Innovation, Hipmunk, and You

Innovation is one of our biz culture’s buzzwords today, but is it overrated? More accurately, is our typical understanding of the term leading us astray?

Innovation simply means the bringing of something new.

Sometimes that something new is a killer app or product. More often, meaningful innovation occurs when we eliminate unnecessary steps in a process, resulting in work that is smoother, more effective and efficient, or just more fun.

Enter www.hipmunk.com. If you’ve been using Travelocity or Orbitz to search for the best deal on airline tickets, try Hipmunk. Its interface is clean and simple, like Google‘s. No extra text or clutter. Just three required entries (from, to and date of departure) with an optional fourth (date of return). Hipmunk sorts results by “Agony,” based on factors such as ridiculously early or late flights, how many legs, how much time spent in layovers, and ticket price. Search results are laid out on a Gantt chart-like calendar, so you can instantly compare schedules visually. It also suppresses results for ridiculous four-leg combinations that are roughly the same price as a one-stop flight because it already knows that no one in their right mind would make that choice. You can still reveal those options if you so desire.

Simple. Uncluttered. Fresh. Inviting. Innovative. Now that’s some practical leadership.

What daily processes does your team use that could be streamlined by taking a fresh look at unnecessary steps and pruning them away?