Accidental Innovation: Supporting Valuable Unpredictability in the Creative Process

Abstract

Historical accounts of human achievement suggest that accidents can play an important role in innovation. In this paper, we seek to contribute to an understanding of how digital systems might support valuable unpredictability in innovation processes by examining how innovators who obtain value from accidents integrate unpredictability into their work. We describe an inductive, grounded theory project, based on 20 case studies, that looks into the conditions under which people who make things keep their work open to accident, the degree to which they rely on accidents in their work, and how they incorporate accidents into their deliberate processes and arranged surroundings. By comparing makers working in varied conditions, we identify specific factors (e.g., technologies, characteristics of technologies) that appear to support accidental innovation. We show that makers in certain specified conditions not only remain open to accident but also intentionally design their processes and surroundings to invite and exploit valuable accidents. Based on these findings, we offer advice for the design of digital systems to support innovation processes that can access valuable unpredictability.

Understanding ISD and Innovation through the Lens of Fragmentation

“…It seems reasonable that we need approaches that on one hand can reduce destructive fragmentation, and on the other hand enhance valuable ditto to reach emergent design outcomes (see e.g. Austin et al, 2012). The latter is important to reflect on, given a future where ISD and innovation is widening into emergent design domains and emergent design solutions.…”

“…Yet, the ambiguity of IDS and innovation has been recognized to be of value. In a study on digital innovation projects, Austin et al (2012) found that accidents such as breakage, malfunction, movement outside of intention, and accepted chain of logic can be of value to achieve novel design outcomes.…”

Ideas are feelings first: epiphanies in everyday workplace creativity

“…may be seen as serving similar functions, namely being emotive markers of a felt understanding that only later is explicated. It is not relevant to address the controversy over Jobs' discourse and behavior (see Austin, 2012 for a balanced account) to realize that these exclamations were markers of small epiphanies in creative interactions. Both convey felt understandings whose sharing and reception may trigger explication processes and further bouts of idea development.…”

Failing Fast

“…In some contexts, what counts as getting things right is quite clearly defined and well understood, while in others, the process may lead to unexpected breakthroughs outside the scope of the original project. Here are four examples of what has been labeled accidental innovation (Austin, Devin, & Sullivan, 2012):…”