First, Know Your Why
So just what are some of the right ways to go about choosing the best technology product or service for the needs of innovation? As it turns out, many in the community feel, it’s not really about the best hardware or software solution. That’s still important. But it’s about focusing on the right innovation questions, best practices and organizational methods to move the process along in an efficient step-by-step way. First, you must put your innovation strategy and roadmap into place.
For Marci Ruman, Global Innovation Strategist at Kimberly-Clark, it’s significant to cultivate the right mindset first. She notes, “My focus is vision strategy and roadmaps. So for me, it’s very important to have a growth mindset and to really be open to learning different things. I have a mantra that I use and repeat to myself all the time when I’m doing work. It’s something as simple as ‘know your why.’ Because if you know your why, that really helps to inform your vision.”
Ruman adds, “To challenge current thinking, it helps to inform your strategies so you’re not necessarily making a better product of the version that you already have in the market, but maybe you’re actually making a product that could potentially make you obsolete. And then make it happen is really about asking, what has to be true, and that informs your roadmap.”
Clearly, innovation professionals need to develop the bigger picture, so to speak, for their vision and what the ultimate goals are of the project, such as aligning the vision and strategy to business goals. Having that roadmap is key to development. So, is technology just a tool or is it integral to the innovation process?
“You can look at technology in different ways. You can look at technology as a tool to actually do your innovation, and there are many tools out there,” says Ruman. “However, you could also talk about technology in terms of what you’re studying to make your product better. So there’s a lot of different ways to look at technology as it relates to innovation.”
Some key takeaways from Ruman, as it pertains to technology and innovation best practices:
- Know your why. Listen, don’t interrogate. This informs your vision.
- Challenge current thinking. Ask, why not? This informs your strategy.
- Make it happen. Ask, what has to be true? This informs your roadmap.
The Innovation Approach
Divya Harpalani, Product Manager at B&H Photo, also has a decidedly non-technical approach to approaching technology and innovation. There are many methodologies and frameworks the corporate innovator can follow, but it’s the best practices that you set in place that can pave the way forward.
“When it comes to innovation, most of us are familiar with various innovative frameworks that can be used to structure our approach towards innovation but what’s important is to keep up with certain practices that will help in successful implementation of those frameworks. There are key best practices that I make sure to check while following any approach for innovation,” says Harpalani. These best practices include:
- Know Your Target Audience: Start by deeply understanding the users who are most likely to use your product. What are their needs, expectations and behavior when using your product.
- Sensemaking: Extract meaningful insights from user research to define the problem clearly that helps in making sense of data that you are able to extract from your research.
- Communication and Storytelling: Clearly articulate the problem, vision, and potential solutions to gain alignment.
- Risk-Taking: Embrace experimentation and be willing to test bold ideas early.
- Iteration and Pivoting: Continuously refine your solution based on feedback and learnings in the process. Innovation isn’t about taking a linear approach but about the ability to have that flexibility to iterate and pivot.
- Retrospective Reflection: Regularly evaluate what worked and what didn’t to improve the process. This step can help in making informed decisions for change throughout the process.
- Constant Learning: Embrace failure as a steppingstone to success and keep evolving.
Perhaps both Ruman and Harpalani, as established innovation practitioners, are highlighting similar themes when it comes to best practices, such as developing an innovation roadmap.
An innovation roadmap is a strategic, visual plan that outlines how an organization will achieve its innovation goals over time. It acts as a guide, detailing specific projects, timelines, and resources needed to translate innovation strategies into tangible results. By clearly defining the path forward, it helps align teams, manage resources effectively, and adapt to changing market conditions.
Develop the roadmap, and the innovation technology will follow with the best resource choices and the best fit for the purpose of the job. In essence, an innovation roadmap provides a clear path for organizations to translate their vision into reality by strategically managing the innovation process from start to finish, including any technology solutions associated with the initiative.
Innovation Technology, 101
All Things Innovation recently produced a guide, “Technology: Powering the Future of Innovation.” The driving forces of innovation are increasingly intertwined with technology. Innovation technology encompasses the tools, platforms, methodologies, and digital infrastructure that enable, accelerate, and scale the creation and implementation of new ideas, products, services, and processes. This guide, created with the support of Gemini, provides a comprehensive overview of innovation technology, exploring its definition, diverse types, significant benefits, inherent challenges, wide-ranging applications, essential best practices, and use cases.
Video courtesy of Future Factory
