Process Improvement

Interested in improving already-existing processes – refining, redefining, etc. – can also apply to reconfiguring departments or teams

Eight Important Facts about NPD and R&D Portfolio Management

Often the tasks at hand take our focus off of the big picture. In new product development (NPD) and R&D portfolio management, there are several “givens” that may seem obvious when stated but are often overlooked. Bring your attention back to these eight tried and true ways to improve your portfolio management and increase your product development productivity.

Ideascale2020-04-01T11:28:39-07:00July 9th, 2014|Categories: Life Cycle Processes|Tags: data, innovation process, portfolio management, process, Product Development, productivity, R&D|

6 Easy Steps to Innovate any Product

This article brings the 6 step method of AULIVE. A case study of surfboard innovation is illustrating the process.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:17:30-07:00May 6th, 2014|Categories: Enabling Factors, Open Innovation|Tags: aulive, in-depth article, innovation lifecycle, innovation process, methodology, product innovation|

Mourning the Dead: Why You Should Have a Funeral after Killing Your Product

Pulling the plug on an in-flight project is hard. No one wants to be the person calling it quits, offending team members and admitting defeat. It is this mentality, however, that ends up sucking the life out of resources and budgets and setting the organization up for continued failure because the process is broken. How can you ensure only the right projects survive, wrong ones are killed early and lessons are celebrated after an appropriate mourning period? It’s going to take courage.

Ideascale2020-03-30T12:18:24-07:00April 28th, 2014|Categories: Idea Management, Organization & Culture|Tags: Failure, funeral, lessons learned, portfolio management, Product Development|

Innovation Governance: Why Should Top Management Care?

In its research report “CEO Challenge 2014, ”[1] The Conference Board lists the ten most important challenges facing CEOs in 2014. Innovation ranks N°3 in this survey of 1,020 responses, on a par with operational excellence. Innovation was the N°1 issue in 2012, and in 2014 it is still the N°1 challenge in China. This article (in a series of seven) looks at the theme of innovation governance from a top management angle.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:17:34-07:00April 14th, 2014|Categories: Leadership, Strategies|Tags: Best Practices, company-wide innovation, culture, decision making, goal setting, in-depth article, innovation champion, Innovation Culture, innovation governance, Innovation Leadership, Innovation Management, Innovation Strategy, Organization|

Mind the Gap! 5 Tips on How to Align Your Boss’ Perception of Innovation Maturity with Reality

The Fourth Product Portfolio Management Benchmark Study identified challenges organizations face in speeding innovation to bring products to market. The biggest disconnect appears between middle management and executives as to where the organization is with their innovation maturity. Bridging this gap may be the most important thing you do to improve ROI.

Ideascale2021-12-05T20:48:09-08:00March 24th, 2014|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: challenges, education, innovation maturity, middle management, perception, portfolio management, problem identification, Problem Solving, survey, time-to-market|

Measuring Open Innovation – a Metrics-Based Management Toolkit for Successful Innovation Teams – Part 2

How to apply metrics to open innovation (OI)? That's the question we often get from our clients when they start to develop their open innovation capabilities. In order to provide an answer to this critical question, the following article will focus on the key findings of our Open Innovation KPI 2012 study. Based on this study, a metrics-based management toolkit has been developed, which provides the most relevant key performance indicators from the perspective of innovation managers, subject matter experts, and consultants.

Ideascale2020-03-30T12:11:26-07:00March 19th, 2014|Categories: Open Innovation, Strategies|Tags: challenge driven innovation, framework, ideation contests, in-depth article, innovation controlling, Innovation Management, innovation toolbox, KPI, measure innovation, measuring innovation, metrics, Open Innovation, performance measurement, project management, scorecard|

The Industrial Menopause and What to Do About It

It seems to be more or less a fact that the more mature a company is, the harder it is to produce something totally new that deviates substantially to what has been done earlier. In order to understand this phenomenon better Bengt Järrehult makes a comparison between human and industrial life, trying to elucidate the similarities and differences between the 2 worlds.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:17:41-07:00March 5th, 2014|Categories: Innovation Psychology, Open Innovation, Organization & Culture|Tags: Change Management, incremental innovation, innovation, Innovation Strategy, innovative companies, menopause|

