Smart inventors may have different characteristics, but in my experience many have something in common: they can't stop inventing.
As a patent attorney working with budgets, I initially found it a bit frustrating-- the invention kept evolving or even fundamentally changed between drafting sessions. But later I realized the same restless mind unwilling to live with a problem leading to the initial invention drove the inventor to improve the solution.
Tonight, Alan Cooper sent an article CNN Money 19 incredible Apple secrets revealed in court reminding me that the best inventors continually innovate. The article notes that the Apple v. Samsung trial has lifted secrecy surrounding Apple product development. It shows the final design of the Apple iPhone did not come after a few iterations. No, the photos and article show it was the multiyear major effort involving generation of many "good" intermediate designs that were rejected.
Apple's advantage? It's ability to reject many good designs that stood before the final design.
Copyright © 2012 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.
