Interesting article by Ms. Cramm.

>IT struggles to extract "good enough" requirements from users. According to Hippel, this can be resolved by providing users with innovation toolkits and studying the innovations that result.<

Those two words, "good enough" always made me cringe, especially when I heard them coming from someone responsible for designing a product or process. To me it means that something more could be done, but I choose not to.

There have been see more times where I would have liked to provide certain managers with an "innovation toolkit". The toolkit would have been a working brain. Too many managers spend too much time focusing on their own self importance and trying to impress those close to them, and they fail to encourage creativity within their realm. In that environment, innovation slows to a crawl, but it's typical of many large corporations. It's what drove me away from the corporate scene into self employment.

Some of the most brilliant innovations, have come from small businesses, or individuals. Those were the good old days. Now many true innovators are trapped in a work environment where "good enough" is the mission statement. Too many people are so used to inferior products that were just rushed out the door, they have grown to just accept those products as the norm. So yes, pointing out the flaws in a product or process is good, but it needs to happen during the design cycle... not after that product hits the shelves.