{"id":6228,"date":"2014-09-22T08:17:12","date_gmt":"2014-09-22T15:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/insideintercom.io\/?p=6228"},"modified":"2020-07-30T12:45:18","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T11:45:18","slug":"solving-real-world-problems","status":"publish","type":"intercom-video","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/videos\/solving-real-world-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Solving real world problems"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"opening_paragraph\">When developing new products, we are too focused on technology itself rather than what it will enable. Yet it is often the unpredictable networks that emerge that are the most important thing.<\/p>\n<p>The fundamentals of the combustion engine haven&#8217;t changed much in the last century. But the social impact of that invention has been massive. It gave rise to a network of roads which in turn\u00a0led to the emergence of\u00a0suburbs,\u00a0changing how people live,\u00a0changing their proximity and relationships with their extended family, changing where people\u00a0socialise and relax. The road network also changed commerce, giving rise to huge\u00a0retail parks on cheap land on the edges of our towns, fundamentally altering the economics of buying and selling direct to consumers. With the combustion engine, like almost all new inventions, what mattered over the longer term was what the technology enabled.<\/p>\n<p>The Internet is still a young invention, where we are still focusing on the technology rather than\u00a0what it can enable. Here&#8217;s a talk I gave about this recently (at <a href=\"http:\/\/theconference.se\/\">The Conference<\/a> in Malmo), why its so important, and some practical advice for focusing on the right things.<\/p>\n<p>Main image: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/dukeyearlook\">Duke University Archives<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When developing new products, we are too focused on technology itself rather than what it will enable. Yet it is often the unpredictable networks that emerge that are the most important thing. The fundamentals of the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":6258,"template":"","category":[5],"tags":[153,161,190],"show-category":[],"coauthors":[358],"class_list":["post-6228","intercom-video","type-intercom-video","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-product-and-design","tag-product-design","tag-product-development","tag-talks"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.3 (Yoast SEO v28.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Solving real world problems - The Intercom Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Internet is a young invention and we are still focusing on the technology not\u00a0what it can enable. Paul Adams from Intercom explains the implications.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/videos\/solving-real-world-problems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Solving real world problems\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Internet is a young invention and we are still focusing on the technology not\u00a0what it can enable. Paul Adams from Intercom explains the implications.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/videos\/solving-real-world-problems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Intercom Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/intercominc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-30T11:45:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Flyover-370.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"230\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@intercom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"Paul Adams\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/videos\\\/solving-real-world-problems\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/videos\\\/solving-real-world-problems\\\/\",\"name\":\"Solving real world problems - The Intercom Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/videos\\\/solving-real-world-problems\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/videos\\\/solving-real-world-problems\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/Flyover-370.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-22T15:17:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-30T11:45:18+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Internet is a young invention and we are still focusing on the technology not\u00a0what it can enable. 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