Innovation without purpose: Building a spaceship to cross the street

In innovation, there’s a tendency to overcomplicate things—to build a spaceship when all you need is a bike to cross the street.

I’ve seen two kinds of innovators fall into this trap:

First, the 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒂 𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒔. These are the dreamers who fall so deeply in love with their own idea that they invest time, energy, and resources into it, without ever asking, “𝑰𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎 𝑰’𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒊𝒈?” They’re so attached to their vision that they refuse to pivot, even when all the signs point to the need for a change.

Then, there are the 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒔. These are the engineers and tech leads who get sidetracked by perfecting one specific aspect of a project—often a side feature—while losing sight of the bigger picture. What I’ve seen with 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒔 is that there’s often an intelligent indulgence—they’ll get absorbed in the technical brilliance of the feature, followed by a reality distortion about the actual need for it. The result? They end up focusing on something that doesn’t move the needle, slowing down the entire project.

Both approaches miss the mark because they forget the bigger question: What’s the purpose? The best innovations aren’t about indulging intellectual curiosity or perfecting unnecessary features—they’re about solving real problems that move the world forward.

So before you start building that spaceship, ask yourself: is it really necessary, or are you just crossing the street?

Picture Credit: DALL.E