The Value of De-Risking Lies In the Process

Mitigating the high failure rate associated with entrepreneurial endeavour is something that concerns investors as well as potential entrepreneurs - “do I risk myself?” is a lurking question many ask of themselves or the person putting money on the table.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:16:18-07:00January 14th, 2014|Categories: Leadership, Strategies|Tags: competency profiling, de-risking, emotional intelligence, entrepreneur, Failure, investors, risk management|

A New Management Innovation – the Chief Digital Officer

Global business is currently undergoing one of the most significant changes seen in the last thirty years. What commenced as a computer hardware revolution in the 1980s has now given way to a software revolution that is impacting every organisation, a revolution which is accelerating at such a rate that many businesses are having difficulty keeping pace.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:16:20-07:00December 26th, 2013|Categories: Enabling Factors|Tags: chief digital officer, digital era, digital footprint, digitizing, it management, management, process improvement, Technology|

What Cleaning Your Closet Can Teach You About Complexity In The Workplace

Is your workplace cluttered? Not in the physical sense, but the figurative one. Do you have a bunch of old tasks and procedures taking up space without adding much value? Just like you have to dig through your closet every so often and get rid of questionable items that you once thought were good purchases, sometimes you have to assess the mental clutter that has built up in the workplace over time and recognize when policies have gone out of style. Tasks and rules that were once must-haves can build exponentially and increase complexity until employees have time for little else, like innovation.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:16:21-07:00December 20th, 2013|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: clutter, creative thinking, empowerment, innovation, perspective, productivity, risk management, strategic partnership|

Brag about Your Failures

Many organizations in both the public and private sectors suffer from a corporate culture which is risk averse and fearful of failure. People are reluctant to try new things or even to suggest innovations. They remember old stories about colleagues being punished for experiments that failed. They have learnt that it is safest to keep a low profile and focus on standard operating procedures. Mean while the executive committee is desperately trying to think of ways to make the outfit more agile and innovative.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:16:25-07:00December 3rd, 2013|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: corporate venture, culture, Failure, Innovation Culture, risk aversion, risk management|

To Approach Change Differently, Change Your Approach

Why do so many corporations operate under the assumption that change initiatives must come from the top down? Mandated change is often out of touch with the everyday work of employees, so it’s met with resistance as they immediately anticipate the additional work these programs entail.

Ideascale2021-11-16T13:00:04-08:00December 2nd, 2013|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: change agent, Change Management, innovation, innovation tools, lasting change, perspective, strategic partnership|

‘Borrow’ Business Models to Reinvent Your Industry

Most “new” business models are not really “new”. Very frequently they are based on replications or re-combinations of existing business model patterns. Consequently, learning from business models from other companies and industries is a very important source of inspiration for business model innovation.

Ideascale2019-11-28T08:01:55-08:00November 4th, 2013|Categories: Strategies|Tags: analogies, bait and hook, business model database, business model design, Business Model Innovation, cross industry innovation, design, inspiration, Open Innovation, process innovation, product innovation, risk management|

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?

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:16:34-07:00October 28th, 2013|Categories: Life Cycle Processes|Tags: Business Model Innovation, innovation, Innovation Culture, innovation management maturity model, innovation maturity, innovative companies, project portfolio management|

Innovation: An Outside-In Approach

Every organization wants to be thought of as “innovative” and although cliché, there is something said about thinking outside of the box to help you get there. However, simply asking your employees to think outside of the box at your next internal planning session or brainstorm meeting may not be enough to get to those game-changing ideas. To get unique solutions, you need to look at things in new light. The following seven strategies are tactics that will help you take an outside-in approach to innovation, to help you come up with unexpected, richer solutions.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:16:35-07:00October 22nd, 2013|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: Best Practices, brainstorming, Competition, Employee Engagement, innovation, inspiration, perspective, strategic partnership, thinking outside of the box|