The Dirty Maple Flooring Company Enters the Digital Age: Part 14
Part fourteen of the series finds our leader Charlie Bangbang and his team resolving their first collaborative innovation challenge for the Idea Mill Program. How did it go? What did they do? And, is it to serve mett wurst for lunch, ahead of an afternoon collaboration session?
Top 10 Eureka Moments: Shower, Sleep and Drive
Looking for new solutions, we brainstorm a lot. Getting together to generate new ideas for urgent challenges. And when it's done professionally we even get a lot of ideas. But are they our best ones? That's the question. Brainstorming is under a lot of criticism these days. Is this tool giving us the best ideas possible? Do we do it the right way?
Informing Innovation Planning through Product Line Roadmapping
Innovation is about moving an organization forward. But many companies are trying to get there without an execution plan; without any way to assess the how, why, where, what and when, and to adjust when the unexpected comes along (as it always does). Those involved with innovation planning are increasingly understanding that the answers are found in product line roadmapping – a critical front-end process that has finally come of age.
Tips For Quicker And More Innovative Analogies
In this article Dr. Stephen Sweid is sharing a few secrets of the analogy method that has been refined throughout the years. Suggested techniques render this method more user friendly, but also allow it to generate WOW type new ideas that are more compatible (for integration) and that work in the real world, e.g. in the market.
The Innovation Toolkit with 37 Inspiring Tools
Innovation is highly relevant to every organization. Yet, eighty percent of innovation projects never reach the market. Many have a false start. My new book is written to inspire you with practical tools on HOW to start innovation effectively. The process of innovation is a process that many struggle to master.“What is the right moment?” “How do I discover what customers want?” “How do I get breakthrough ideas?” “How do I get internal support?”
New Rules for Realizing New Ideas
Once you’ve got the green light from your boss, your innovation board or financer, it’s once again up to you to deliver the concept you’ve promised them.Depending on the nature of your new concept,in the next step you will deliver a prototype, a full business case or interested business or technology partners who will join the product development team.
30 Ways to Present a New Idea
Most new ideas don’t lead to new successful products or services. Six out of seven new concepts never reach the market. Lack of support at top management is an important explanation. In my professional practice I made - and saw a lot of mistakes being made in the way innovators present their ideas.
Ten Criteria for the Perfect New Product
What a brilliant idea! That’s what a lot of people think after a new idea pops into their minds. Or it’s something someone says at the end of a wonderful ideation workshop where a team of colleagues has just brainstormed new concepts. Of course, at that very moment it looks and feels like utter brilliance. Just like adoring parents swooning over their child. But, in this instance is it really justified?
The Innovation Management Maturity Model: How Do You Stack Up?
You might talk the talk of innovation. But do you walk the walk? Or, more realistically, are you doing some herky-jerky semblance of a walk that’s not getting you very far?
Effective Innovators Start with a Problem
Innovation is difficult because your potential users need to change their behavior. And why should they? That’s the question! You will have to give them a strong reason why! So start solving a relevant problem.
What’s Your Innovation Focus?
Often there’s suddenly an urgent need for something new. We need to innovate. But what are we looking for? If that’s unclear, how can you come up with new concepts that will make everybody happy?
Innovation is No Walk in the Park
The life cycle of products decreased by factor 4 the last fifty years. Innovation is essential. But it is difficult, risky and it demands a lot of resources. It’s no walk in the park. Innovation is an expedition.
7 Steps to Choosing An Idea Management System
While idea management is nothing new to the innovation discipline, it seems there are new idea management software systems continuing to surface with great frequency. I am not sure what the latest count is, but search the term ‘idea management software’ and you get over 59 million results. This article takes a look at what steps you can take to choose an idea management system that is right for you and your organization.
The Great Wide Open
“Open innovation” is a technique that is gaining greater consideration these days. For many companies, this practice has the potential to help them quickly and efficiently harness the new ideas they need in a volatile and uncertain business environment. It also may accelerate and de-risk progress from idea to launch. To realize the power of open innovation, businesses first should come to terms with how “open” they are willing to be.
Shut Up In a Brainstorm for Better Results
The effectiveness of brainstorms is challenged. A lot of them are done in the wrong way. In this post, Gijs van Wulfen suggests you should shut up in a brainstorm for better results.
How to Find Customer Frictions
An innovation is a simple new solution for a relevant problem. That’s why at the start of innovation you should look out for relevant problems instead of ideas. But how do you find them?
Why Product Lifecycle Management Should Be On Every Executive’s Agenda!
Product lifecycle management (PLM) initiatives often miss their true potential and make projects unnecessarily costly. Not understanding how to optimize these investments can have long-term effects on both the top and bottom line, while companies that realize how to use PLM as a competitive weapon can capture significant market advantages. In this article we give you insights into how to take an approach that addresses the true potential of a PLM investment.
Silence the Voice of the Customer
Innovation is successful when it targets customers’ needs, but how sure can we be that this is something we can predict effectively? In this article Tony Ulwick argues that the traditional voice of the customer methodology is the wrong tool to determine customer needs. Tony presents an alternative methodology that makes it possible to determine all the needs of a given customer group.
7 Tips for Outcome-Driven Innovation
While many people believe that process and structure stifle creativity - the center of gravity for sourcing and inspiring innovation – this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, planning ahead streamlines the process and surfaces any potential bottlenecks ahead of time, resulting in a program that is more apt to produce meaningful outcomes and return on investment for organizations.
Making the Right Idea Investment Choices- Idea Evaluation at Scale
Previous articles in this series focusing on collaborative enterprise innovation have covered topics such as the benefits of software platforms in enterprise innovation, internal communications, increasing engagement and driving collaboration. In this article we share insights on evaluating large numbers of ideas generated as part of enterprise programs.
6 Ways To Commit Innovation Suicide
When starting innovation, a lot of the same mistakes are made over and over again. Here is how you can recognize and avoid them.
Improving Time to Innovation: Process is Not the Enemy
While most companies see innovation as a competitive advantage, the ability to take an idea from concept to delivery is truly what sets one company apart from another. Achieving this level of operational efficiency is not a simple feat and without processes around resource management and capacity planning, it is unlikely to succeed. The fact is, no matter how brilliant or timely an idea, if the right resources are not available to work on it, the idea simply remains an idea.
What High Growth Companies Share in Common
Over the past six years The World Database of Innovation initiative has uncovered the world’s first statistics behind the practices that allow large organizations to grow and to innovate. In collaboration with innovation leaders and other experts Uri Neren and his team found 27 management structures, processes, and cultural practices are shared by the world’s fastest growing companies that make what could be called an “Innovation Management Equation.”
In Loving Memory of Traditional Strategy
Traditional Strategy, the dominant model of doing business for nearly half a century, is fast becoming a thing of the past, pushed aside by the fast-moving forces of social business - which include innovation, collaboration and co-creation.