Most everyone knows about Agile sprints for software development, but they can also be applied to developing physical products. One of the most powerful approaches is an Innovation Sprint. Innovation Sprints are short (1-2 week) spurts of product ideation activity that combine the best practices of Design Thinking (customer centered innovation and prototyping) [...]
As business and technology development projects are initiated, it’s important to get them started in a way that will improve their chances of generating commercial success. One way to do this is to utilize patents for their ability to supply background information in the technical and market areas. They are most helpful in [...]
The “Opportunity Screening Worksheet – Second Cut” figure shows the detailed questions and scoring for the second round of work and evaluation. Opportunity Screening Worksheet – Second Cut Also provided is the “Opportunity Screening Worksheet – Third Cut” figure. During the second and third cuts, promising ideas get more attention. Opportunity Screening Worksheet [...]
The next step in the process is to do a first cut or preliminary screen. The screen consists of six Numbered Questions each with a list of “for consideration” questions to guide thinking. Instead of actually answering the Numbered Questions in detail, the only thing the small groups doing the evaluation needs to [...]
A process for identifying those new business development ideas with a higher than average probability of success, was developed at the Hoechst Celanese Corporation Office of Innovation. They reviewed more than 1000 ideas generated through their Idea Fund and Opportunity Bank in order to come up with a way to improve the survival [...]
Because of the comparatively low level of innovation required for Horizon One and Process Improvement projects, these projects can be started from lists of identified opportunities. These lists typically come from key customer requests, marketing and business development personnel, trend analysis, competitive intelligence, process flow analyses, operations benchmarking, or Pareto analysis. The identified [...]
Innovation Stage Mapping Survey One of the best ways to answer the question of where project is in its innovation journey is to use the questions in the “Innovation Mapping Survey” figure. After the questions have been answered, the key at the bottom of the survey can be used to determine (by the [...]
Innovation Framework Another segmentation method is using either the stage and gate funnel model or the agile / lean innovation framework model. In the ”Innovation Framework” figure, ideas move through problem-solving and business model generation onto commercialization. One of the great things about having these frameworks that map an idea’s journey towards commercialization [...]
There are times when an organization is presented with an innovation opportunity from outside the Corporation. This can also occur internally when a person or a team comes up with a new idea and presents it to management for consideration. In such cases it is useful to quickly understand where the project or [...]
To do well at innovation, companies need to design their internal processes to engage in three activities: (1) facilitating serendipity to create sparks of creative ideation among the employees, (2) capturing and testing the outputs of this creative ideation, and (3) transforming new ideas into successful products and services. It was John Seely [...]
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