What I've Learned from 10 Years of Personal Projects
benbernardblog.com
benbernardblog.com
Yep, as it turns out, when trying to create a new, valuable thing that people need, you actually need to make a bunch of attempts and try them out.
If you are ever in the position to have a team of people undertaking creating new things, the optimal path is to expose each person to a charter and scope of the area your team is trying to innovate in and then let them come up with their own ideas. Diversity of thought is the key to speeding up discovery of new, valuable embodiments of solutions that fulfill currently unfulfilled human needs.
You're absolutely right - the good old trial and error applies when it comes to innovation. There's just no way someone could come up with a breakthrough technology or product on their very first try. You absolutely need to be relentless at trying and testing out new things.
And yes, diversity of thought isn't nearly as valued as it should be these days. A team of people who all think the same about everything probably won't innovate as much as a team whose members can think for themselves. Just think about the early Paypal days (Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, Elon Musk, etc.)!