Pattern of Innovation: Riak Usage at Best Buy (Joel Crabb, RICON2012)

Innovation, innovation, innovation! We all hear the innovation term thrown around daily when talking about various ideas, projects, companies, etc. But innovation is a studied science, it has been thoroughly researched and often follows a specific pattern. The pattern of innovation is fascinating and it is playing out right now at Best Buy. Riak has been an integral part in the transformation push to re-platform Best Buy's eCommerce platform. Riak's architecture has helped Best Buy build and operate its new platform with Riak playing a key role.

From a strategic perspective, the growth of both the use of Riak and the use of the services exposed through Riak fall directly into the pattern of innovation.

Transcript

1. Riak Usage at BestBuy.com Pattern of Innovation Thursday, November 1, 12
2. Joel Crabb, Chief Architect, BestBuy.com What I do: • Build scalable business platforms • Build developer-focused work environments • Innovate (hopefully) 10 Second Background Check Thursday, November 1, 12
3. Agenda Define Innovation Innovation is a Pattern The Pattern at BestBuy.com How Riak supported the Pattern Thursday, November 1, 12
4. “Lives are about imagination and what we can create.” ~ Ed Freeman Lecture on Corporate Social Responsibility 6/2011 Thursday, November 1, 12
5. The products and/or technologies that change their industry or create new industries. Innovation Defined Thursday, November 1, 12
6. Ideas are innovative Products are the innovation What is Innovative? Thursday, November 1, 12
7. Example: Rethink the game of fetch with your dog Innovative Ideas Thursday, November 1, 12
8. Product Innovation Thursday, November 1, 12
9. Incremental Change Category Expansion Copying What's Not Innovative? Thursday, November 1, 12
10. Indoor Chuckit - Category Expansion Thursday, November 1, 12
11. Innovation is scored by the marketplace Innovation is defined after products are created Innovation changes industries or creates new ones Innovation Thursday, November 1, 12
12. The Consumer Decides Which Products are Innovations Thursday, November 1, 12
13. Thursday, November 1, 12
14. At Best Buy, we've decided that we must differentiate ourselves in core ECommerce technology We have been a retail company We will be a technology company that does retail Innovation Will Happen Thursday, November 1, 12
15. Why Ecommerce Technology? Clayton Christensen on architecture: “Companies that compete with proprietary, interdependent architectures must be integrated” ~ Christensen, Clayton, The Innovator’s Solution, p. 129 Thursday, November 1, 12
16. Where do you start? Thursday, November 1, 12
17. Recognize that innovation has a pattern Look for the pattern inside your own company Thursday, November 1, 12
18. The Innovation Journey Andrew Van de Ven Douglas E. Polley Raghu Garud Sankaran Venkataraman The Pattern of Innovation Thursday, November 1, 12
19. Initiation Development Implementation/Termination Innovation Periods Thursday, November 1, 12
20. Gestation Shock Plans Initiation Period Thursday, November 1, 12
21. Particular ideas resurface and are rehashed for years, often with many variations Multiple coincidental developments set the stage for an innovative product or business Initiation Period - Gestation Thursday, November 1, 12
22. Gestation - BestBuy.com The operations team had speculated for 5-6 years on how to remake its ECommerce systems Development was extremely difficult A Web Architecture team was formed in the Dotcom business unit in 2010 Thursday, November 1, 12
23. What ideas constantly resurface in your company over the span of years? “Many new innovative ideas may be generated but are not acted on in an organization until some form of shock occurs. Shocks served to concentrate attention and focus the efforts of diverse stakeholders in the organization.” ~ Van de Ven, p. 28-29 Finding the Pattern Thursday, November 1, 12
24. Initiation Period - Shock Shocks are incidents either internal or external that cause the company to change how it evaluates ideas The company must change its business model and create new products to survive Thursday, November 1, 12
25. Shock to the System Innovative Ideas Emerge Shock - BestBuy.com Thursday, November 1, 12
26. Are you the champion? "During opportune moments, these champions offered their organizations an idea or project as the vehicle to solve a crisis or exploit a commercial opportunity." ~ Van de Ven, p. 27 Finding the Pattern Thursday, November 1, 12
27. Also called the Roadshow or Finding executive sponsorship The idea has created enough momentum that you are now planning the budget and roadmap Initiation Period - Plans Thursday, November 1, 12
28. Plans - BestBuy.com We developed financials and a roadmap to migrate off our proprietary system in 3 years To get organizational commitment we promised to complete the project in 18 months Thursday, November 1, 12
29. Plans - Reality “ A second consequence of the initial investment process is that it created unattainable performance expectations for most innovation projects studied” ~ Van de Ven, p. 30 Thursday, November 1, 12
30. Are you truly passionate? Reality check: this is difficult Find anyone with organizational power and present your idea, budget, timeline and expected business benefit Finding the Pattern Thursday, November 1, 12
31. Intertwined Phases Proliferation Setbacks Criteria Shift Development Period Ongoing Concerns Wide Participation Sponsors/Executives Developing Relationships Infrastructure Development Thursday, November 1, 12
32. Proliferation - ideas and scope multiply once you have funding Setbacks - nothing goes smoothly the first time Criteria Shift - redefine success Intertwined Phases Thursday, November 1, 12
33. Can you focus in chaos? The environment will try and force mediocrity on your idea, you must retain the innovative kernel and focus on industry changing innovation Executing the Pattern Thursday, November 1, 12
34. Wide Participation - individuals from all parts of business work on the project Sponsors/Executives - frequent steering committee meetings Developing Relationships - support needed throughout organization and externally Infrastructure Development - key components are need both internal and external Ongoing Concerns Thursday, November 1, 12
35. Infrastructure Development Key components and tools are needed External partners co-develop infrastructure Riak and the Pattern Thursday, November 1, 12
36. Requires communication and community "The industry infrastructure for an innovation system does not emerge and change all at once by the actions of one or even a few key individuals." ~ Van de Ven, p. 162 Infrastructure Development Thursday, November 1, 12
37. Executing the Pattern Identify infrastructure you can create and infrastructure others can create for you. Infrastructure may be public, government established, or created jointly with competitors. Thursday, November 1, 12
38. Product Catalog was a proprietary system Data is inaccessible outside of Dotcom The product data is the fulcrum for moving BestBuy.com off the proprietary system Infrastructure - BestBuy.com Thursday, November 1, 12
39. We selected Riak in 2010 because: • Designed for redundancy • Masterless • Scalable Riak as Product Catalog However the main reason was we felt that Basho would work with us Thursday, November 1, 12
40. Worked with us to improve: Search Replication Tuning Co-Development occurred Basho - Infrastructure Partner Thursday, November 1, 12
41. Implementation or Termination Once in production or once the product launches, the market decides Or, your management decides by terminating before launch Final Period Thursday, November 1, 12
42. Final Period Harsh reality: you only get one shot. “in no instances where innovations were judged as failures by top managers or investors were the innovation entrepreneurs offered another opportunity to manage a subsequent innovation.” ~ Van de Ven, p. 63 Thursday, November 1, 12
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45. Innovation follows a pattern Infrastructure development requires partners For Best Buy, Basho has supplied crucial infrastructure Thursday, November 1, 12
46. Pattern of Innovation Source: Van de Ven, p. 25 Thursday, November 1, 12
47. Chief Architect, BestBuy.com joel.crabb@bestbuy.com Joel Crabb Thursday, November 1, 12