Discovery driven Innovation at Implement May 14th 2013

By Thomas Klem Andersen, Published on May 15th 2013

Main take aways from an innovation lecture at Implement Consulting Group

We tend to think algorithmically –that is: Reducing complexity to foresee, plan and control. Although we need this kind of thinking, to be innovative we also need to be able to think heuristically –using gut feeling, intuition and holistic perspectives.



Approaches to innovation

Statistics tell us that the biggest pay offs often are found outside the core service. Even though such pay offs does not necessarily follow from investments in areas outside the core service, the statistics reveal that there might be a good reason to allocate more resources in this direction. Furthermore it is clear that the resources in themselves do not make the day. They have to be spend in a skillful way and the investment thus requires some serious consideration. As an example in relation to this the big Danish pump producer Grundfoss have stated that by 2015 a third of their revenue should be should be secured through non-pump activities.   
 

Working principles for innovation suggested by Implement are:

·         Focus on the early phase as the decisions made here will have huge consequences relative to decisions made later.

·         Let the process be knowledge based and include as many different knowledge areas and professional experience in your development team as possible because that will enhance the heuristic competence of your team dramatically.

·         Value and encourage co-creation as the inclution of many different departments and professionals will increase the experience of ownership and consequently the enthusiasm and energy invested in the project.

·         Learn iteratively –build in as many learning loops as possible.

·         Pre and prototype your product and meet the customers early on.

·         Be lean –focus on one project at a time.