On his Innovate On Purpose blog, Jeffrey Phillips suggests that “Traveling Without a Map” is a serious issue for many organizations. He states, “Management teams have not been specific enough about their expectations for differentiation, growth and change in their organizations.” Consequently, they struggle with selecting which of the many possible directions before them is the right choice.
Jeffrey is definitely on to something. Many organizations don’t have good disciplines in place to translate corporate goals into clear criteria for evaluation of ideas. In the absence of a strategic beacon to help plot a course, the organization is left without a way to steer clear of the shoals and find its way into the deep opportunities of the blue ocean.
Good innovation practice is not about generating 6000 ideas in the hope that one will mature into a successful product. This type of innovation numbers game is a sucker’s bet. If you have ever walked through a casino you have seen the slot junkies mindlessly feeding machines dollar bills, lured on by the occasional small payout and the stories of others hitting the jackpot. This is how many organizations still pursue innovation.
Good innovation practice is not a numbers game. The hallmark of good innovation practice is a well thought out approach to setting direction at each level in the process.
At the corporate strategy level, the goals of the company must be expressed as measurable attributes of any initiative. These attributes should become part of the evaluation criteria of candidate ideas.
When considering how to address a specific market need, innovation teams should take the time to step back and ask what is the true goal of the exercise. It doesn’t matter if the goal is an incremental objective such as correcting a design deficiency or a broad strategic objective such as projecting the right product offering for the evolved state of the market fifty years in the future. Ensuring the team is focused on the right problem set is more than half the battle. As Edward Hodnett said, “If you don't ask the right questions, you don't get the right answers. A question asked in the right way often points to its own answer.”
Once the team is focused on the right question, the process of ideation should be directed with metrics of assessment. There are any number of possible dimensions of evaluation. The precise set will be driven by your specific objectives for the product and for the company. The injection of such a metrics driven approach will lead the innovation team inexorably toward an informed design process.
In the end, applying the repeatable innovation methods of goal-led ideation and informed design will lead to better innovation results. Companies that practice these disciplines see their idea to product conversion ratios greatly improved.
Travelling without a Road map is interesting. This approach has worked for my project www.cornellgates.com until I was funding. Now with consultants they want to the Road Map to get funding. I am seriously stuck and need to discuss to get some clarity on how to go about handling the situation. My contact is firoz@ibcre.com. I will appreciate your contact. Kind regards Firoz
Posted by: firozshroff | June 29, 2009 at 02:59 AM