What makes a computer application great? This is a question we’ll come back to again and again so today, let’s set the stage for this conversation.
Computer applications are at their core, a set of procedures, laid out in a form a computer can process. They’re interactive, responding to input from the user, the computer itself, and sometimes outside networks. Applications are programmed to respond in certain ways to this input in order to accomplish tasks. These responses are decided upon in advance by the programmer based on the function the application will play in the user’s life.
In sum, computer programs are interactive automated procedures that attempt to play some predefined role in a user’s life. What separates a decent application from a great one is simply the significance of that role. Great applications are indispensable to their users.
So what does it take to make a great application? Innovation. Unfortunately, too many companies mistake incremental improvements for innovation. They take existing software and improve upon it in fairly straightforward ways:
- Speeding it up
- Keeping it simple
- Selling it cheaper
- Making it prettier
These things don’t ultimately change the core functionality of the product though; they only make it better at doing whatever it was supposed to do in the first place. True innovation is not as simple as improving a product in only one or two of these four ways. A talented developer can still make money on incremental improvements. But what’s really rare (and most valuable) is finding someone who can innovate to solve a problem.
The best, most innovative solutions are the ones that involve a completely new way of approaching or tackling a problem. We are constantly facing hundreds of problems in our lives. We ask ourselves the question, “why couldn’t you just do things another way?” And I think most people, when pressed on how they would do things differently and better, will give you some really interesting answers. A chef may have a new ingredient he wants to try in an important sauce, a coworker may suggest completely cutting down on meetings, or a teacher may want to teach a subject through the lens of a completely separate field. Innovation comes in all forms, so what I’m talking about here doesn’t just apply to computing. The concept is essential to coming up with the best solution to any sort of difficult problem.
The problem is that not enough companies innovate. I believe this is because true innovation takes an incredible amount of courage. And most people are afraid. It can be really difficult to present a completely novel way of addressing a problem, to fully convince yourself that you came up with a solution no else thought of, and to get over that overwhelming sense of self doubt. It takes guts to put everything at stake – your time, your money and your reputation – and create that product, driven only by the belief that your solution is the correct one. Yet this is the only way to create a great application.
The best developers create software to completely alter the way people do things. That incredibly ambitious goal cannot be achieved without the courage to innovate.
Next week, we’ll take a look at a couple applications that have dared to redefine the way we use our computer. I hope their success will not only give you the opportunity to manipulate your computer in new ways, but also remind you that there are a few people today creating some amazing products.
Another great post. I particularly like your point about the difficulty of having the audacity to believe that you came up with something know one else has. I think that we would have a lot more innovation if people were encouraged to be presumptuous rather than timid. I myself have come across this problem a number of times. I actually had a professor (one I liked!) tell me that the solution to a film theory problem I was proposing couldn’t be accurate because “with all the great minds that have tackled this problem, it simply isn’t possible that you came along and solved it.” He was so sure of this that he clearly did not give much thought to my idea, which was (believe it or not) an actual solution to the problem. I think the most appalling aspect of this event was not what he said to me, but the tone in which he said it. His attitude was not simply to dismiss my idea but to attempt to make me feel ashamed of the fact that I actually thought I could make a difference. He was in many ways a good teacher, but I actually kind of think he should have been put in jail for this. Trying to convince a developing mind to give up trying to innovate should seriously be a war crime. The worst things is that the biggest obstacle to innovation often becomes my own resistance to believing that I have a good idea, which usually takes the form of hearing this professor’s (and everyone else who has taken this attitude towards me) voice in my head telling me “who do you think you are? I can’t even even fathom the increased innovation we would see if students were, as a rule, encouraged to think that they are all potentially capable of seeing things that no one else has seen.
You hit the nail on the head Sam. It’s making that leap and believing that you actually have something truly innovative, that can easily become the barrier to seeing it through.
Honestly though, if this is what you are struggling with, you’re probably in a much better position than all the developers knowingly making insignificant and incremental improvements to existing ideas.
I relate to your professor story. I think we’ve all had that professor at some point.
I agree - it’s too easy to keep making small incremental improvements on prior applications rather than truly being innovative and taking a risk. Ironically, I think the biggest biggest leaps of faith - the greatest innovations - come when the chips are down economically. When things are going really well, people look too much to investors to fund their projects (which is great on the one hand, but often investors tend to be more conservative with their money and fund projects that are spin offs of the things that have already been done and have created revenue. The best apps tend to come from a couple of people banding together and doing something that they believe in, often out of necessity on their own dime, and not listening to what the investors think is “safe.”
Furthermore, it’s having the foresight to go against what people think they want and creating what you know they will want if they just have the opportunity to see it working. Henry Ford is famous for saying:
It’s a good thing he didn’t. We as application developers need to have the courage to go with our gut and create strong innovative applications that people might not realize they need now, but later on can’t have imagine living without.
Can’t wait to see what examples you draw on in your next post!