Next  Steps  for  an  Idea  

Birds  of  a  Feather  Conference  August  12,  2010  

Links  and  Layers  •  Innovation as a series of interconnected “links” of activities

•  Each link composed of layers of activities, processes, people

Overview  

•  Introduc:ons  •  Ideas,  but  now  what?  •  Five  factors  to  consider  •  Recommenda:ons  •  Q&A  

Introduc:ons  

•  OVO  is  an  innova:on  consul:ng  and  training  firm,  focused  primarily  on  development  of  sustainable,  repeatable  innova:on  processes  

•  I’m  Jeffrey  Phillips,  a  senior  consultant  with  OVO  and  I’ll  be  your  presenter,  humorist  and  guide  for  the  next  hour.  

So  we  have  some  ideas…  •  Basket of ideas photograph •  Doesn’t really matter how the ideas were

generated – brainstorm, idea campaign, open innovation etc.

•  We have a number of ideas that need some “next steps”

Possibly  captured  in  a  system  

•  Perhaps  your  firm  has  clear  guidance  on  how  to  manage  ideas  

•  On  the  other  hand,  perhaps  you  have  reached  the  proverbial  fork  in  the  road  

Now  what?  

Many  forks,  no  clear  path  

•  If  your  firm  is  like  many  we’ve  worked  with,  there  are  no  clear  paths  to  evaluate,  select  and  develop  the  idea  

•  You’ve  reached  a  “fork  in  the  road”  and  the  path  ahead  is  uncertain  

Defined  Path  

•  Let’s  talk  about  making  the  way  forward  for  an  idea  more  defined,  more  visible  and  more  sustainable  

•  It’s  hard  enough  to  do  innova:on  without  crea:ng  more  difficul:es  through  poor  defini:on,  planning  and  process  

Evalua;on  &  

Selec;on  

Links  in  a  chain  

Problem    Defini;on   Idea  

Genera;on  Launch  &  

Maintenance  Development  

Strengths  /  Weaknesses  

Problem    Defini;on  

Idea  Genera;on  

Evalua;on  &  

Selec;on   Development   Launch  &  Maintenance  

Where  does  a  chain  break?  

For  most  firms,  the  weakest  link  in  the  innova:on  chain  is  evalua:on,  selec:on  and  prototyping  

Reasons  

•  Problem  defini-on  is  rela:vely  straighTorward.  Everyone  recognizes  the  problems  

•  Most  organiza:ons  are  preWy  good  at  idea  genera-on  

•  Most  firms  consider  their  development  capabili:es  as  a  core  competency  

•  Launch  and  maintenance  are  well  understood  

Evalua:on,  Selec:on,  Prototyping  Several  reasons:  – Strategic  –        are  we  working  on  things  that  are  important,  relevant  

                         and  strategic?  

– Process  –          have  we  defined  how  this  “should”  work?  

– Criteria  –          do  we  know  what  criteria  to  use  to  evaluate  the  idea?  

– Experience  –      do  we  have  people  who  have  “done  this  before”?  

– Perspec;ves  –    do  we  have  the  right  mix  of  people  to  evaluate  the                                idea?  

– Prototyping  –      do  we  have  the  right  aYtudes  about  rapid  developing                  

         and  tes:ng?  

– Transi;on  –        are  the  likely  adopters  ac:vely  involved  and  sponsoring                

         the  idea?  

We  believe  there  are  five  significant  reasons  for  failure  in  the  evalua:on  and  selec:on  “link”    

•  Strategic  issues  •  Process  issues  •  People  issues  •  Prototyping  •  Transi:on  issues  

“Strategic”  reasons  

Evalua:on  and  Selec:on  o[en  fail  for  “strategic”  reasons:  •  There  isn’t  a  clear  ra:onale  for  the  idea  –  it  isn’t  well  aligned  to  corporate  goals  

•  Inability  to  priori:ze  issues  and  state  what  is  important,  make  tradeoffs,  make  choices  

•  Lack  of  communica:on  and  emphasis  –  execu:ves  actually  want  new  ideas  but  don’t  communicate  

Overcoming  Strategic  Issues  

• Make  sure  the  idea  is  aligned  with  strategic  goals  and  corporate  strategies  

•  Link  the  idea  back  to  the  problem  statement  or  opportunity  

•  Understand  the  choices  and  tradeoffs  –  what  are  the  expecta:ons  (incremental/disrup:ve)  

Process  Reasons  

Even  if  the  execu:ve  team  is  fully  behind  the  work,  evalua:on  can  suffer  if:  •  There’s  no  clear  process  –  What  should  we  do?  •  There’s  no  defined  criteria  to  use  to  evaluate  –  otherwise  this  is  simply  opinion  and  preference  

Does  your  process  look  like  this?  

