Twoogle?

TechCrunch is pumping up the idea of a Google acquisition of Twitter. Kara Fisher pours cold water on the idea.

Back in February the same idea was briefly noted on this blog here.

My key question -- beyond the personalities and dramatic cat and mouse game with GOOG, MSFT and other digital leaders like Facebook, Twitter and their financiers -- is about the potential integration of these companies. There is more to an aquisition than APIs and additional cubicle space.

At least superficially, Twitter is innovating its search, Twitpic, Twistori and related product lines and compelementary services precisely because it is small and can do so. With only 7m members and a relatively "new" feeling at the company, innovation can flourish in a hyperspeed Darwinian fashion. At Facebook or Google, the massive installed base of users and the -- relatively speaking -- maturity of the firms, their internal processes and culture are in a different catagory.

Kawasaki on Teaching Innovation.

A write up of a recent Guy Kawasaki speech on teaching innovation is here.

I am particularly persuaded by numbers 3 and 5. When he counsels to "jump to the next curve," he running against the grain which so often drives us all toward incremental improvements. Incremental improvement is great, but it won't change the world and nor will it save a company. Regression toward the mean applies to firms and their adaptability of new business models, cost structures etc. just as much as it does all of those statistical tests you ran in college. Radical innovation -- systemic innovation, not incremental innovation -- requires a firm to become an outlier.

Surprising to me that he has no mention of how successful innovation requires a tolerance for failure. Excellent innovation practices are like excellence in other areas of human endeavor -- hard to master and requiring a great deal of practice. We all get it wrong sometimes. Pick up the pieces and move on with new insights on how to get it right.

The end of the essay has a list of things he would have educators teach kids. This too is interesting. In particular, numbers 3, 9, and 10 resonated with me. RE: One page report. During my first internship so many years ago, I was told that the most important skill for success in Washington policy circles was the ability to write an outstanding one page memo. It is still true today.

Create an Innovation Environment at Your Workplace.

Idea Champions provides a thought provoking list of steps to help create more innovation in the workplace.

In particular, I was captured by numbers 3, 5, 13, 40, 41 and 48. Number 17 is full of insight.

Unfortunately, innovation is not something can be opened up and simply installed in your organization. On the other hand, there is a management literature on the topic and concrete steps available to improve your situation. This list is a handy compendium to get you going.

Rubel on FriendFeed.

Steve Rubel has a reputation for being something of the ur-blogger on public affairs work. Today he lauds the potential for FriendFeed. He is big enough, and good enough, to both note and set trends.

One thing about this post caught my eye. In response to a comment to the blogpost, Rubel writes:

"I remember when Ev showed me Twitter in a cab in Seattle in December 06. I thought it was going nowhere and, boy was I wrong. But now FF is basically innovating faster and changing the game."

The rate of innovation is a hard metric to capture, but imperative to instill in corporate DNA.