SAMPE Journal - July/August 2017 - 36
Perspectives
Steven Rodgers
Consultant, EmergenTek LLC
Steven.R@EmergenTek.com
How Ugly Is Your Baby?
"Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them."
- David Hume's Essays, 1742
Perhaps you have had this experience: A friend enthusiastically announces that a baby is coming. This
is truly a "blessed event" met with great excitement. When the day arrives, you get the phone call. You
meet your excited friend and the baby for the first time and . . .
It is an ugly baby.
You gaze and compliment. You hold the baby. You "ooh" and "aah" but the fact is inescapable: This
is not a pretty child. Of course, you would never say that to the parent. Ultimately it is of no real
consequence but let's face it - some babies are just prettier than others and this child will not end up
in a baby food commercial.
The same thing happens in our professional lives. You meet an inventor who excitedly tells you about
a new patent or an idea that has become all-consuming. You listen to the disclosure and suddenly it
strikes you:
This idea is a really ugly baby.
The idea may be clever. It may solve a problem. It may even comprise a simply-elegant solution. But
for some reason the idea is still an ugly baby. Here is the challenge: Unlike a child, some ideas simply
need to be abandoned. However, this idea is the inventor's baby. No matter how ugly it may be, the
inventor will never give up on it. A fixation develops that causes the inventor to sacrifice attention,
time, money - even personal relationships to help it grow and develop while never realizing the
truth: This baby is ugly.
What constitutes an ugly-baby idea? My far-less-than-comprehensive list includes:
It is a solution to a non-problem? It may be cute. It may be clever. But if a solution does not effectively
relieve somebody's pain it is an ugly baby. One qualifier I use when reviewing clever inventions is to
insert the word "merely" and see if it applies. If it is "merely" cute or "merely" clever it may "merely"
be an ugly baby.
Is the pain widespread? Is the inventor solving a personal problem that is not shared by many other
folks? Without a wider audience, there may not be a sufficient economic base to support the invention.
How big is the potential market? Don't cheat. Be honest with your assessment. 'Nuff said.
Are the supply chain economics properly understood? You can price it at double the simple cost of
manufacturing and lose money. Have the real overheads (including shipping, marketing, travel, etc.)
36
SAMPE Journal, Volume 53, No. 4, July/August 2017
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