Design Better Products and Systems with Jugaad Innovation [Storytime Saturdays]
A business book with interesting lessons in product design, innovation cycles, and iterations
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In my work as an AI Solutions Lead, I help companies and groups build AI/Machine Learning products for their needs (if you need help with that, or other kinds of consulting, feel free to reach out). Through them, I have been exposed to various design philosophies/cultures in different organizations. A lot of the common mistakes I see involve overengineering, trying to crack innovation by throwing more money at the problem, and not having quick feedback iterations.
Recently one of the consulting sessions I had reminded me of the book, “Jugaad Innovation: Think Frugal, Be Flexible, Generate Breakthrough Growth”. The work that delves into the Indian concept of "Jugaad" – which is most analogous to the spirit of “hacking things together”. The book explores how this can drive significant growth, especially in resource-constrained environments. Through various case studies and examples, the authors shed light on how businesses can adopt this approach to overcome challenges and thrive.
Overall, I think Jugaad has some interesting lessons, but like many business books, it gets lost in its sauce. The book feels repetitive at times, especially with all the case studies covered. That being said, the principles covered are definitely worth paying attention to. In this newsletter, I will go over my personal takeaways from the book. Whether you’re a developer looking to setup efficient systems, manager looking to improve your teams, or an entrepreneur looking to capture the market- this book has something for you.
Take GE Healthcare, for instance, which used the flexible jugaad mindset to make high-quality cancer diagnosis and treatment accessible to underdeveloped communities across India. Until recently, India had been importing the radioisotopes required for nuclear imaging such as PET/CT scans. This was not only unaffordable for many rural hospitals, it was ineffective because the radioisotopes decay over time (in hours or even minutes), so they need to be administered to the patient soon after they’re produced. GE Healthcare partnered with private diagnostic centers and airline companies to locally produce radioisotopes — and make deliveries on a just-in-time basis to small-town hospitals around the country. Now, with GE Healthcare’s frugal “pay-per-use” pricing model and just-in-time delivery mechanism, the supply of radioisotopes has become affordable and dependable for many rural hospitals.
PS- Jugaad is for systems where innovation is key and failure is cheap. In other contexts, we prioritize consistency and stability in our systems. As with all other ideas I discuss, utilize the learnings in context of your own challenges. The Silicon Valley motto of “fail fast, fail often, and iterate quickly” doesn’t apply to all fields equally.
Key Highlights:
Frugality: Jugaad Innovation champions the idea of doing more with less. It's not merely about cost-cutting but about maximizing value with minimal resources. In a world where businesses often equate spending with progress, the Jugaad approach challenges them to be resourceful, focusing on essential elements that truly drive value and results. Necessity is the mother of invention, and if you constrain your resources, your teams can make magic happen. I have 2 personal examples of this.
Firstly, I got into AI because I was part of a team of 3 that developed an algorithm to detect Parkinson’s Disease on phone calls (in 2017). Our algorithm had a lower pure accuracy than Apple’s, but we outperformed them in robustness and low-resource environments. Unlike Apple Engineers, we didn’t have millions of dollars to develop our models, so we had to get creative and define a different battle to win. This worked out really well, and the rest is history. The other example pertains to Open Source in AI: Open-Source groups were able to beat Big Tech precisely because they didn’t have the millions of dollars to burn on tuning/bigger architectures. We covered this in more detail here.
Flexibility: In today's dynamic business landscape, the ability to adapt quickly to changing circumstances is crucial. Jugaad Innovation underscores the importance of being agile, allowing businesses to pivot in the face of challenges or seize new opportunities. It's a call for resilience and an open mindset, ready to embrace change. From a system design perspective- this involves giving yourself small and tight feedback loops. Your systems should ship often, with constant customer feedback built in. This way you can quickly catch flaws, iterate with speed, and reduce the opportunity costs related to pivoting.
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