Glenn Hall, now editor of TheStreet.com, blogged about that milkshake example when Christensen spoke at the World Innovation Forum in April 2007. On the idea of product getting a job done Hall said “the job of the milkshake for those consumers [was] to replace breakfast in a no-mess way that lasts long enough to make the drive more interesting.” What product can news companies create that will help people get a job done? That is what we need to work on, quickly.

Perhaps companies should put aside a certain portion of their budget for launching new products and services, but instead of waiting until R&D perfects it, just put something out that’s good enough.

Skype definitely spent time improving their product after they released it. It didn’t bother me, though, because it was practically free, and I could talk to my friends overseas for pennies. Then we were excited when BETA came out, and now there have been more improvements. People’s expectations grow over time, so why not scale/ improve inventions as the expectations grow.

I like the idea of putting something out there that no one expects yet. It allows you to set the expectations for your customer. BrainReactions just launched a new service http://www.brainreactions.net, where people can brainstorm with other users online. This caters to a whole different group of customers than our main idea generating services, but we believe it will improve services for all our customers in the long run.

I will definitely keep this blog on file, when defining disruptive innovation, and I might have to download that huge report as well.