Overcoming  Process  issues  

•  Define  and  communicate  an  evalua:on  process  –  It  may  change  slightly  idea  to  idea  or  topic  to  topic  –  Use  the  concepts  of  stages  and  gates,  ideally  no  more  than  3  –  Publish  the  evalua:on  process  so  idea  submiWers  can  understand  how  ideas  are  evaluated  

•  Establish  “standard”  evalua:on  criteria  

Or  this?  

Feasibility / General Concept Analysis

Concept Elaboration

Set scope, team and goal

Review existing research

Conduct Ethnography

Identify Need States and

Insights

Idea Generation

Generate Ideas(53)

Rank IdeasDocument

Top 20 Ideas

Rank Ideas Top 8 Ideas to Focus Groups

Confirm / Tune

4-8 Ideas

Feasibility / Pilot / Prototype

Second Stakeholder Presentation

Final Decisioning

Executive Sponsor

Decision – Ideas to Market

Market

Implementation

Confirm / Tune 8-10 Ideas for Show

Stakeholder Presentation

Prep for Presentation

High Level Feasibility and

Concept Analysis

Rank Ideas

Target Date: September

We are Here

Quantitative Analysis &

Concept Testing

Timeline: February 2010

The  OVO  Process  

Trends  and  Scenario  Planning  

Customer  Insights  

Idea  Genera;on  

Idea  Evalua;on  &  Development  

Directed  by  Corporate  Strategy  

Enabled  by  Corporate  Culture  

Suggested  Process  Map  As  an  example:  

Idea  Submission  

Idea  Research  

Crowd  Rank  

Eval.  Criteria  

Business  Case  

Steering  Team  

Ideas  evaluated  and  ranked  by  “Crowd”   Ideas  evaluated  using  

criteria  by  a  diverse  team  

Business  plans  evaluated  and  selected  by  a    steering  commiWee  

“Swim”  Charts  Build  a  Business  Case  

2  –  3  months  

Process  

Docs/D

ata  

Peop

le  

Metric

s  

Concept  Lead  Resources  from  other  teams  

as  necessary  Iden:fy  poten:al  sponsor  

 

Feed

back  

Finalize  the  business  case  

Final  business  plan  Schedule  :me  for  business  

case  review      

Concept  Lead  

Screening  

Business  case  presented  to  EIG  Three  disposi:ons:  

 -­‐  move  to  develop  idea    -­‐  shelve  

 -­‐  return  to  concept  lead  for          further  business  case  

elabora:on  

#  ideas  presented  #  ideas  approved  

Avg  :me  from  phase  start  to  approval  

Avg  :me  from  capture  to    approval  

Determine  Par;cipa;on  If  Approved  

EIG    

Innova:on  Team      

Write  Business    case  

Develop  the  business  case  based  

on  template  and  financial  model  

 

Concept  Lead  Resources  from  other  teams  

as  necessary    

Iden;fy    Necessary  Resources  

Bi-­‐monthly    

Exit   idea  shelved  or  passed  to  

product  based  on  Concept  Lead  Research  Ideas  can  be  merged  with  other  

Ac:ve  projects    

idea  shelved  or  passed  back  to  

Concept  Lead  a[er  review    

Establish  the  priority  of  the  approved  ideas  based  on  porTolio,  

opportuni:es  and  needs  

No:fy  submiWer  idea  moving  

into  development  

#  ideas  approved  #  ideas  shelved  #  ideas  moved  to        other  groups  

#  ideas  merged  with      other  ac:ve  projects  

 

