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"If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions"
- Albert Einstein
Innovation in its best form derives from a process of getting close to customers or users, understanding their wants, needs and issues. This is called empathy. The more defined, the more likely the problem reveals the solution – your product or service innovation. Don't start with a problem in search of a solution. Instead, follow the process:
Innovation in its best form derives from a process of getting close to customers or users, understanding their wants, needs and issues. This is called empathy. The more defined, the more likely the problem reveals the solution – your product or service innovation. Don't start with a problem in search of a solution. Instead, follow the process:
Empathize: with your customer and their needs
Empathize: with your customer and their needs
Define: their problem and redefine until narrowly focused
Define: their problem and redefine until narrowly focused
Ideate: solutions to the real problem, not one of the symptoms
Ideate: solutions to the real problem, not one of the symptoms
Prototype: your solutions for internal and customer approval
Prototype: your solutions for internal and customer approval
Plan: your financial investment, production and marketing / sales rollout
Plan: your financial investment, production and marketing / sales rollout
Test: your production at every stage, and include user tests to ensure solution compatibility
Test: your production at every stage, and include user tests to ensure solution compatibility
Execute: your launch and measure your results against plan
Execute: your launch and measure your results against plan
Ideation Categories
Ideation Categories
Understand your customer intimately. Use a methodological approach. We get and keep customers by knowing them, by understanding them. We must experience what they experience. This is empathy.
“If you can define the problem differently than everybody else in the industry, you can generate alternatives that others aren’t thinking about.”
― Roger L. Martin, The Design of Business
― Roger L. Martin, The Design of Business
Define the user's need. What is the job to be done? What are the pains of doing it now? Why do they exist, where do they exist, how do they impact the user? Continue to iterate these questions until you have narrowed the problem to something that can have a very specific answer.
Define the user's need. What is the job to be done? What are the pains of doing it now? Why do they exist, where do they exist, how do they impact the user? Continue to iterate these questions until you have narrowed the problem to something that can have a very specific answer.
Ideation Principles, Categories, etc. The overriding principle is this: focus on your customer's needs. If you ideate independently of that, run it by your customer to get a sense of fit with their real needs.
Ideation Principles, Categories, etc. The overriding principle is this: focus on your customer's needs. If you ideate independently of that, run it by your customer to get a sense of fit with their real needs.
Principals of Innovation
Principals of Innovation
Do a systematic approach to answer basic needs first. Keep it simple. Don't be too clever, diversify too quickly, or attempt a bigger solution / innovation than you can finance. There's time for the big plans!
Ideation Categories
Ideation Categories
Further narrow your search by looking at categories where the unexpected resides. By identifying unique customer groups and their needs, market differentiation will uncover hidden and unexplored problems which often have potential undiscovered solutions.
Ideation Methods 1
Ideation Methods 1
These are the most successful, and most used approaches, identifying your customers where they are. Study, interact and understand. Special emphasis on demographic and ethnographic research – go find the underserved areas.
Ideation Methods 2
Ideation Methods 2
Second level research can be done in open innovation / ideation after the initial problems are well identified. Be sure to run any solution derived here through the Solution Filter.
Pitfalls
Pitfalls
Don't let the "way we've always done it" become the way we always do it. Remember that success breeds complacency and performance pressure creates fear. This isn't what made you an innovator / entrepreneur!
Conditions for Success
Conditions for Success
Start without a premise. Work hard with your customer to understand their wants and needs. The more you think around the problem, the more unique your solution may be, and the more universal the better.
The prototype phase leads into the largest investment. By now you should be extremely confident in your solution and in your customer's acceptance of it.
The prototype phase leads into the largest investment. By now you should be extremely confident in your solution and in your customer's acceptance of it.
Innovation must run through stages of development, with "gates" to determine whether to continue, deviate or cease development. Use gates to save time and money on something that may not work.
Innovation must run through stages of development, with "gates" to determine whether to continue, deviate or cease development. Use gates to save time and money on something that may not work.
Planning means to mentally step into the result, turn the the present and ask yourself, "how do I get here (to the result)?" Plan out the development along a timeline, including the major milestones and detail steps, costs, and deliverables, and people responsible for each.
Planning means to mentally step into the result, turn the the present and ask yourself, "how do I get here (to the result)?" Plan out the development along a timeline, including the major milestones and detail steps, costs, and deliverables, and people responsible for each.
Test, test... Test your design idea with your customer. Test your hand made prototype befre tooling. Test your Pilot prototype (it should be perfect - the production run will be less-than perfect). And finally, test each production run agains established criterion, and keep a library from each run to test future samples and prevent quality fade.
Test, test... Test your design idea with your customer. Test your hand made prototype befre tooling. Test your Pilot prototype (it should be perfect - the production run will be less-than perfect). And finally, test each production run agains established criterion, and keep a library from each run to test future samples and prevent quality fade.
“Design isn’t just about making things beautiful; it’s also about making things work beautifully.” - Roger Martin
When using an empathetic, solutions-based approach to innovation, a true customer need gets embedded into the solution, creating immediate demand. Sales follow in turn, particularly when the marketing message identifies problem / solution. Contact me for more information or help on this topic.
When using an empathetic, solutions-based approach to innovation, a true customer need gets embedded into the solution, creating immediate demand. Sales follow in turn, particularly when the marketing message identifies problem / solution. Contact me for more information or help on this topic.
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