Project Management

Anything relating to basic project management, including the triangle of constraints (scope, budget, time)

Overcoming Opportunity Blindness and Path Dependence: How To Think Your Way to Multiple Futures

In the age of permanent uncertainty there is a resurgent interest in scenario planning. Executives that have witnessed high profile decline of strong companies know that past success is no guaranteed guide to the future. Kevin McDermott & Peter Kennedy argue that scenario planning can be lifted out of its conventional uses in strategy development and risk management and used instead to avoid “opportunity blindness”.

Ideascale2021-12-02T15:14:18-08:00May 4th, 2011|Categories: Strategies|Tags: anticonventional thinking, conventional thinking, disruptive innovation, divergent thinking, Innovation Strategy, opportunity blindness, path dependence, project planning, risk management, roadblocks, scenario planning, strategic thinking, strategy|

Sustainable Innovation: Balancing Inspiration with Execution

Inspiration. Creativity. Meaning. Purpose. Human-centeredness. These terms are at the forefront of the very lively discussion around what design can bring to business and innovation -- and they are extremely powerful. Nicole Chen asks if design thinkers have thought enough about their new role.

Ideascale2021-12-02T15:09:28-08:00April 13th, 2011|Categories: Enabling Factors|Tags: business strategy, company culture, consumer behavior, design thinking, design-led innovation, idea execution, Innovation Culture, innovation execution, innovation lifecycle, innovation metrics, innovation success, inspiration, measuring innovation, sustainability, sustainable innovation|

How to Combine Innovation with Lean and Six Sigma

Innovation never takes place in a vacuum cut off from other initiatives to improve performance. Doug Collins takes a look at how to team up with people in the Lean and Six Sigma processes.

Ideascale2021-12-02T08:00:24-08:00February 22nd, 2011|Categories: Collaborative Innovation, Strategies|Tags: collaborative ideation, competitive advantage, creative problem solving, customer satisfaction, Ideation, lean, lean principles, lean processes, lean startup, open ideation, Open Innovation, productivity, six sigma|

Managing Innovation Through the Stress Points

Building innovation management as a discipline requires us to take a closer look at the hurdles innovative firms face as they develop new products, services and partnerships but also at how those firms integrate the learnings from making tough choices. Andrew Gaule takes a look at building innovation culture as we manage through the stress points.

Ideascale2021-12-02T07:54:31-08:00January 31st, 2011|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: business partnership, creative innovation, entrepreneurship, Failure, idea development, idea execution, Ideation, Innovation Management, Innovation Strategy, partnership, partnerships, setbacks, value|

Five Steps to Profitable Innovation

Innovation is one of the hottest topics in business these days. More and more, companies are coming out with new products and services designed to amaze their customers and get them to dig deeper into their pocketbooks. Only problem is, most of what passes for innovation these days doesn’t stand out as very new, different or compelling. As a result, most innovation efforts are lucky to pay for themselves, much less actually turn a profit.

Ideascale2021-12-02T07:38:56-08:00December 6th, 2010|Categories: Strategies|Tags: Communication, company culture, Creativity, customer collaboration, disruptive innovation, Ideation, Innovation Culture, Innovation Management, innovation process, process improvement, process management, profitable innovation|

Make Yourself Obsolete or Your Competitors Will

As history teaches us, maintaining the status quo may keep you in the money in the short term, but long term it can hurt your company and your industry. You have two choices: Make yourself obsolete, or your competitors will, warns Patrick Lefler.

Sarah Vandenberg2021-12-01T15:53:16-08:00November 16th, 2010|Categories: Report, Strategies|Tags: case study, Competition, continue to innovate, invention, mindset, obsolete, status quo, strategy|

The Need for a New Product Development Process

This is the third part in a series of articles that take the need of innovation under the loop and share some of the imperatives, must haves if you will, to create and sustain “NEW” in business or organizations. This article focuses on the new product developing process.

Ideascale2019-11-28T07:46:58-08:00October 25th, 2010|Categories: Life Cycle Processes|Tags: business metrics, Ideation, innovation life cycle processes, new product development process, process improvement, product analysis, Product Development, product review, project management|

Achieving Success in the Fuzzy Front End Phase of Innovation

Activities in the front end of the innovation process are often difficult to anticipate, overview and perform. Yet they are critical to successful outcomes of the innovation process. In light of a growing managerial interest in the front end, this article identifies key success factors for managing the front end, balancing acts which innovation managers need to address, as well as key contingencies affecting front end activities. Proficiency in the front end is indeed no easy task, but will have an enormous positive impact on performance for those firms that succeed.

