Innovator's Prescription

What Hacker News says

1. mch82May 2020
   “The Innovator’s Prescription” (Clay Christensen) explains the Innovator’s Dilemma better than the original book and introduces jobs-to-be-done with the milkshake story.

   “Creativity Inc.” (Ed Catmull) explains how Pixar manages people & throws in a few insights from mature (post Apple firing) Steve Jobs.

   “Managing the Design Factory” (Don Reinertsen) explains how to prioritize projects and analyze a business for bottlenecks in order to minimize cost of delay.

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2. davecap1Dec 2012
   One of the main issues here is that medical care is largely non-procedural and intuition-based. That's why doctors have to spend years doing training, followed by years of experience. Their "checklists" are created one step at a time, per-patient.

   This is exactly what needs to be changed in order to disrupt healthcare. Once medical care becomes procedural (ie generated by smart software, per patient, based on the patient's electronic health record which includes genomic and molecular data), we can begin replacing highly specialized doctors with non-specialized ones (and eventually with nurses). Of course, there are probably tons of areas where "simpler" checklists can be made to have a significant impact on outcomes (for example making sure the right patient gets the right drugs, etc..).

   Clay Christensen's book, Innovator's Prescription, goes into a lot of detail about how this will most likely play out: http://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Prescription-Disruptive-Sol...

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3. jonbischkeOct 2011
   I think article is essentially right on. It's very difficult to succeed in the education space and, at a minimum, it typically takes a long time to succeed. If you have the patience you can definitely make money in the space (witness Wireless Generation as an example) but there are very few quick wins.

   Education also really is several separate industries rather than a monolithic one. K-12 has a very different dynamic than higher education and those industries have a much different dynamic than corporate training. Consumer education, which I would consider to be stuff like Kaplan Test Prep, Lynda.com, LiveMocha, etc. is essentially another industry albeit with some overlap with the others. And consumer ed is probably the toughest one to make money in, at least in the U.S.

   One of the biggest challenges with education companies in the United States is that I feel we've almost been conditioned not to pay for education. Public K-12 education (which is the vast majority of consumption) is paid for by the state. Higher education is heavily subsidized by the government and when it is paid for by the consumer it typically comes in the form of student loans. And then we you become an adult your employer steps in and pays for the majority of your education/training.

   So while people will spend lots of money for clothing, entertainment, food, etc. it's tough to get people to pay out of pocket for education. The industry that is most similar in this respect is health care and end the dynamics in these two industries are much the same. I'd highly recommend that anyone wanting to understand these industries more deeply read Disrupting Class and The Innovator's Prescription, both by Clayton Christensen.

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4. chubbardMar 2010
   That's a horrible story I'm so sorry to hear that about your friend. I think you're right on track that prevention and screening is our weapon against these things. Screening and prevention costs way less than "the cure".

   If you read Christensen's latest book "Innovator's Prescription" he analyzes the medical industry through the lens of disruptive technology, and concludes that the forces of disruptive technology have been dismantled which keep prices high. The is such a unique perspective in this health care debate because it's basically been framed as "You pay the high price", or the "Government pays the high price". However, Christensen is giving us a third option saying fix the economic engine and disruptive technology will drive prices down over time and things will get better too. Neither side of the debate can guarantee this either.

   His idea is that Doctor's cost a lot of money, but when you have to have the very best analyze what's wrong with you have to pay it. Doctor's jobs are very hard and time consuming. However, certain types of care can be provided without a doctor for things that are well defined. Prevention is just such a thing. Screenings are just such a thing.

   The problem right now is that technologies that enable us to screen better are often wrapped up so that you can only go to a doctor to get them. Things like MRI's and CAT scans require prescriptions from doctors. The price of a CAT scan has remained the same since it was invented. 1970 technology the same price!? Where else in our free markets does this happen?

   Prevention is more easy to provide without having to tackle the prescription system, but screenings are very important part of medicine in the 21st century.

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