“Would the Apple iPod have ever gotten through your new product development process? If the answer is “no,” the process is probably too risk adverse and cumbersome; it should be scrapped and reinvented, “zero-based” style. If the answer is “yes,” then your process has the...
In my consulting practice I help my clients license technologies. I have found that in the medical market, oftentimes the person in charge of evaluating new technologies is not compensated for bringing in new profitable technologies – but they’re punished if they bring in a...
As a management consultant, I can almost walk into a building and look at the physicality of the people that work there – the expressions on their faces – and I can tell you almost instantly what kind of organization they are. In fact, study...
I’ll make an educated guess that most readers have read at least a few other books, magazine articles, websites, blogs – you name it – on innovation. How to do it, how not to do it, why it works, why it doesn’t, and all of...
Ask almost anyone in a new product development function and they’ll tell you they’ve had experience with what I call a “staged approval system” model. For those who haven’t dealt withstaged approval systems, they are, as the name implies, models that break up the...
Sierra Nevada- more than great beer. You might be wondering, why did I feature a beer company as an Innovation SuperstarTM. After all, it’s not exactly high technology – which of course, is exactly my point. Sierra Nevada is not in the technology business, they’re not...
Years ago CRM systems came into vogue as the latest and greatest end-all mechanisms to connect to customers. Collect data from all customers at all “touch points” to the organization – sales, service, after-market sales, mouse clicks on company sites, overlay it with some...
I like “Project Xs.” Project Xs involve taking an external team, and creating a competitive technology to the technologies already in your product offering. We’ve been involved in five or six of these, and I don’t believe I’ve been in involved in one of these...
Great organizations like John Deere will go out into the field and spend months living with their customers. They observe the impact of fuel costs and the efficiency of being able to plant, manage, and harvest crops. They will look at every single ergonomic issue....
How would you like to take your kids to a playground where there’s a gigantic sign that says: “No Running?” How would you like to take your kids to a playground that has a big antique railroad caboose that says: “Do Not Touch?” How would...