Ideascale2021-12-20T18:22:24-08:00October 20th, 2010|Categories: Life Cycle Processes|Tags: front end of innovation, fuzzy front end of innovation, idea refinement, Ideation, innovation life cycle processes, Innovation Management, innovation process, Product Development|

Strategically Engaging Your Organization

Strategic management today must focus not only on meeting short term targets and budgets but also on building an organization prepared to succeed and lead into the future. This is obvious, you may say. But how is this simple reality reflected in how we strategically lead and engage our organizations? Read more in this article by IMD Professor Thomas Malnight.

Ideascale2021-12-01T15:42:59-08:00October 4th, 2010|Categories: Leadership, Organization & Culture, Strategies|Tags: business development, business improvement, business model improvement, Business Model Innovation, business structure, Communication, evaluation, Innovation Culture, leadership, leadership strategy, perspective, process improvement, project management, strategic management|

Innovate to Thrive – No Risk …No Innovation

Part two in a series of articles by Robert Brands discusses the need and importance of taking risks to achieve successful innovations. Since the high failure rate, organizations pursuing the practice of Innovation must have a tolerance for failure. The material is based on 25 years of hands on experience in the innovation space and the recently published book “Robert's Rules of innovation”.

Ideascale2019-11-28T07:46:22-08:00September 6th, 2010|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: best practice, choosing ideas, company culture, encouraging innovation, experimentation, idea assessment, idea management, Ideation, Innovation Culture, Innovation Management, innovation rules, risk management|

Ecosystems and the formal process of ad hoc innovation

Look at an example like Nokia and you can see the mobile device and services giant rapidly evolving different types of ecosystems around its devices, services and solutions – these are all ad hoc innovation platforms or ways to introduce the unplanned into corporate strategy. Ad hoc innovation is extremely important but a poorly understood element of change. Yet companies have been evolving complex ad hoc innovation systems for perhaps the past three years.

Ideascale2021-12-01T13:49:53-08:00July 1st, 2010|Categories: Evergreen, Life Cycle Processes|Tags: ad hoc innovation, ad hoc processes, breakthrough, closed innovation, Crowdsourcing, ecosystem, flexibility, innovation life cycle processes, Innovation Management, innovation platform, innovation policy, Open Innovation, systemic innovation|

Fundamental Principles for Innovation – What’s Your Opinion?

In this article, Heinz Essman, contributing editor from South Africa, introduces a set of proposed fundamental principles for innovation. It is indeed a proposal and we are very interested in hearing your views on this. Welcome to read and then visit the InnovationManagementForum.com to share your views and discuss with like-minded.

Ideascale2019-11-28T09:19:16-08:00June 17th, 2010|Categories: Strategies|Tags: Collaboration, Communication, company culture, core competency, Creativity, developing innovation model, Failure, Innovation Culture, innovation development, innovation execution, Innovation Management, innovation measurement, innovation model, Open Innovation, principles of innovation, risk|

How to Manage in the Age of Turbulence

In times of global turbulence the role of innovation is more important than ever. InnovationManagement spoke to global strategist John Caslione who, together with marketing guru Philip Kotler, recently published their new book CHAOTICS: The Business of Managing and Marketing in The Age of Turbulence.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:06:50-07:00May 24th, 2010|Categories: Interview, Strategies|Tags: adaptability, agile innovation, Business Model Innovation, Competition, competitive edge, disruption, flexibility, flexible innovation, global economy, Innovation Culture, Innovation Management, Innovation Strategy, Interview, predictability, project management, project planning, strategy decay, turbulence, unstructured innovation, vulnerability|

Measurement is Critical to Increase Return on Innovation

Innovation is so important that most senior executives say that it’s integral to their company’s success. Because companies invest so much in it, getting a return is critical. Poor measurement practices result in bad or incomplete information, wasted resources, and a lower return on innovation investments. InnovationManagemenet asked James Andrew, senior partner of BCG and coauthor of the senior management survey Measuring Innovation 2009 a few questions about the importance of measuring your innovation efforts.

Ideascale2021-12-01T09:32:29-08:00March 30th, 2010|Categories: Blog Archive, Interview|Tags: budget, business operations, innovation measurement, innovation metrics, Interview, measurement practices, project management, resource management, return on innovation, ROI, tracking innovation|

Web-Enabled Open Innovation: From Hype to Reality

InnovationManagemenet is proud to present yet another experienced and knowledgeable columnist; Ehsan Ehsani, researcher and consultant in the area of innovation and product development. Ehsan is working with Accenture Product Innovation and PLM practice in New York City Office and has previous experience from a variety of firms both in Europe and the United States. This is the first in a series of columns starting off with a hot topic: Web-enabled open innovation.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:05:39-07:00March 9th, 2010|Categories: Life Cycle Processes, Open Innovation|Tags: beta testing, Collaboration, Communication, creation processes, crowdsourced innovation, Crowdsourcing, design processes, governance, idea management, incentives, innovation life cycle processes, innovation research, Open Innovation, Product Development, product innovation, product lifecycle, project openness, transparency, web-enabled innovation|