Do we really need MIT /Stanford / IIT engineers to figure out drivers scheduling/ delivery agent routing /hotel booking? Is that the best allocation of skill capital?
(Whether coding can be considered engineering is a different matter altogether)
The world is full of complex hard problems that urgently need solutions to improve the quality of human life. Getting the right skill resource to work on the right problem is a critical aspect of human endeavor to get better.
Even for a business, tinkering at the edges isn't really where the best minds should work. From a customer impact perspective, this tinkering doesn't add up to much. Trivializing customer /industry pains , means you are 'ignoring' them at your own cost.
Complex hard problems need
- getting back to the first principles,
- getting to the basics,
- going back to the drawing board and
- not taking any assumptions for granted.
Such efforts are surely worthy as they result in quantum impacts to customers lives which in turn elongate a corporate's lifespan.
While an Uber or an instant delivery app certainly makes life a bit more convenient, a non- polluting, smart, continuously learning car has a much bigger impact in an industry and the world. While one may love or hate Tesla, the sheer perseverance to 'engineer' a solution to a complex problem ,changes the industry/world massively ( and gets rewarded accordingly). It also is not so easy to imitate, as many are realising, giving a long term 'moat' to the enterprise.
It is not easy, quick or tactical. And that 's precisely why it matters!
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