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An article talking about two, takes on MacWorld 2008 and whether Steve Jobs and Apple (AAPL) were still on the top of their game. One writer thinks he is and the other thinks Jobs and Apple are slowing down.

Most of the conversation is centered around whether you're revolutionary in business or evolutionary. Is there a right answer? I think there is, and it'll probably frustrate you: the answer is both!

Why?

Revolution, as it relates to business and the creation of groundbreaking products or services, may be the first step of what a business had to offer, but then what? Once it's out there what do you do with it? What about your customers? What about problems and solutions?

One of the writers in this particular article was disappointed that Jobs didn't announce a new, revolutionary product that was a media event and an industry changer.

To me, the answer is a company can't have too many revolutions before they catch up with them. A revolution is interesting, engaging and a lot of fun, as the surprise embedded in the new product or service can delight and create a lot of buzz for a long time.

From a business standpoint though, it's very difficult and even undesirable to come up with too many revolutions, otherwise you aren't able to manage them. Jobs has spoken of this in the past when talking about when he came back to Apple. He said the company was too complicated and they needed to reduce their product line.

Dell (DELL) also found this out when they created so many types of computers that they couldn't service them, and it almost destroyed the company while costing them the No. 1 position as a computer company to Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). They had to cut back on the product line they had so their customer service reps could even know how to help their customers. It was literally that bad, as they sent customers back and forth between specialty units on the phone because there was no way to know how to handle the myriad questions that came up. Most of us know what happened there.

Anyway, there are definite times in a business for revolution, and there are also times in a business for evolution. Evolution is the enhancement or improvement upon an existing product or service either within the company or without. As long as there is strong interest in the offering, a company must continue to listen to feedback and make improvements.

Some people have made revolution sound so exciting in a company, yet it's not as simple as that if you want to succeed. The two really must go hand in hand. The key is knowing when you need a revolution and when you need evolution.

Enhancing products or services are great strategies, as long as you're working on the right things. If you're working on the wrong thing, it doesn't matter how much you improve it if nobody really want it. That's the time you have to become revolutionary if you want to survive.

Think of it in terms of some of the revolutionary movements that have toppled countries and yet had nothing to replace what was left in its wake. Offering a new concept product is something like that. Once the revolution is on, you can't simply stay in revolutionary mode, in the sense of overthrowing everything.

Sooner or later someone needs to start working on where you want the revolution to go, and what to do with it. That's where the evolutionary process comes in. We need both in our businesses. The key is properly identifying which is the right one for the present.