I have been spending a lot of time lately with clients and friends who are working or are interested in the field of innovation and a few common themes came up. The most common ones are innovative ideas are often immediately obscured by current business concerns, organization solios and narrow visions. I was showing my clients how different companies approach and show them how we approach it. They were surprised to see that the "what" is very similar and the "how" is so different.
Whether we are talking about radical innovation or incremental innovation, there are a number of things that could get us into the wrong paths. I called them "innovation traps". Here are the top five:
The Product Extension Trap - Starting your innovation through a "product development" lens and starting early on creating stage gate is a sure way to get you inside a box. Don't need that at all even thought that is part of your intent.
The Product Performance Trap - Too often people are obsessed with competing on the performance front and ignore many human elements that are equally important in creating new differentiation. This is where human-Centered Design can be a great tool for innovation. Not spreadsheets and pie charts.
The Commitment Trap - Lack of commitment to make innovation happen is another key problem. Many simply see it as nice-to-have and not committing enough energy and resource to make it a part of an organization day-to-day activities.
The Validation Trap - I have a love and hate thing with this word. As much as validation is key, I often see executives spending unproportional energy in trying to collect data and missed the opportunity to learn and refine early enough. This is seeking improvement in an agile fashion and is more important that looking for validation. This is where "design thinking" come into play. My company is turning designers into strategists.
The Boundaries Trap - Innovation doesn't want a box, but it needs boundaries. Setting some boundaries early on helps set context and should not be send as constraints. In fact, it is a pre-condition for effective innovation.
Let me know what you think. I'd better be getting back into my meetings. Diagrams by Peter Marks and Mike Tanner.
Original Post: http://mootee.typepad.com/innovation_playground/2007/12/five-innovatoin.html
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