With advances in technology, there are several ways to measure the pace and/or severity of change. Often, we refer to it in terms of speed (see, for example, Moore’s Law). Sometimes, we refer to it in terms of how it abruptly changes old practices (the idea of disruptive technologies, for instance).
At Square Lines, we make a practice of studying long-term technology evolution in addition to short-term jumps and leaps. One aspect of technology integration that often involves sustainability over time isn’t its pace or its disruption, but rather its erosion of current practices. A practice we (and others) call creative destruction.
When a system or process practices creative destruction, it is continually eroding away the oldest and freshly developing the newest. You might think of it as a bridge where one end is slowly crumbling as the other end is being built (in that analogy, it would be a bridge without gravity, but you get the idea).
I was reminded of the value of creative destruction this morning as I learned that InformationWeek, a venerable magazine for IT professionals that has been around since 1979, was stopping its print publication and going online-only.
For many years, they published (wait for it) weekly, with thick books rich with information, editorial, and advertising. Then, beginning about 15 years ago, the creative destruction began. The InformationWeek website started getting richer (and carrying more ads). Beginning about five or six years ago, the print issues began getting slimmer — and, remarkable for a publication with “Week” in its name, began appearing less frequently.
Behind the scenes, according to the editor of the publication, ad revenue balances began to shift. What was 95%/5% in favor of print in 2000 switched to the reverse in 2013. Given the cost/benefit and ROI of their print circulation, it only made sense.
But because they had been practicing creative destruction for over a decade, it wasn’t an abandonment and retrenchment. It wasn’t a collapse. It was (and will be, I think) an advance, a migration. As the parts of the bridge that were on the print side of the gorge eroded, they were building new bricks toward the digital side.
That having been said, time will tell as to whether enough “bridge parts” have been laid. The online-only tech space is far more crowded than the print/digital hybrid, and the direct mail distribution of a regular periodical surely helped penetration of the audience (even the digital one). But they are definitely better equipped for the transition than had they not been working the problem for well over a decade.
And that’s the beauty of creative destruction.