The Innovation Process . . . What’s that?!

The term ‘Innovation Process’ seems almost like an oxymoron when you first read it. The first question that may hit you is - Can Innovation really have a Process? Subsequent questions that may come up would include - What would the steps be making up this process? How can we measure this process and its results? Can it be replicated across people? Teams? Companies? Industries? Countries? Cultures?

Sample this - Edison had set himself a goal of producing “a minor invention every ten days and a big thing every six months or so”. Over his working lifetime of sixty-one years, Edison actually averaged eighteen patents annually or one patent every twenty days – not far from the goal he had set earlier. Besides an inventor, he was also an innovator who was also successful for commercializing his inventions.

The process Edison used was simply – Try, Fail, Learn, Try again, Fail again, Learn again, Succeed. To elaborate on the process, it was actually – Identify Opportunities, Experiment Systematically, Commercialize the Inventions.

If we shift the context from an individual to a company, can there be a simple process there too for Innovation? The most innovative companies in the world in recent times include companies like Apple, Tesla and Twitter who have achieved multi-billion dollar valuations with comparatively smaller revenues / assets. Did these companies have an ‘Innovation’ process? They brought in products that rapidly created and changed global markets, products, technologies and services. Many of these companies have repeatedly innovated to repeat the process with different offerings.

Cut to a few decades back before the onset of the ‘knowledge / smart’ economy. Companies like 3M which are very much a part of the brick and mortar economy but has repeatedly topped lists of most innovative companies.  It still is near the top of the game where innovation matters.

So is there a secret sauce or recipe common for both 3M and Apple? What is similar to both companies from different contexts and industries is that they have come out with revolutionary products serving unarticulated needs of customers. Simply put, the customer did not realize he wanted post-its or an iPad. These companies made these products which became instant successes in brand new categories that the products created from scratch.

What is common to both is that they may not necessarily have ‘Innovation Processes’ but both companies are acknowledged to be the best in providing crucibles and ecosystems to let ideas and innovation germinate, thrive and survive. It may not be that necessary to have mammoth R&D budgets or have dedicated teams to show that companies are innovating.

They may also knowingly / unknowingly follow Edison’s steps in some manner. Here the process translates into –

·         Understand customer needs at the ideation stage in the beginning (without necessarily going to the customer)

o    These stated or unstated needs of the customers can be translated into ‘Jobs To Be Done’

§  E.g. Customer does not want a drilling machine with a quarter inch drill bit, all he wants is a quarter inch hole!

·         Test and prove the techno-commercial viability of the products at the development stage (fail fast may be highly recommended)

·         Optimize resources for a successful pilot leading to product commercialization finally

Companies like Google don’t really have defined processes for Innovation but provide a very conducive environment with all the right enablers to ensure that people are constantly looking and creating the next big innovation.

Companies that want Innovation to be fostered continuously need to provide the right environment, sounding boards and platforms for the ‘processes of Innovation to be alive and kicking.

There can be a phase-wise approach for achieving the above like D4

·         Define (the opportunity)

·         Discover (ideas)

·         Develop (the design)

·         Demonstrate (feasibility and results)

Just like the journey is more important than the destination, the right process can be more of an enabling ecosystem for innovation rather than creating innovation as a process.

Ultimately, innovation is all about “connecting the dots” in new ways that separate you from your competitors—and we believe there are ways to ingrain innovation in your company by mastering the arts of dot collecting…and dot connecting. That coupled with systematic thinking yields unique and creative solutions.