execution – Hemang Shah | Innovation | Strategy

Today we dive into addressing a massive blind spot that affects innovation charters.

An innovation exercise is a journey that has you playing with important questions that start with Why, What, How, Who, When, Where, and so on.

The most important of these is Why

Why is the customer behaving in a weird manner, Why is it a pain point for them, or Why is a problem limited to a specific demographic. This customer discovery process uncovers that golden problem worth solving. It is my favorite phase of innovation programs because of the learning involved.

At this stage, it is tempting to dive straight into How you will solve it.

This is a fun stage involving brainstorming, whiteboarding, and other ideation sessions. People run inspired. You feel like just getting the resources – time, money, tools – and cannot wait to deliver. However, you are carrying a big blind spot that has derailed many wonderful programs.

You must have a super clear vision of what your solution will look like.

What is it going to take to make it work for your entire customer base? What is the plan to make it ready for scale? What is the cost you are going to undertake to deliver?What are you going to exactly deliver?

Teams that have not addressed these questions spend cycles on building something that doesn’t make it to the market.

Here is Robyn Bolton, Founder and CEO of MileZero, who shares an example from one of her clients.

That line of questioning from Robyn was a great pause in the innovation program. Putting it in a term like “You will need to build TWO Facebooks” showed the enormity of the challenge.

As an innovation leader, you have to play the tough role of guiding the team through the phases. Getting ideas is, arguably, the easier part of the equation. Making them work at scale is where the magic happens.

Successful innovation programs combine ideation with execution.

Give your execution plans as much thought as ideation. That is where the strategy comes to life.

That’s it for today.

Happy Ideating….and Executing! 🙂

Hemang.

Today I am sharing an example of how your innovations can be marketed by your business partners.

Last week, I moderated a case study on monetization of a technology for a professional society. A large company working on specialized printing of metals found an issue in the parts made. The lead cause, among others, was the flow of gases in the equipment used. They put together a team of engineers who analyzed the flow. After simulations, the team designed an add-on part that could fix the problem. And guess what?

The solution worked and more. They could not only print defect-free parts but could also operate at a much higher load.

One time the service technician from the equipment maker was in their facility. He saw the part, the results, and was beaming with wide smiles. He asked if he could discuss the potential of using it with other users. This is a huge sign!

When technicians volunteer for a product, pay close attention. They understand the ground issues better than most.

Fast forward, this company now has an established flow of customers who are lining up to use their part. They get a fair amount of leads from the equipment maker. Their customers are also getting them other leads. This is the best form of marketing one can aim for.

What can we learn for our innovation journeys?

The best innovators tend to be the ones that experience the problem themselves.

The defects were something that could not be tolerated. A fix was required. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention.

Complete solutions >> Hacks

Arguably, the defect could be addressed with a hack. Those are not built for scale and certainly not for industrial production. Their solution was a result of flow analysis, simulation, prototypes, and fine tuning. Hence, it worked for much greater loads and is now built to last.

When engineers are happy with something, listen to them

The technician really cared for the other users of his equipment. Else he would have to listen to their complaints. When he saw that there was great potential in the add-on part, he became a strong advocate at his company.

In this case study, there was a good insight for how a collaborative approach resulted in a win-win partnership for businesses. Adopters could get to market easily and the innovators got a favorable outcome.

There’s a case to be also made for marketing of innovations. Something in a lab cabinet needs to be put out there for others to use. Bringing awareness to that is the innovator’s responsibility.

It all starts with having an acute understanding of the problem at hand and determining who else is facing it. If you fix it well, your partners will become your advocates. It helps them too – win-win!

That’s it for today.

Happy ideating 😊

Hemang.