We recently had an interesting topic to discuss in the internal TechTalks that we organize within our organization. It was about Strategic Innovation. The focal point of the discussion is around the concepts of innovation shared by Geoffrey Moore, one of the renowned authors on innovation. His books "Dealing with Darwin" and "Crossing the chasm" have elaborated the strategic importance and effective measures that can be taken in using innovation as a tool to take organizations to the next level.
One of the key concepts is the technology adoption life cycle. The newer concept introduced in Dealing with Darwin is the concept of Category Maturity Life cycle. The Category maturity lifecycle has the technology adoption lifecycle as the first part of the lifecycle. The technology adoption technology itself has multiple phases in which a new and disruptive technology gets adopted - by techies who just try it, by visionaries who are ahead of the herd, by pragmatists who are with the herd, by conservatives who adopt proven technologies and finally the skeptics who just say no. The technology lifecycle is applicable largely for the disruptive technologies that are in the growth markets. Once the new technology is assimilates, the next phases in the category maturity life cycle kicks in where the transition happens in the order of
Growth Market -> Mature Market -> Declining market -> End of Life
Now, How to make the strategic innovation relevant at the executing layer of the organization? There are some key things for engineers and managers to consider
Engineers
1. Innovation need not always be about the next BIG thing: The common assumption about innovation is that you have to discover a new product, service or something big. In practice, the smallest innovation on a product, service, process or way of working can qualify as innovation.
2. Be a part of it: Make conscious efforts to be part of the action. Look for opportunities in whatever your contributions to do things differently and to do different things.
3. Innovation does not happen in isolation: Get involved with innovation activities. Join forums, peer groups, brainstorming sessions and whatever mechanisms available to exchange ideas
4. Take the ideas forward: It is not necessary that you are coming up with new ideas all the time. Taking forward new ideas by working with cross-functional teams, building on the ideas, getting involved in proof of concepts (POC) are some of the effective ways to get involved
Managers
1. Environment: Create a thriving environment to boost innovation. This means creating sufficient forums for innovators to exchange ideas, providing recognition, and linking rewards to innovation
2. Provide mentoring and coaching support: Support the innovators by providing mentoring or ongoing coaching either by yourself or by linking the engineers with the subject matter experts.
3. Walk the talk: Participate in innovation activities yourself.
One of the key concepts is the technology adoption life cycle. The newer concept introduced in Dealing with Darwin is the concept of Category Maturity Life cycle. The Category maturity lifecycle has the technology adoption lifecycle as the first part of the lifecycle. The technology adoption technology itself has multiple phases in which a new and disruptive technology gets adopted - by techies who just try it, by visionaries who are ahead of the herd, by pragmatists who are with the herd, by conservatives who adopt proven technologies and finally the skeptics who just say no. The technology lifecycle is applicable largely for the disruptive technologies that are in the growth markets. Once the new technology is assimilates, the next phases in the category maturity life cycle kicks in where the transition happens in the order of
Growth Market -> Mature Market -> Declining market -> End of Life
Now, How to make the strategic innovation relevant at the executing layer of the organization? There are some key things for engineers and managers to consider
Engineers
1. Innovation need not always be about the next BIG thing: The common assumption about innovation is that you have to discover a new product, service or something big. In practice, the smallest innovation on a product, service, process or way of working can qualify as innovation.
2. Be a part of it: Make conscious efforts to be part of the action. Look for opportunities in whatever your contributions to do things differently and to do different things.
3. Innovation does not happen in isolation: Get involved with innovation activities. Join forums, peer groups, brainstorming sessions and whatever mechanisms available to exchange ideas
4. Take the ideas forward: It is not necessary that you are coming up with new ideas all the time. Taking forward new ideas by working with cross-functional teams, building on the ideas, getting involved in proof of concepts (POC) are some of the effective ways to get involved
Managers
1. Environment: Create a thriving environment to boost innovation. This means creating sufficient forums for innovators to exchange ideas, providing recognition, and linking rewards to innovation
2. Provide mentoring and coaching support: Support the innovators by providing mentoring or ongoing coaching either by yourself or by linking the engineers with the subject matter experts.
3. Walk the talk: Participate in innovation activities yourself.
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