I read 『未来を実装する――テクノロジーで社会を変革する４つの原則』馬田隆明（著） (Implementing the Future - Four Principles for Social Transformation Through Technology by Takaaki Umada), so I’ll share the insights I gained from this book.

Background: "Social Transformation Through Technology"

I read this book because I’m involved in corporate management with a theme close to “social transformation through technology.”

Below are quotes and notes from the parts that left an impression on me.

Major Changes in Business Due to Digital Technology

This integration of various functions is called "rebundling" (Figure 1.3). Functions that were once unbundled are rebundled using APIs and other tools around something other than traditional industries, promoting industry restructuring.

? Rebundling

Demand

Demand: The Failure of "No Market Demand"

In fact, CB Insights, which conducts startup research, points out that the most common reason startups and new businesses fail is "no market demand." Y Combinator, the most successful startup support organization in America, reportedly tells entrepreneurs over and over again to "Make Something People Want." This probably means it's that easy to forget and ignore.

? Easy to forget and tend to ignore, but you should make things people want.

Why Impact is Important

Without Ideals, There Are No Problems

What are problems in the first place? This book views problems as the gap between ideals and reality. Conversely, without ideals, there are no problems. In other words, one reason for the phenomenon of "no problems" is "no ideals."

? There might be cases where DX isn’t happening because people don’t feel there’s a problem in the first place.

For example, if you live in the city, you might think that rural areas must have many problems. There may be many inconveniences, and there may be unpleasant things like village customs. However, surprisingly, the people actually living there often don't feel there are problems.

? An example of not feeling problems exist.

INTERVIEW: Entrepreneurship and Social Implementation

Shuhei Morofuji, Founder of SMS Co., Ltd.

What qualities are required of individual entrepreneurs to take on markets with high complexity? First, I think it’s about not simplifying things and seeing complex things as complex. By doing so, I think you can grasp essential problems from a bird’s-eye view. And since these high-complexity markets can’t be predicted in advance, I think they’re businesses where you learn through experience as you go. So I think entrepreneurs who can learn from experience are important.

? For complex problems, don’t simplify them, but see them as complex as they are.

Business and Governance

Architecture and Business

"Nudge" (mechanisms that encourage people to voluntarily take desirable actions), which has developed in fields such as behavioral economics, is being utilized by private companies as well. For example, some countries have increased the number of people who consent to heart transplants by utilizing the tendency for people to select what is selected by default, by providing choices but having "consent to heart transplants" selected by default. Similarly, when purchasing products on e-commerce sites, if email newsletter subscriptions are turned on by default, not that many people will bother to turn them off.

? Utilizing nudges.

Sensemaking Methods in Social Implementation

Narrative

Sensemaking is said to be based on subjective understanding. What greatly influences that subjective understanding is stories, or narratives. People are moved by narratives and change their behavior.

? People are moved by narratives and change their behavior.

The point of sensemaking is whether you can create a situation where not only the business operators themselves can tell narratives well, but also the people involved can tell narratives well. What's important here is the perspective that narratives are not given, but co-constructed. People's understanding and interpretation are constructed through interaction with society and others. Unlike stories, which are finished products given unilaterally, narratives are about getting the other party to tell the story, and this is action for sensemaking.

? Whether you can get the other party to tell the story - that’s narrative.

Over-communicate

Sometimes it's necessary not just to have two-way exchanges, but to properly communicate what you want people to know, and to communicate with what might seem like excessive frequency. Unless you do it with a frequency that makes the people being communicated to think "that's enough," it won't really get through to people. If you only say something once, people quickly forget.

? Communicate with excessive frequency.

However, those who send messages or provide something tend to think that saying it once will get it across. That's why it's important for message senders to have the mindset of "over-communicating." You should think that messages only get through to people after you've communicated them to the point where you yourself get tired of saying that message. Don't be satisfied with just one transmission, but repeatedly communicate simple messages. That's an important step that ultimately leads to sensemaking.

? As a message sender, be mindful of over-communication.

That’s all from the Gemba.