Slashdot Mirror


The Curse of Knowledge Bogs Down Innovation

Secret of Raising Smart Kids writes ""I have a DVD remote control with 52 buttons on it, and every one of them is there because some engineer along the line knew how to use that button and believed I would want to use it, too," says David Heath, co-author of "Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die." The "curse of knowledge," is the paradox that as our knowledge and expertise increase, our creativity and ability to innovate tend to taper off because the walls of the box we think inside of thicken along with our experience. An article in the NY Times proposes a solution to the curse: bring outsiders with no experience onto teams to keep creativity and innovation on track. When experts have to slow down and go back to basics to bring an outsider up to speed, "it forces them to look at their world differently and, as a result, they come up with new solutions to old problems." Another solution is to force yourself to become a beginner again like making yourself shoot basketball left-handed."

5 of 260 comments (clear)

  1. 52 buttons by niceone · · Score: 4, Funny

    No, his DVD remote has 52 buttons on it because people will really sit down and learn all of those ff/rew/2x/4x/slo-mo/repeat/A-B/loop functions in order to more efficiently find and view the naughty bits of movies.

    1. Re:52 buttons by MR.Mic · · Score: 3, Funny

      What if they made a special kind of movie, where all the parts are naughty?
      That would greatly reduce the strain on the viewer. ...
      HOLY CRAP, I am going to be so RICH!

    2. Re:52 buttons by quizzicus · · Score: 3, Funny

      Binary boolean operators?

    3. Re:52 buttons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny
      "bring outsiders with no experience onto teams"


      Isn't that what management is for?

  2. I don't know much about basketball by Adult+film+producer · · Score: 2, Funny

    so I'll try doing something else with my left hand instead.