If you think about it, some accidents are actually important. Some are great for innovation. Examples of great discoveries that were discovered by accident include: anesthesia, cellophane, cornflakes, penicillin, photography, and Teflon. The Archimedes Principle of bouyancy? Archimedes himself discovered while relaxing in his bathtub.
Q: Is there a way innovators can encourage good accidents? In other words, is there anything we can control to foster this process?
A: Great question. Artists think they develop a talent for causing good accidents. Equally or perhaps even more important, they believe they cultivate an ability to notice the value in interesting accidents. This is a non-trivial capability. Pasteur called it the “prepared mind.” There’s an interesting analogy to evolutionary models of creativity here. In 1960, a guy named [Donald] Campbell proposed that we think of creativity as “Random variation + Selective Retention.” That is, we need two processes, one to generate things we can’t think of in advance, and another to figure out which of the things we generate are valuable and are worth keeping and building upon. In science, the arts, and other creative activities, the ability to know what to throw away and what to keep seems to arise from experience, from study, from command of fundamentals, and—interestingly—from being a bit skeptical of preset intentions and plans that commit you too firmly to the endpoints you can envision in advance. Knowing too clearly where you are going, focusing too hard on a predefined objective, can cause you to miss value that might lie in a different direction.
The important points mentioned by Professor Robert D. Austin here are:
- Innovation can’t always be planned — accidents happen (isn’t that true about life in general?)
- Be prepared to recognize serendipitous opportunity
- Understand the nature of breakthrough inventions in your industry and plan accordingly
Read more about The Accidental Innovator at HBS Working Knowledge: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5441.html