Innovation Management

What are moving targets costing you?

Over the last few months, I’ve worked with two different companies struggling with projects significantly delayed because of a lack of clarity around project targets. That’s certainly one of the more common complaints I hear from new product development organizations. One way to deal with that is implementing a Critical Chain Project Management approach which significantly improves predictability and [...]

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Managing Uncertainty in New Product Innovation

 A software client asked an interesting question last week that got me thinking about managing the impact of uncertainty on product development. The  gist of the question was, “How do you deal with projects that have elements of both discovery and well understood tasks?” Project Planning The first element of uncertainty in any new product [...]

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Could you disrupt your own business?

Guts – That’s what it takes to disrupt your own core business. That and a clear strategy for where you are headed – that is if you have any hope of surviving. A recent example that’s been fascinating to watch is Netflix, as CEO, Reed Hastings, navigates the transition from snail mailing DVD’s to streaming [...]

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Like 80/20 on steroids for new products

Almost everyone’s heard of the 80/20 rule. Unfortunately, few really understand what it can do to improve the focus of their businesses – even in the area of new product innovation. You only have to look to all of the project multi-tasking that goes on to know how true this is. Boiling 80/20 down to the [...]

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How focus benefits your growth strategy

Are you taking advantage of the benefits that focus can provide your organization? If you are clear on your growth strategy and new product strategy, one key way that focus can deliver results is pipelining.* Here’s an example of how pipelining works: You have four projects that that need to be completed The projects are similar [...]

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Should everyone innovate?

Recently, a lot of innovation writers and bloggers have been lashing out against “innovation gurus” who claim that everyone inside a company should strive to be innovative. Personally, I’ve always been critical of innovation speakers that come in and try to get everyone in a company fired up about being innovative. Not necessarily because of [...]

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Checklists don’t work for innovation and one important way you can change that

To some, the idea of a checklist for innovation is ludicrous. How can you use a checklist for something as fluid as new product development – especially when venturing into game-changing or disruptive areas. Of course others are using a checklist already. They just call it stage-gate and then wonder why it doesn’t always deliver [...]

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What are you feeding R&D?

As you kick-off your growth efforts for this year, have you given any consideration to what you should be feeding the teams in your new product development process? Just as we all need to start the day off with a healthy breakfast and limit our intake of junk food, your new product development efforts will [...]

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Is your market dying for change?

In the Fast Company Article Change or Die, Alan Deutchman, shared a statistic that blew me away.  After just  a year, more than 90% of heart bypass patients return to the 5 behaviors (overeating, not exercising, too much stress, excessive drinking, and smoking) that put them on the operating table to begin with. Ninety percent! [...]

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Is process really your innovation problem?

I recently spoke with a company that was terribly frustrated by the results of their new product innovation process. Or should I say the lack of results – because they readily admitted that projects never finish on time and rarely deliver even half of what they project.  Even so, this was a successful company whose [...]

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