InfoCompanions » Prototype

Yes, You Can Innovate Like Google

Himanshu Sharma — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 06:00:00 +0000

The words “Google” and “Innovation” have been used numerous times in the last few years… and all of us undoubtedly admire “The Google Way”, their talent acquisition, management and retention strategies etc. However, we usually shy away from adoting a subset of those ideas, with the usual answer - “we’re different”. In this video, Tom Davenport describes how Google uses chaos to quickly move from prototype to finished product, tolerates a high failure rate in order to ensure bigger success, and gets the most from knowledge workers. He also asserts that more companies can, and should, borrow elements of Google’s innovative approach to business.

Click here to view the embedded video.

About Tom Davenport:
Tom Davenport holds the President’s Chair in Information Technology and Management at Babson College, where he also leads the Process Management and Working Knowledge Research Centers. His books and articles on business process reengineering, knowledge management, attention management, knowledge worker productivity, and analytical competition helped to establish each of those business ideas. His website is tomdavenport.com.

BumpTop 3D Desktop Prototype

Himanshu Sharma — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 07:00:00 +0000

BumpTop is a fresh and engaging new way to interact with your computer desktop. You can pile and toss documents like on a real desk. Break free from the rigid and mechanical style of standard point-and-click desktops. Interact by pushing, pulling and piling documents with elegant, self revealing gestures. BumpTop’s stunning interface makes clever use of 3D presentation and smooth physics-based animations for an engaging, vivid user experience.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In addition to its raw play-with-me fun , BumpTop is also an inspiring example of unconventional thinking. The BumpTop world is a physical space, where traditional point-and-click movement is replaced with a more literal “push and pull” approach, and the icons each possess a weight that reflects their relative importance. Meanwhile, commands are executed via a novel set of pen/stylus shortcuts that go well beyond the limited click-and-drag way of doing things.

Even if you’re not quite ready to trade your olde tyme desktop for the BumpTop experience, the interface’s unexpected approach to problem-solving is sure to bump-start your thinking in new and unusual directions.