Create: != (Not Equal) to Tech Innovation.

I've seen enough strategy canvases/value curves to know that it's common to use Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS) as a smoke-screen for traditional technical innovation. Let's revisit the difference: tech innovation is innovation for the sake of innovation. People will say that isn't true -- that they're adding value -- but the truth is they're usually just knocking out digital or physical widgets with no particular purpose.

The most honest tech innovators will tell you, when asked, that they think something is "cool" and they hope somebody will come along and buy it. Sometimes that does happen, but it's a high-risk hit-or-miss proposition that has a lot of unnecessary business risk, and a healthy dose of heartache when the widget lays dormant.

Create is one of the four-actions framework. It's one of the easiest for those in the tech field to understand, because it superficially sounds a lot like what we've done for a long time. Create is more fun than it's two difficult to deal with cousins, Eliminate & Reduce, and a trap for it's half-sister Raise.

Since Create is so misunderstood I'll share a few of my personal observations. While everything on this blog is my own personal opinion, these observations especially pop out of my own mind: they're not from the book.

First, the good news. Key elements that constitute Create are virtually always rooted in technology. Now, the bad news. The technology is virtualy always transparent: you can't see it and non-technologists don't even know it's there. Let's look at the key components of successful Create elements that I've noticed in other BOS businesses.

1. The created element is always expressed in consumer terms.
2. The element virtually always relies upon technology.
3. The technology is catalytic; that is, the technology allows the product or business developer to build a key element that adds great value to the consumer even though the consumer may not even realize technology is being used.
4. The technology is always mature: nothing new here.
5. The technology is usually being used in a different way than you'll be using it to achieve your killer key element, and often in a different industry.

That's a lot of rules, so let's look at them using some case studies...

The Wiimote. Anybody reading this blog knows the Wiimote is the magic wand of the Wii; the coolest controller ever invented. Like most Create key elements it obviously relies upon technology; specifically the ADXL330 accelerometer. "But of course," you say... "Nintendo's value curve clearly called for an ADXL330 accelerometer." Yeah... Cutting back, the Wiimote is essentially driven by an air-bag controller. The same sensor that figures out whether you've hit a speed-bump or a concrete wall, that tracks the movement of your car, is also used to track your hand as you wave it around controlling Mario and his cohorts. As auto-makers added more and more airbags the price of the technology dropped low enough that Nintendo realized it'd make a great game controller. But our accelerometer is entirely catalytic: it's vital, yet invisible, to the finished product. It existed long before the Wii, but was used in different industries.

Other BOS companies Create elements share similar underlying technology, that's never expressed in tech terms to the consumer. For example, Australian farmers know how to use agri-tech to make sure Yellowtail wine is Yellowtail wine: there's no "plant and guess" going on there. Cirque de Solail, when portable, requires inexpensive power generation and stage management technology. When in Vegas their tech needs are legendary. Yet I've never seen a Cirque de Solail advertisement that trumpets the technology: they'll talk about it on geeky tech videos but that's about it. Think it's a coincidence that there's usually a Starbuck's between you and your office, or that the coffee tastes the same everywhere in the world? It's not; there's incredibly complex geo-mapping technology that goes into that but for those of us strung out on caffeine we don't care about the mapping systems, only that Starbuck's is always "nearby."

And so it goes, over and over again. The technology on those "Create" pegs is vital, but if we ask our innovators to look at the technology they become hypnotized like a teenager gazing into a mirror. Always think about Create from the value it brings about, but -- conversely -- never forget the reality that some seriously unsexy technology can become a great key element of a blue ocean offering.

Repeating: when deciding on a Create key element make it a "Magic Wand" like Nintendo did, but keep in mind it's impossible to actually produce the wand without technology like the ADXL330 accelerometer. Conversely, even my 11 year-old gadget loving son doesn't show much enthusiasm for an accelerometer, but he loves his Wiimote.