No:fy  submiWer  idea  disposi:on  

and  ra:onale  if  not  moving  to  development  

See  next  slide      

Overcoming  Process  Issues  Standard  evalua:on  criteria  •  Recommended  evalua:on  criteria:  

–  Dis:nc:veness  –  Feasibility  –  Opportunity  –  Market  Impact  –  Customer  Impact  

•  Weight  them  as  appropriate  for  your  firm  •  Add  addi:onal  criteria  as  necessary  

Example  Opportunity Feasibility Distinctiveness Market Impact Consumer Impact Return

Strategy Alignment

Thought Provokers:Review these questions to think through your response to the category question for the ideas below

Is there a signif icant market opportunity in terms of consumer

interest? Is there any major competitor in

the marketplace today?

Can it be built or developed? Does X

Corp have the capability to enter the market, on its ow n or

w ith partners?

Are w e the f irst to market w ith this idea?

Can the idea be readily copied? If

there is a competitor, can w e distinguish

our idea from theirs?

Will the idea disrupt our competitors? Will this idea signif icantly impact the market?

Will consumers enthusiastically

respond, perhaps sw itch to us from

another?

Does the idea provide signif icant benefit to consumers? Will the

consumer quickly reap those benefits?

Does the idea represent a

signif icant return on the investment, recognizing that

some ideas may not be intended to

provide an immediate f inancial return

Does the idea fit w ith overall X Corp

strategy and the new branding theme?

Responses:A response of "1" means the idea fails to achieve any signif icance in the category at all, w hile a "7" means the idea completely achieves the meaning of the category

"0" - a competitive, saturated market w e

enter late, "7" - a completely new "blue ocean" w ith no current

competitors

"0" - the idea is completely beyond X

Corp and our partners ability to build and deliver,

"7" - the idea can be easily developed w ith existing capabilities

"0" - the idea is indistinguishable from existing products and

services, "7" - the idea is

completely new and distinct from any other product or

service

"0" - the idea is w ill have no impact on competitors or the

market, "7" - the idea w ill

force competitors to react and prospects to sw itch to X Corp

"0" - the idea is w ill have no meaningful value to consumers,

"7" - the idea provides excellent benefits that are

easy to realize for consumers

"0" - likely to provide no return or very little

return for the investment,

"7" - Likely to provide exceptional return on

the investment

"0" - Not aligned to X Corp strategy, intent

and positioning, "7" - Well aligned to X Corp strategy, intent

and positioning

IDEA TITLE

1 Idea One 26 50 21 22 31 30 40

2 Idea Tw o 29 47 23 21 34 22 35

3 Idea Three 34 49 36 26 32 33 36

4 Idea Four 44 39 41 42 40 36 39

5 Idea Five 37 40 27 34 46 27 32

6 Idea Six 41 45 42 34 42 32 40

People  Reasons  People  play  an  important  role  in  evalua:ng,  selec:ng  and  prototyping  ideas  The  evalua:on  and  selec:on  link  fails  if:  •  People  don’t  understand  their  roles  in  evalua:on  •  People  haven’t  received  training  to  evaluate  ideas  in  context  and  with  the  right  perspec:ves  

•  There’s  no  “learning  curve”  –  everything  is  new,  and  different,  each  :me  

•  The  team  is  too  narrow,  too  biased,  doesn’t  have  representa:on  from  key  cons:tuencies  

Overcoming  People  Issues  

•  Iden:fying  “roles”  in  the  evalua:on  process  – Who  does  “what”  when?  

•  Developing  perspec:ve  – Finding  the  best  aspects  of  the  idea,  not  merely  shuYng  the  idea  down  

•  Gaining  skills  and  insights  over  :me  – Building  a  core  group  that  evaluates  ideas  repeatedly  so  there  is  learning  

Prototyping  Reasons  •  Ideas  that  receive  high  marks  in  the  evalua:on  process  should  be  simultaneously  prototyped  

•  Ideas  can  fail  in  this  step  because:  

• Failure  to  adequately  prototype  in  case  of  idea  failure  • Inadequate  prototyping  leads  us  to  see  what  we  want  to  see  • No  :me  or  no  investment  for  prototyping  

Mobile  Branch  Banking  

Shared  Expenses  Website  

Overcoming  Prototyping  issues  •  Find  cheap,  fast  ways  to  prototype  ideas  –   Clorox  aWempts  to  prototype  ideas  in  a  few  hours  or  less  for  an  incremental  idea  and  a  few  days  for  a  disrup:ve  idea  

•  Use  internal  staff  to  expose  the  ini:al  prototypes  to  –  they  are  likely  customers  of  your  products  

•  Refine  the  prototypes  and  find  real  customers  to  experience  your  prototype.    Follow  the  80-­‐20  rule:    Listen  80%  talk  20%.  

