THE SHOCK OF THE OLD by David Edgerton a professor at Imperial College, London. He reviews technology and global history since c1900 and comprehensively overturns the often used phrase ‘change is the only constant’. Change and innovation happen of course but they take decades, sometimes centuries before they dominate. Old technologies die out but they take a long time to do it and they’re often reinvented. Some examples he gives of this more subtle view of change and innovation are:

• the most important vehicle in the world today is the bicycle:
• the most innovative period in the last hundred years was at the beginning of the 20th century, not now;
• more goods are carried by ship than ever before;
• to date, the technology explosion has COST the world more than it’s saved it;
• the ‘weightless economy’ which does away with things and products hasn’t happened; look at the paper and electronic gadgets on your desk;
• maintenance is a hidden cost: maintenance costs are often significant percentages of, sometimes more than the original cost of the object (computers are a case)
• we tend to think NEW products are better than old ones. This is a piece of self-defence, a well-known reaction among marketeers, displayed by people who have just bought a product and are worried they’ve made the right choice.
• there are always alternatives – there are, for instance, many ways to generate electricity, to transmit information or to compute.
• technologies that have returned include cable transfer of information which was almost dead 30 odd years ago but is alive and well in fibre optics now.

If you’re not into reading whole books, the first chapter makes the point well: most of the technology we use and the ways we operate were invented a hundred or so years ago – and work pretty well. And if some of his examples are exotic, his argument makes you think twice about innovation for the hell of it. He also points out that most innovations fail. Of course new thinking is important and the search to find people who are good at it is crucial to a successful organisation. But so is retaining people who know things: who hold the collective memory and operations manual of the company in their heads. Lose them and it may well hobble your business. You can lose whole skill sets and render perfectly adequate processes, systems and kit redundant by not understanding the need to balance change with consistency. This is another reason why tests are crucial in, not only the recruitment of staff but its development and deployment. And why training in innovation can be balanced with training in communication – so the experienced people can pass on their wisdom to the new recruits.]]>