There’s a useful rule of thumb in product innovation which says that there’s nothing truly new under the sun.
Paradoxically, innovative or breakthrough products often reuse existing technologies or solutions in different or creative ways that haven’t been thought of before.
Another corollary to this is the infamous quote by science fiction author William Gibson when he wrote “the future is already here, it is just unevenly distributed.”
When setting out to build any new solution, it can be overwhelming to figure out how all the different pieces fit together to form a single product.
If you’re involved in developing your own breakthrough product there is a strong probability that some of its ideas or technology have already been used in other applications.
Knowing this can help accelerate your product development and help you save time and money in three ways:
- Use existing solutions – technologists and product designers have already solved millions of problems; re-use what’s already available, don’t reinvent the wheel!
- Look at complementary solutions in other industries – often there are common problems shared by different industries which are solved with similar products.
- Learn from the mistakes of others – if you’re having problems with a particular element there’s a good chance that others did too; learn from their experience.
Given that there is nothing new under the sun, take some time to look at how other companies have developed similar products and apply their lessons to your product.
