3 shifts evolving tech beyond a 'move fast and break things' mindset

Andrea Park -

Much of the technology-based innovation of recent years has radiated outward from Silicon Valley, where the prevailing mentality is one of rapid advancement and disruption, but agility is beginning to take on a more nuanced meaning.

A recent Harvard Business Review article describes this change: While success in innovation used to be measured by how advanced a new piece of technology was, that success now depends on depth, rather than superficial forward movement.

The new meaning of agility, according to HBR, is "the ability to explore multiple domains at once and combine them into something that produces value." Now, the biggest impact will come from those who move deliberately, building connections rather than recklessly breaking anything standing in their way.

Here are three ongoing shifts causing innovation to evolve past "moving fast and breaking things," per HBR:

1. From a digital to a post-digital age: Even the seemingly endless tech boom has its theoretical limits, so continued technological advancement will depend on the creation of more complex computing architectures, rather than just faster processors.

2. From rapid iteration to exploration: Tech advancement in the past few decades has, for the most part, built upon existing inventions, but in the coming years and decades, "the challenge will be to advance technology that we don't understand well at all."

3. From hypercompetition to mass collaboration: In contrast to the traditional distinction between industries and their respective players, in the future, those distinctions will be blurred, necessitating meaningful collaboration between former competitors to achieve true innovation.

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