements are clearly beneficial, most of us will drag our feet to adopt and implement them.

Over the years, it's been clear that successful innovations were the ones that were the most user-friendly, intuitive and properly debugged before they hit the market. Citroën, the French automaker was the poster child for newness going awry; great idea, poor execution; there isn't a day when I see a Toyota Prius or Honda Insight that I'm not reminded of the Citroën's foresight. Apple is the antithesis of that and explains why its iPod and iPhone products were so successful. Bottom line, if innovation is to be successful, better make sure that it passes the test of near-perfection and that it brings compelling progress so users can be nudged into taking that step forward and enjoying the future!