Catherine Tosko from SPR has published a review of my book at:
http://www.selfpublishingreview.com/blog/2012/12/review-5-core-methods-of-innovation-by-sanjeev-sharma/
A very honest review, I feel, I am also copying it here:
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Did you know bees can smell bombs? Or that it could soon be possible
to fly from the US to Japan in 30 minutes? Would you like to know
exactly how your Kindle works? How could a tree be related to a laptop?
Did you know there is a handshake invented to combat Swine Flu? And is
SMS more popular in Asia due to people having thinner fingers? Would you
like to know how to build a well without going down a hole?
Sanjeev
Sharma, a New York-based consultant and US citizen who moved from India
in the 90′s, gives insights into all these questions in his book,
5 Core Methods of Innovation.
The
book is a real treasure trove of facts, absolutely soaked in a Who’s
Who of everyone in the world of innovation from Thomas Edison to Amazon
to Steve Jobs, and outlines how they made it happen in a bitesize
format, with examples of their best work, which is a great potted
history for any reader, as we discover their business and design
techniques that made their products and services household names. Also
we get a great case study of many dot.coms that made it big.
A
fantastic study piece, Sharma lays out the principles of innovation and
their related disciplines, such as Addition Framework (adding a feature
for innovation, such as the frame to the lenses for glasses, an eraser
to the end of a pencil), Subtraction Framework (streamlining features or
taking them away) Disruptive Innovation (such as what the product
cannot do) as well as talking about ergonomics and efficiency, which are
cornerstones of the innovation principle in degree level education,
and, more importantly, the pen-to-paper application of these principles,
which is vastly welcome in this type of book, and over more, rare. The
writer has obviously come across this oversight in other academic texts
and thoughtfully given his student readers a real guide to getting on
with it ‘on the ground’. I wish I had read this when studying for my
degree in design in London!
Another great point for this book is
the questions laid out for design success, such as, “Is the product a
status symbol to own now?” or “What is the existing usable life of the
product?” Seem like obvious questions, but as any innovation student
will know, not asking yourself this type of thing before you start the
design process often ends in one of the millions of rubbish products
with no purpose that end up being scrapped or land up in dollar stores
with a huge loss of capital.
There is also an erudite and
interesting section on business methodology, describing techniques used
by successful companies to innovate businesses, which covers matrix
organization and Six Sigma in a way that anyone can understand,
including links to any relevant websites and information outside of the
book itself, along with a steady description of nearly every social
networking tool and device we use in business and leisure today, as well
as giving first hand insights into some of the fascinating gadgets
being used in India today, and “fun stuff” like how to store ice without
a freezer, how to light a fire without a match and build a well using
simple techniques really gives the reader some food for thought for
application in the modern world.
I especially devoured the
sections of financial concepts such as reverse mortgage and trading
because they are concepts that have evaded me up until now. I found them
easy to follow and backed up with evidencial story telling to make the
ideas stick.
This book is written by someone highly knowledgeable
in his field but it falls down on grammar and punctuation because it is
clear the author is not first language English and has not had the book
edited or proofread before publication, a problem for some of the
heavier text, as well as the lack of consistent formatting for titles
and sub-headings etc. The paperback version has been professionally
edited, and should be picked up by many academic libraries.
The
photos could afford to be page size, as they do show fun ways to
innovate, but are not very easy to see on a Kindle, but maybe this is
down to delivery costs for the book: in which case I do not blame the
author for keeping them small.
This book has, however, the
potential to make it as part of tertiary education material as a solid
introduction to innovation, and is also in my opinion, almost mandatory
101 reading for any company leader whose vision is to improve any part
of their business model, with chapters on consumer psychology, culture
and localization, vendor vs. consumer centric models and profitability
containing some real gems of knowledge that can be a great set of
soundbites for any business related situation where knowing it all comes
in handy.
I am glad I read this book, and will be taking some of
the knowledge forward in my everyday working life and also personal life
in some areas. I feel enriched in many disciplines and able to apply
the methods across the board. Recommended.
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Catherine
Tosko is a British ex-pat living in Spain. Formerly an editor in
London, she now makes documentaries about social issues in Europe. Her
first book, The Bull and The Ban - The Book is about the Catalan ban on
bullfighting in 2012, exploring the moral issues and interviewing
matadors, writers, activists and politicians on the subject. She lives
in Andalusia with her husband and is a vegan, since filming in
slaughterhouses during her film. She will be translating her book into
Spanish and Catalan for release this year.
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