INSIGHTS

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Elements of Innovation

A collection of a few key concepts on innovation.

Types: 

  • Incremental: Feature improvements for existing products/services

  • Breakthrough: Generating a compelling market advantage

  • Disruptive: Transforming market dynamics

Drivers: 

  • Market: Dynamics, competitive factors or emerging opportunity

  • Technology: Creating/enabling a novel application/product development

  • Need: Serving a compelling end user need (... the most productive.)

Project Phases: (for an XTM)

  • Evaluation & Preparation

    • Priority on identifying the risk and unknowns

    • Strategy development or review

    • Market insights and concept development.

  • Exploration & Cartography

    • Priority on resolving the risk and unknowns

    • Pro-active market engagement and business case confirmation

    • Rapid prototyping to focus the product / service value proposition

  • Execution & Integration

    • Implementation & Commercialization

    • Delivering the product / service to market.

Agile Manifesto (for agile software development)

  • Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

  • Working software over comprehensive documentation

  • Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

  • Responding to change over following a plan

Agile Manifesto (adapted for agile innovation)

  • The right team and metrics over quarterly driven operational plans

  • Testing theories over a focus on NPI stage gates

  • Early and often engagement with lead customers over academic hindsight

  • Responding to change over following a plan

Clay Phillips from GM had a useful list comparing attributes between incremental innovation, which is what most companies understand to do and disruptive innovation which is what most companies want and more importantly, -need- to do.

Incremental Innovation

  1. Experts

  2. Trends

  3. Forecasts

  4. Benchmarks

  5. Reports

  6. Recommendations

  7. Annual process

  8. Precision

  9. Analysis

Disruptive Innovation

  1. Connectors

  2. Discontinuities

  3. Scenarios

  4. Anticipation

  5. Events

  6. Options & Implications

  7. Real time

  8. Close enough

  9. Insights

XTM Attributes: 

  • Focus: Drive the strategy

  • Own the Risk: Act decisively with incomplete information

  • Flexibility: Navigate the unknowns on the fly

  • Creativity: Generate novel solutions to challenging problems

  • Diversity: Making the most of a wide range of experience to increase the number of options

  • Perseverance: This stuff is hard. Gotta stick with it to get anywhere.

  • Accountability: To the vision

This list of attributes is likely to be viewed with considerable skepticism by HR departments. This is most unfortunate in our opinion, as we find the mindset behind these commandments is the key to effective execution on stratevic innovation.

Intrapreneur’s 10 Commandments

  1. Come to work every day willing to be fired.

  2. Circumvent any orders aimed at stopping your dream.

  3. Do any job needed to make your job work, regardless of your job description.

  4. Find people to help you.

  5. Follow your intuition about the people you choose, and work only with the best.

  6. Work underground as long as you can; publicity triggers the corporate immune mechanism

  7. Never bet on a race unless you are running in it

  8. Remember it is easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission.

  9. Be true to your goals, but be realistic about the ways to achieve them.

  10. Honor your sponsors.

    - Gifford Pinochet

These concepts and more are explored in greater detail through Insights and Case Studies.