Heh. I just read this great article by Umair Haque about how the concept of innovation as we’ve typically understood it (new features, new capabilities, new flavors, new styles, etc.) is starting to look less appealing than the concept of awesomeness, where you take something and do it a lot better, with more care.
I think the author is basically right. We can try to come up with all kinds of “innovative” ways of doing things and miss the fundamentals. Sometimes, I just want a really yummy cup of coffee and know the ingredients were grown in an environmentally-friendly and ethical manner. I want an awesome cup o’ joe. Simple.
Most technological gadgets trend towards being woefully over-engineered. Too much innovation, not enough awesome. It’s good to be reminded to strive for the emotion, the care, and joy of creating a product — even if the product happens to be a wooden chair rather than a spaceship.