Communicorps :: Learning :: By Definition

Churning

Churning is making incremental improvements. Many times in the creative process people look for the "eureka!" idea that will--in one leap--take them from point A to point B. Churning instead looks at making many small improvements over time. The longer you work in a creative field, the more you realize that truly big ideas--the ones that change things in a major way--are few and far between. More often ideas are incremental--they build on what exists. If you're having trouble finding "amazing," don't so much time looking that you let "better" get away.

The company that best exemplifies the churning philosophy is Microsoft. Look at the development of Office or Windows, and you'll see small, incremental improvements--a new feature here, a maintenance release there. The creativity cycle for Microsoft is basically improve, release, improve, release. They realize that solving every problem at once is not as important as solving problems period.

Churning results are best seen over a long period of time. No one will notice churning on a week to week basis, but look at your changes and improvements over a six- or twelve-month period and the improvements become obvious. Churning is also a great way to implement ideas because you are making minor changes incrementally--most people don't mind small adjustments. The tendency to go against a new idea is greatly reduced when the ideas aren't earth-shattering alterations in the fabric of the known universe.

Example.
Look at the simple coffee maker. For the first ten years of its existence, it changed little. Then churning took hold in appliance manufacturing. Now the simple coffee maker can turn itself on at a pre-determined hour using its built in alarm clock, keep coffee warm without scalding by varying warmer temperature based on the contents of the pot, and even grind its own beans before brewing for maximum freshness. All of these new features are a result of incremental improvements over time.

Action Ideas.

Play "What's Next." Take your current situation to the next logical step.
Look to the King of Churning. Ask, "How would Microsoft solve my challenge?"
Look to improve. What is the next thing you would enhance in your project?
Seek the least. What positive changes could you make that would not cost anything?