By Jamie Dobson, author of ‘Visionaries, Rebels and Machines: The story of humanity’s extraordinary journey from electrification to cloudification’.
In an age of disruption, sometimes the most revolutionary act is proceeding incrementally. Take Aldi’s store in Greenwich, London which has been trialling till-free shopping. Aldi wasn’t first to use cameras and sensors to track baskets and to employ artificial intelligence as a virtual cashier—Amazon has been running similar “Just Walk Out” stores for years—but what is interesting is Aldi’s approach to innovation.
The German-owned chain has chosen a single test location to understand how customers behave, what technical challenges arise, and whether the economics actually work. If successful, they can roll out the technology gradually. If not, they’ve limited their exposure whilst gaining invaluable insights. In other words, they are looking to change incrementally.
Internal challenges, external opportunities for Visionaries
There are three levels of incremental change: no-regret moves, experimental approaches, and capacity building. No-regret moves seek to minimise risk while dealing with high uncertainty. At the other end, capacity building can be riskier yet can help capitalise on a more certain marketplace. The right level for your business will depend on future market uncertainty and the level of risk your organisation can tolerate.
The Historical Pattern: Internal Problems Become Market Opportunities
Throughout technological history, the most successful innovations often begin as solutions to internal problems that turn out to represent broader market needs.
Amazon’s developers weren’t trying to invent cloud computing; they were simply trying to find a more efficient and scalable IT solution to overcome the bottleneck caused by rapid growth. Their solution—automated infrastructure provisioning with standardised interfaces—solved their internal problem whilst creating the foundation for cloud computing.
Intel’s microprocessor emerged from a similar pattern. When Japanese calculator manufacturer Busicom asked for custom logic chips, Intel’s engineers proposed a general-purpose chip that could load different programs from memory.
They were solving Busicom’s immediate problem whilst unknowingly creating the first microprocessor – the foundation for all modern personal computers and smartphones.
This suggests using innovation to solve your own problems is a powerful strategy.
As this solves a real internal problem, it’s a no-regret move; it is developed internally for internal systems, making it experimental and limiting exposure; and it builds capacity while inventing the future.
It also ensures that solutions are practically grounded rather than theoretically elegant.
A Practical Framework for Modern Businesses
Start by identifying no-regret moves within your current operations. What technologies or processes would provide value regardless of how your industry evolves? For most businesses today, this includes basic automation, data analytics, and digital customer interfaces.
Design experiments that test specific hypotheses about future scenarios. Follow Aldi’s approach: choose limited scope, define success metrics clearly, and commit to learning rather than immediate profits.
Create space for shelving and revisiting ideas. I call this building “f*ck-it buckets” ? places where promising innovations go when immediate applications aren’t obvious. The transistor was invented in 1947 but didn’t find widespread application until the 1960s, for example.
Many AI capabilities exist today without clear business cases, but patient companies may find valuable applications as the technology matures.
Build systems for getting innovations into users’ hands early. Open APIs, pilot programmes, and collaboration platforms allow external creativity to enhance your innovations. The most successful technology companies understand that users often discover applications that creators never imagined.
Finally, recognise that breakthrough innovation requires psychological safety – teams must feel comfortable experimenting, failing, and learning without punishment. This cultural foundation proves more valuable than any specific technology investment.
As artificial intelligence reshapes business landscapes and global uncertainties multiply, the temptation to seek silver bullet solutions grows stronger. But the future belongs not to those who make the boldest bets, but to those who prepare most thoughtfully. By combining no-regret moves with careful experimentation and long-term capability building, businesses can navigate uncertainty whilst positioning themselves for success regardless of which future emerges.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jamie Dobson is the founder of Container Solutions, and has been helping companies, across industries, move to cloud native ways of working for over ten years. Container Solutions develops a strategy, a clear plan and step by step implementation helping companies achieve a smooth digital transformation. With services including Internal Developer Platform Enablement, Cloud Modernisation, DevOps/DevSecOps, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) Consultancy, Cloud Optimisation and creating a full Cloud Native Strategy, companies get much more than just engineering know-how. Jamie is also author of ‘The Cloud Native Attitude’ and the recently published ‘Visionaries, Rebels and Machines: The story of humanity’s extraordinary journey from electrification to cloudification’. Both are available from Amazon and good bookstores.
https://www.container-solutions.com/
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