a study of innovation by phil wheat
TRANSCRIPT
Innovation
• It’s the new wonder word• Noun - a creation (a new device or process) resulting from study and
experimentation• Verb - the act of starting something for the first time; introducing
something new
• But can’t we get more targeted than that?
The Process
•Capabilities•Brainstorming•Targeting•Rapid Prototyping
•Proofing•Finalization•Documentation•Presentation
Capabilities• These are your Knowns and
Known Unknowns• Building Capabilities is often
the most challenging part of the process.• Diverse Capabilities are key
to a successful effort• Be Careful not to center on a
single capability• Example:• EDDIE Robotics Research
Platform• Kinect Game Sensor• Windows 8 Alpha SDK• Phidgets Hardware
Interface System
Brainstorming
• “I need a…”• “I want a…”• “Wouldn’t it be cool if…”• “I read about a…”• “I saw a movie about…”
• Key parts of Brainstorming are understanding the scope and objectives.• Product• Press• Process• Inspritation
Targeting
• This is where the mapping happens• How do you use Capability X/Y/Z to get to Brainstorm A/B/C?• Quickly throw out the impractical or the improbable. • Decide on at least the general feature set• Don’t get too detailed yet• Build your list of questions
Rapid Prototyping
• THIS is where you want to spend your time• Rapid means many things – ideally you want to have a cycle time of about
24 hours.• Hardware is actually easier to break down into rapid chunks than software• Let your answers guide your path – a “It won’t work” result is the second
best answer you’ll get. “Not sure” is the worst.• When working with hardware – budget for failure (3x requirements are
conservative.)
Finalization• At some point you’ll have to decide what will make the first
cut• Remember that it should be just the first cut – waiting for
production quality on everything leads to paralysis. • Finalization will often take as much time as prototyping did.• Things that don’t make this cut go back into the idea pile for
Rev Next.• Never let there be a final Rev (or at least always act as if
there is a Rev Next.)
Documentation
• Nothing’s done until the paperwork is in. • Seriously – you’ll need to push out the information to others. If you can’t,
you’re stuck with it.• Documentation is also your QC – this is where you find all those obvious
problems before you go out in public. • Build it as a hand-off packet – and a budget justification for that Rev Next.• Bring the lawyers in at this point – this will likely be when the patents and
trademarks happen.
Presentation
• Part of the Innovation process is the presentation - what kind will depend on the goals you started with• Press – Pretty clear• Process – Internal leads• Inspiration – Internal and external• Product – Production people first, and then release
• This is also why communications skills are an important part of an innovation team• This is the payoff – where teams get to gather mindshare for their innovations
So how do YOU do it?
• Build the right team• Give them the support and budget to explore• Give them cover from Bureaucracy• Give them a time limit• Give them a target • Give them the authority to get it done• Get out of the way
Questions?
