In front of me is a blank piece of paper. At the end of the month, it will contain the ideas for a future wireless speaker, but the initial input will be provided by people I don't know. Because it's unrealistic to think that development can happen without outside inspiration. Here's why.

Science and all kinds of social psychological experiments have proven it. It is difficult to create something new in a group where people know each other well.

Repeated studies show the same thing over and over again. An otherwise excellent team does not necessarily create inspiring solutions.

This is also true in a development department. Before we go any further, let me quickly introduce myself. I am the founder of the small loudspeaker company System Audio A/S in Roskilde. I'm crazy about design, technology and sound. Our speakers are sold in 41 countries and are aimed at people who love music.

I have been running the company for more than 30 years and am responsible for product development.

That's why an established team rarely creates anything new

If I'm serious about bringing something new to my new project, it's not a given that the ideas will automatically come from my own team. In fact, studies show that around 75% of us agree professionally with our colleagues and that we have an unconscious urge to seek consensus when we are in a group.

But agreement doesn't move anything.

Other studies suggest that the people who get the most speaking time or have the most seniority are also the most successful at convincing the rest of the team. This means that it will often be the same people who have the most influence. A team that really needs to deliver is more likely to focus on the task at hand and dare to seek out the safe consensus.

Here, outside input can help maintain the team's professional acuity, while ensuring a connection with the outside world.

Kill your darlings

The term actually comes from journalism, and it implies that you give up the words that turn you on the most, believing that the message will burn through anyway, even if the word is deleted. Your darlings tend to take up too much space.

We all know it.

You walk into a room and immediately notice if there's an explosive person sitting there with a head full of darlings. Child rearing. Gender roles. Religion. Politics. You name it. Such an evening (in a cheerful atmosphere) easily takes on a nervous tinge, and the evening risks revolving solely around this particular person's version of reality.

In the company, the air is similarly thick with darlings that we have collectively identified as vital to the company's worldview. But can our darlings withstand a stress test? Or are they just a bunch of imaginary values that stand in the way of showing us the world as it is?

In my business, technology is the darling

Consumer electronics are created by engineers with their feet planted in the world of technology. That's why technical specifications are the darling of the industry. However, no one in the industry has noticed the fact that consumers do not understand how to tell the difference between products from technical specifications.

No one notices that consumers stand misty-eyed, looking at the endless rows of numbers, without grasping what they are being presented with. Not unexpectedly, the consumer feels distanced.

It's easier to buy the right fridge than it is to find the best TV or speakers. Fridges are labelled so you can judge products against each other, but there is no good and bad labelling in sound and vision. The industry has its back to the world, without giving consumers the opportunity to make an informed choice.

A quick summary

The essence of the content above reads like this: The paper is blank. I need to develop a new wireless speaker, and prioritize its features. The first input should not come from my colleagues. It must come from people outside my company. The people who will contribute must come from another industry. They must not have the same darlings as us.

Get the strangers in the picture

This sets the scene for a project that is unfolding right now as you read this. 12 people (whom I don't know) have been living with a pair of wireless speakers for a month now, without knowing that they will be asked about their experiences. They have used the speakers on a daily basis, and have gotten to know the technologies.

The important thing is that they have lived with the speakers, as humans do, without being aware that their behaviour may be the key to how the future product will work. The 12 people (unknowingly) participating in the project are not just anyone. They are some of the country's leading experts in the very insights I'm after.

These are the sharp people from BRO Kommunikation and The Nudging Company. Their specialty is seeing beyond the natter that exists in every business and they help their clients get to the core of only the things that actually work.

They have a deep knowledge of human behaviour, and our (often) irrational reasons for acting as we do. They know the psychological mechanisms that make people experience the values I want to express with the new product.

Your input should be the first thing on my (still) blank paper. I've chosen to call this "User-Driven Innovation version 2.0" because it's not limited to involving users who feel the same as us.

It's product development from the outside in.

It doesn't start with the product, but with the customer.