Information Warfare — Innovation
Remove Limits. Reverse Conditions. Write Science Fiction.
There are a lot of ways to create innovation. If you're unfamiliar, I recommend starting with the Innovator's DNA to create a team that will lead to disruptive innovation. These 5 skills, as all others, can be practiced and honed. Feel free to use this as a guide.
Jordan's Innovation Process — the full framework at a glance
Step 01
The Right Mindset — Innovator's DNA
There are a lot of ways to create innovation. If you're unfamiliar, I recommend starting with the Innovator's DNA to create a team that will lead to disruptive innovation. These 5 skills, as all others, can be practiced and honed.
The engineering process needs to have enough flexibility to support innovation. Organizations struggle when they're too rigid. Some innovation can be incremental. Some innovation can be extremely wild. The valuable innovation is when it helps achieve success though, as defined by whatever metric or measure is considered valuable.
If you want innovation to be a part of your process or outcome, you'll need to appreciate the outcome enough to invest in it. Risks are involved. Failure is involved.
How do I do it? Remove limits, reverse conditions, and write science fiction. All while being comfortable and having fun.
Associating
Connecting dots across disciplines, industries, and domains that others keep siloed.
Questioning
Challenging assumptions. If it's always been done this way, that's a bug, not a feature.
Observing
Watching how systems, people, and processes actually behave — not how they're supposed to.
Experimenting
Building small, failing fast, and learning faster. The shower is the lab.
Networking
Cross-pollinating ideas by talking to people outside your lane.
Step 02
Filling the Three Buckets
Base Knowledge
Learn about everything. From an engineering viewpoint, process, properties, interactions, and dependencies are all useful bits of info for figuring out why things are the way they are.
Idea Bucket
This is the graveyard of ideas — some bad, some good, some just weird. From an engineering viewpoint, this is a bucket of system of systems components. If you had a bucket of blocks, what could you build?
Problem Towers
This is the stuff that is annoying, slow, expensive, or broken. Some problems are fundamental and if you can solve the big ones, little ones go away too.
Step 03
Stir the Pot
What do you want to learn, ideate about, or solve? Take something from each bucket and see what happens when they collide.
Can I Create a New Shower?
A full process walkthrough — Waterless Personal Hygiene System
Problem Towers (Bucket C)
I'm tired of taking showers. Utility bills are on the rise. Water is never the perfect temperature. Camping showers are awful. My skin is never happy with me. Soaps are getting ridiculous. Shower technology hasn't really changed in a long time. If water is unclean, so can be the washing.
Associating (Idea Bucket)
I like to start with Association... I think Tank Girl's sand shower is intriguing. Would sand get caught in your crevices though? I'd hate the beach feel to be the normal feel. Star Trek showers seem impractical even with artificial gravity considering the serious concerns with limited water. Baby wipes work pretty good for camping, but it seems wasteful and surface level clean.
Questioning
Observing
It probably won't work out for me to go watch a lot of people take showers. My multiple decades of experience should be enough here — but I've even taken lake baths, so maybe I'm unusual.
Experimenting
I really want to build this.
Networking
I have a few friends in the medical and outdoors fields that would have some good ideas and insight.
Base Knowledge Applied
Step 04
Component Research
Technology is definitely heading in a supported direction.
The abrasive medium delivery system
Sand Blasting Gun
Sand blasting does pretty good at removing things on a surface.
TCP Global Brand Air Sand Blasting Gun with Sand Recovery System (Includes Abrasive)
View on AmazonSterilization & odor elimination
Ozone Generator
Ozone is great at sterilizing and breaking down odors — like in clothing or cars.
Enerzen Ozone Generator 11,000mg Industrial O3 Air Purifier Deodorizer
View on AmazonSkin-safe blasting medium
Silica Gel Desiccant
Silica Gel Desiccant can be nice to the skin while absorbing.
wisedry 1.2 LBS Silica Gel Desiccant Beads Bulk with Color Indicating, Bead Size 2–4mm, Rechargeable
View on AmazonUltraviolet disinfection
UV Light Sanitizer Wand
UV light has excellent sanitization and breaking-down capabilities.
VANELC UV Light Sanitizer Wand, Portable UVC Travel Wand Ultraviolet Disinfection Lamp Without Chemicals
View on AmazonThe Prototype Concept — Innovated 2022
Can I build a sand (silica gel) blasting shower with ozone and ultraviolet light sanitizing nozzle? It was innovated here in 2022. Will it ever get approved for human use? Not my problem. I just innovated it.
Except, the components listed are pretty affordable. Maybe I can prototype this out for less than $500 in parts. Maybe I can sell them for $1,000. Maybe a cheaper model could be made for under $50. Maybe they could work for a million showers. Maybe they could be provided to 3rd world countries to help hygiene efforts across the globe.
I just really wanted to be able to go camping for more than a week and not feel gross — but maybe a billion people can have a longer life expectancy... all because of Tank Girl taking a science fiction shower.
~$500
Prototype parts est.
~$1,000
Retail target
<$50
Budget model
Step 05
Feed It Back Into Engineering
Tie this back into an engineering lifecycle:
What power does the best for sandblasting skin?
What size of beads work the best?
How much Ozone is a good amount?
How much creates too much respiratory discomfort?
What frequency and level of UV light is required?
Does it work well? How quiet? How heavy?
Prototype
Build the smallest thing that proves the concept.
Test
Does it work? Under what conditions?
Measure
What are the metrics? What does success look like?
Iterate
What did you learn? What changes? Loop.
Validate
Does it solve the original problem?
Scale
Make it real. Or kill it. Both are valid.
We Apply This Process To
If you would like to receive some innovation coaching or include me in a project, feel free to reach out.
— Jordan