“Transi:on”  issues  •  As  an  innova:on  team,  you  can  do  everything  right  and  s:ll  fail,  if  the  idea  can’t  be  “transi:oned”  to  the  right  sponsor  

•  Ideas  can  fail  if:  

• The  idea  enters  the  product  development  queue  as  the  10th  most  important  task  

• Everyone  is  enthusias:c  about  the  idea  but  no  one  is  willing  to  adopt  it  or  flesh  it  out  

Whose  Responsibility?  

There  was  an  important  job  to  be  done  and  Everybody  was  sure  that  Somebody  would  do  it.    Anybody  could  have  done  it,  but  Nobody  did  it.    Somebody  got  angry  about  that  because  it  was  Everybody's  job.    Everybody  thought  that  Anybody  could  do  it,  but  Nobody  realized  that  Everybody  wouldn't  do  it.    It  ended  up  that  Everybody  blamed  Somebody  when  Nobody  did  what  Anybody  could  have  done      

Overcoming  Transi:on  Issues  •  Revisit the first link in the chain

Who wants or needs this idea? Who championed or supported the challenge or opportunity?

•  Seek individuals who will adopt or champion the idea during the process if an “owner” doesn’t exist

•  Help establish the right priority for the idea so it doesn’t get buried in the “to do” list

Layers  

Linkages  and  Layers  

•  To  succeed,  we  need  strong  links  in  the  innova:on  “chain”  –  from  opportunity  iden:fica:on  to  product  or  service  launch  

•  We  also  need  strong  linkages  across  the  “layers”  necessary  for  success  –  process,  people  and  culture  (ver:cal  linkages)  

Linkages  

•  Previously  we’ve  examined  the  “strong”  links  in  your  innova:on  chain  

– Idea  genera:on  – Product  development  and  launch  

•  You’ll  need  to  implement  some  of  our  recommenda:ons  on  the  “weak”  link  

–   Evalua:on,  selec:on  and  prototyping  

Layers  

•  Once  the  “innova:on  chain”  is  made  up  of  strong  links,  turn  your  aWen:on  to  the  suppor:ng  layers  

•  A  defined  process  isn’t  enough  – You  need  people  who  are  engaged  and  understand  their  roles  – You  need  a  culture  that  supports  innova:on  across  the  en:re  process  

Good  News  

•  None  of  this  is  necessarily  difficult  •  Certainly  not  rocket  science.    You  can  do  this  with  the  people  you  have  

•  May  require  process  defini:on,  training  your  teams  and  some  compensa:on  changes  

•  Doesn’t  require  new  people,  new  skills  or  insights  

Recap  

•  Evalua:on,  selec:on  and  prototyping  is  the  “weak  link”  

•  There  are  five  reasons:  –  Strategic  –  Process  –  People  –  Prototyping  –  Transi:on  

•  Each  of  these  reasons  requires  a  different  response,  but  none  are  especially  difficult  

To  Dos  

•  Link  evalua:on  and  selec:on  to  strategy  •  Define  a  transparent,  consistent  evalua:on  process  •  Build  and  train  teams  to  evaluate  ideas  •  Encourage  rapid  prototyping  •  Establish  an  effec:ve  transi:on  plan  for  ideas  •  Ensure  you  have  strong,  effec:ve  “layers”  to  support  your  process  –  people  and  culture  

Build  a  Bridge  

Q&A  

•  Feel  free  to  contact  me!  •  Email:    jphillips@ovoinnova:on.com  •  Web:    www.ovoinnova:on.com  •  Blog:    innovateonpurpose.blogspot.com  •  TwiWer:    @OVOinnova:on