Have
you ever thought about a concept or an idea that you considered to be “original”,
and then realized that it already exists?
The truth is, this has
happened to everyone. However, in our world today, this feels more frequent due to the recent rise of technology and entrepreneurship.
While this might sound overwhelming, I believe that there is more room for inclusive creative thought.
As described by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, it is possible to "create a plan that starts small but has room to grow".
In consideration of this thought, we can develop great ideas today as long as we focus on people, objectives, strategy, and technology (POST).
When I went to France for the first time in 2016, I finally realized, for the first time in 21 years, how it felt to be in a country and not being able to understand a single word.
"How could technology help me?", I asked myself this question as I walked around an outdoor market in France.
A simple Google Search gave me a sense of content and disappointment: something already existed but I truly appreciated its potential.
The Pilot Translating Earpiece is a product developed by start-up company Waverly Labs. The Pilot has come a long way since its early development in 2014. Lets briefly look at it through a POST lens:
People. Waverly Labs talked about the Pilot in the context of helping remove language barriers between people and creating relationships. Moreover, the Pilot has also been an initiative supported by a community of big and small investors and donors.
When we look at their Facebook reviews, we find that the overall reception of the community has been mixed. While some users love the product, others complain that they have not even received it:
Objectives. Their motto, "to bridge global communications by building a world without language barriers" can be best understood as using technology to facilitate conversations between people who do not speak the same language. While a detailed, list of company objectives is not available, the objective or purpose of the Pilot is clear.
Strategy. Between 2014 and 2017, the team at Waverly Labs executed a three-step strategy: pre-launch, launch, and post campaign. Andrew Ochoa, founder of Waverly Labs, feels that he would change a few things if he could go back in time, but he is satisfied by the fact that the team's strategy helped them "become one of the most popular technology crowdfunding campaigns to date".
Technology. The road to breaking language barriers with the use of technology has been mixed for the industry as a whole. How has it been for the Pilot?
The Waverly Labs team has developed a high-tech product that has some limitations, such as the fact that all users in a conversation need to download an App for the translation to work. However, the translations demonstrated in the video above show that the Pilot has accuracy.
There are two main take-aways that we can learn from the Pilot case:
First, it is possible for a small idea to grow. In this regard, a strategy that focuses on things such as people, objectives, and technology helps small ideas grow.
Second, the industry of translation through technology is growing quickly. the Pilot is only one of many products or services involved in the business.
Overall, as a person who also speaks Spanish and Portuguese, I understand how the Pilot can be seen as an item that undermines the ability and desire to learn a language.
However, we must appreciate its usefulness. We must appreciate the fact that the Pilot started because a person could not understand another person.
Technology, as described by Li and Bernoff, "is shifting so quickly--chasing it is like trying to jump on a speeding merry-go-around".
While the Pilot case has technological limitations as well as customer service problems, I am confident to say that we are going to witness a tremendous growth in translation technology.
Individuals and companies should take a POST approach. While technology to provide effective translations is important, we must focus on providing effective translations in the context of fostering relationships.
Hi Stefan,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog post this week! I feel as if you were able to accomplish exactly what I was trying to do, while I ultimately struggled. You found a current example, and expertly incorporated information from the text. Your choice of hyperlinks/images/video really added to the overall experience, and made your blog come alive. My only criticism comes from the formatting where some things seem a little out of place, but other than that great job.