Innovate or Lose

I'm a bit of a productivity nerd. I think about how to be productive a lot. I have also, from time to time, been a bit obsessive about productivity software. About eight years ago I was using a productivity software called Things. I really liked it. It was well designed and did everything I needed and more, but it had one problem, it would only sync from my laptop to my iPhone over wifi, not through the cloud. I waited for them to innovate and they didn't do it quick enough for me, so I switched to OmniFocus. OmniFocus has been great, and I have used it for about six years (buying updates and whatnot). But, OmniFocus, like Things, hasn't innovated fast enough and has been surpassed by Todoist.

Yesterday I tried Todoist for the first time and loved it so much I paid for the premium version the same day. Todoist does everything OmniFocus does (and more) but with a better user experience, making it particularly enjoyable to use.

This experience has me thinking about the importance of innovation. A great product or service is a great thing, but just because it is the best today doesn't mean it will be the best tomorrow. In a market that is always moving and growing, there are always competitors looking to do it faster and better. OmniFocus, the software that I have loved for years, didn't innovate and lost my business.

Are you innovating or are you losing?