Kickbox, Adobe's "basic income" to transform people into innvoators
I've attended a Kickbox session at Adobe.
I wanted to share some learnings with you.
Transform all Adobe employees into innovators.
Adobe seeks ideas nobody else can do, ideas providing an unfair advantage to Adobe.
Why not just letting employees suggest ideas in an “idea box”?
Because the idea without the "ideaer" is useless. Adobe doesn’t need a database of ideas. It needs innovators driving ideas from a zen statement to a productised feature.
Why do I say it's like basic income?
Because each participant to a Kickbox session receive 1000 dollars to work on its projet. No control on money spending. Adobe give full confidence to its staff. It makes me think of basic income principle!
And the good thing is that as a Kickbox trainee, getting this sum motivates me! I feel I need to make great things in exchange of this generous gift!
Gathering feedback tips
- No idea survives the first contact with a customer intact. It’s important to confront ideas to customers, peers.
- Having 1 data point, 1 feedback is 10000% better than 0 data point. Never rely on thinkings/theory.
- When interviewing people, don’t ask them to whether your product interests them. Indeed, as soon as you do this you raise a false interest in your product. Example: if you ask people if sometimes they feel their feet are more comfortable in one of their shoes and less in another, they’ll say yes! They say it’s true! The quick conclusion is that there is a market for selling shoes with slightly different size as everybody has a foot bigger than the other. But in reality, nobody care and nobody will buy it.
- When interviewing people, don’t ask them general things at it’ll lead to vague answers and usually biased/embellished ones. Instead, you should ask precise data points. Example: How do you feel your kids? Usual answer: with good food, vegetables, organic stuff. If you ask instead “what did you kids ate yesterday at lunch? Burger, fries, sunny delight :)
Pitching tips
- When pitching an innovation, no need to show a mock, show a theoric business plan, you need to show customers liking it and ready to pay for it.
- When your pitch duration is 20 minutes, don’t speak for 19 minutes, speak for 5 and then discuss.
