10 Questions about Innovation Management
In a recent edition of Product Management Talk radio, I had the opportunity to speak on the topic, Expanding the Innovation Pie, along with Prabhakar Gopalan,corporate strategist at Dell. The show lasted an hour, and will be available as a podcast. In preparation for the show, host Cindy Solomonasked me to answer ten questions about innovation management. Those questions, and my [...]
Getting Innovation Results from Our Cognitive Surplus
What is an organization’s most underused, most under-appreciated asset? Its brand? No, that’s well-utilized and appreciated. Its customers’ loyalty. Some would argue for that one, but it’s not a pervasive issue. Its distribution network? Not really. Its cash? No, CFOs take care of that. It’s their employees’ cognitive surplus. The stuff between their ears that [...]
Innovation Thrives between the Lines of Chaos and Control
Innovation killer #4: Create an obstacle course for ideas. Guaranteed way to kill the innovative spirit? Model your processes on Kafka’s The Trial or your typical parking clerk’s office. CIO Magazine, July 24, 2007 On the heels of the SpigitFusion release, I’ve had the opportunity to hear from a number of people on the topic [...]
Model for Employee Innovation: Amazon Prime Case Study
As more organizations expand the innovation mandate throughout their workforce, creating and maintaining an ongoing employee innovation program is critical. Sustainable innovation requires a process, not a haphazard, random luck approach. To that end, a useful model to follow is: The different activities address important aspects of innovation, from eliciting tacit ideas inside people’s heads… Read More
Innovation Mullet: Simple in the Front, Complex in the Back
On a LinkedIn discussion, someone asked: “Structured or un-structured innovation. Which works better?” There are a number of ways that could be answered. I look at it this way: What’s the simplest structure you can live with? I’m focusing on the application of simplicity as much possible in the innovation process. But I’m also a [...]
When Should Management Push Enterprise 2.0 Adoption?
After the Boston edition of the Enterprise 2.0 Conference, IBM’s Rawn Shah wrote a great follow-up post outlining ten observations from the event. A couple points that I found myself agreeing with wholeheartedly were: Adoption is about transforming human behaviors at work – More folks are starting to recognize that it is not trivial to [...]
Spigit vs. Jive Software vs. BrightIdea: a Decision Makers Guide
Thomas Edison’s most important achievement was the development of an effective incandescent light bulb. Most people believe he invented the light bulb but in fact he improved upon a 50 year old idea. 50 years to create what we now know to be one of the most important inventions of the 19th century. Imagine if [...]
Three Models for Applying Customer Feedback to Innovation
Customers have always been core to companies’ existence. An obvious statement for sure. Customers are the source of cash flow, and have historically been thought of in marketing and transactional contexts. But in recent years, we’ve seen the rise of a new way to consider customers. As vital influencers of company activities and strategies. Two [...]
Why Ideas Are Core to Enterprise 2.0
Brian Solis spoke recently on what the future of social networks will be. Ideas, it turns out. As I wrote on another blog post: Solis, leading thinker in the integration of social media and PR, recently spoke on an intriguing concept: ideas connect us more than relationships. The premise of his argument is that ideas [...]
15,000 Thoughts per Day – Why We Need Constraints for Innovation
Recently, Innosight’s Scott Anthony wrote the following on the Harvard Business Blog: People think that constraints are innovation inhibitors. They aren’t. Unconstrained efforts are often undisciplined efforts that lead to immaterial results. The right constraints in the right places can be innovation accelerators. Constraints can focus creativity where it is most needed. Constraints can help [...]
Noted: Innovation Management Races Past Enterprise 2.0
I belong to two groups on FriendFeed, Enterprise 2.0 and Innovation Management. These groups track tweets and Delicious bookmarks related to their respective topics. The Enterprise 2.0 Group was set up in June 2008, meaning it’s about 15 months old. The Innovation Management Group was set up July 24, 2009, meaning it’s about 1 1/2 [...]
