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Creative Perspectives

Many of us don’t believe we are creative.  After early elementary school, we have learned there are rules, and we spend a lot of time complying with those rules.  Not only are there rules about spelling and arithmetic, but there are societal “rules” about the clothes we wear and things we say.  All these rules serve to stamp out creativity. 

Yet, we need creative solutions to the many challenging problems we face in business today.  Creativity is not just painting a new scene or writing a novel; creativity is finding unique alternatives and expressions to address real-world discomforts.  For product innovation professionals, we must find creative solutions to customer and end-user problems that deliver value to them and profit to our firms. 

Creative Solutions

In new product development (NPD), the first place to start to identify a creative solution is to understand the problem.  Very often, we assume that we know what challenges and difficulties our customers face.  And, very often, we are wrong.  

Understanding customer problems means we need to spend time with them and to follow their actions.  Design Thinking offers several tools and a methodology to build empathy with customers and end users.  The methodology is reflected in the simple, two-step process shown in the figure.  (Read about Design Thinking in Chapter 2 of The Innovation ANSWER Book, 2nd edition.)  Empathy means we understand their thoughts and feelings as much as we understand the technical points of their problems. 

An Example

To find creative and empathetic product solutions, we have to fully identify with the customer and end-user.  Most people working in NPD are in the prime of their life, maybe 30 to 50 years old.  Suppose you are designing and developing products for the elderly.  How can you build empathy for their problems?

Using Design Thinking tools, product innovation professionals observe the customer.  You can spend time with your grandma or an elderly neighbor and watch as they prepared dinner.  Are jars difficult to open for someone with arthritis?  Does she have trouble reading small print on the recipe?  Can she safely lift a heavy pan from the oven?

Once you have some clues to the real problem from observation, you can begin to develop creative solutions.  You can test your prototypes under simulated conditions to quickly evaluate concepts to move forward while eliminating the less – then – promising ideas. 

For the elderly person, you can wear gloves or tape your fingers to mimic arthritis.  Put on a scratched-up pair of sunglasses and try to read the recipe yourself.  Simulate the relative “heaviness” of a pan with a 40-lb. bag of sand.  Your own frustrations will translate to better product solutions for this customer! 

Learning Creativity

It seems somewhat odd that actually need to “learn creativity”.  Society force fits uniformity and often discourages creative interpretation.  Yet, as product innovation professionals, we need to approach problems from new perspectives and with open viewpoints.  Especially if the customers’ needs are far from our experiences and background, we need to apply Design Thinking tools to build empathy.  We really need to understand the thoughts and feelings of the end-user. 

Do you want to learn to be more creative?  Join our creativity master class starting on 1 December.  Register Here.

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A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

About Me

I am inspired by writing, speaking, and coaching.  I tackle life with an infusion of rigor, zeal, and faith.   It brings me joy to help you build innovation leaders.  Teresa Jurgens-Kowal is an experienced innovation professional with a passion for lifelong learning with a PhD in Chemical Engineering and an MBA in Computer and Information Decision Making.  My credentials include PE (State of Louisiana), NPDP, PMP®, and CPEM, and I am a DiSC® certified facilitator.  Contact me at info@simple-pdh.com or area code 281 + phone 787-3979 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

This was first published on the blog at www.Simple-PDH.com. Follow me on Twitter @globalnpd.    

Lessons for a Young Innovator

Recently I was the keynote speaker for the Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Symposium at University of Washington (go huskies!).  I am so honored that my alumni university asked me to share my career journey with smart and ambitious students.  Of course, I wondered “What on earth can I talk about?” since my usual presentations are more technical and geared toward product, project, and engineering managers

So, I decided to present what I wish I could have told my younger self knowing what I know today.  I also realized that my own career has had (so far) three periods of time that roughly correlate with what I wish I had known earlier.  I’ll share these three items with you and I hope that you can apply these to your creative endeavors. 

Be Expectant

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Being expectant means to be ready for surprises.  It means everything will not stay as it is today.  In my early career, I thought every job was stable and routines would not change.  Of course this was a naïve view of jobs and careers.

Product innovation managers also must be expectant.  Fads, trends, markets, and technologies change constantly.  Effective new product development (NPD) requires expecting changes.  Successful NPD means you plan for changes in advance and can introduce product solutions that solve customer problems when they occur.  Expectancy means planning to deliver value for your customers and your firm regardless of market turmoil. 

Be Open

In my mid-career, I was completely taken off-guard by corporate politics.  I had no idea that peak engineering and managerial performance mattered little to folks centered on personal ego and greed.  A hard lesson, but it taught me to be open to new possibilities and to think broadly about alternatives. 

As product innovation professionals, we always need open minds.  I love Carol Dweck’s book on mindsets – she teaches us that if we think we can, we can.  The concepts of fixed and growth mindsets help us to recognize barriers and opportunities.

This positive and open mindset helps us recognize true problems facing customers.  We can then develop the best set of features and attributes through co-creation.  It is not enough to put a band-aid on a product and hope for the best.  Nor is it our job as innovators to simply add features whether or not our paying customers need or want these functions.  Being open to all possibilities makes us more creative and better problem solvers. 

Be Bold

In a master mind group on Design Thinking a few years ago, I asked participants to select values that meant the most to them personally and for their work life.  I commented that I wasn’t even sure what “bold” as a value meant.  A friend and very smart colleague in ITs said, “You are bold.  You just did a triathlon.”  Okay, I’m a nerd, and the triathlon was a big goal for me, stretching me to uncomfortable physical limits (literally).  And in Full disclosure, it was a sprint triathlon – a baby step for true athletes. 

As product innovation professionals, we must be bold.  We must take calculated risks in the design and development of new products and services.  We have to ask tough questions of our customers, suppliers, and partners.  And to be bold, we must be expectant and open. 

Be Expectant, Be Open, Be Bold

As a chemical engineer, I agree that society categorizes me as a nerd.  I certainly do have some nerdy habits and traits.  But engineers are also excellent at trouble-shooting and problem-solving.  We are creative in that sense.  We can build the solutions needed for successful product innovation. 

How can you be expectant, open, and bold?  I encourage you to amp up your creativity, to tap into new possibilities, view the world from new perspectives, and to try new things on a journey of a lifelong learning.  Your first step is to join me in the Special Creativity Workshop on Friday, 1 October 2021 from 10 am to 12 pm CDT.  Register here. 

Also be sure to stop by and say “hi” at my booth!  Global NP Solutions is sponsoring the PDMA Annual Conference in Baltimore on 13-16 November.

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A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

3 Ways to Supercharge Your Creativity

Watch the short video summary and then read on…

Creativity is kind of a loaded word.  Everyone wants to be creative, but many people are hesitant to test their creativity.  A lot of people conflate creativity with artistry.  Yet, we need creativity to design and develop new products. 

Innovation and creativity go hand-in-hand.  Product solutions must be creative enough to offer alternatives to customers.  Product innovation is not only a disciplined process but is also a creative one.  Both innovation and creativity thrive within boundaries and constraints yet also need us to consider opportunities from new perspectives. 

How can you improve innovation success at your firm?  Consider the following three ways to supercharge your creativity. 

Gratitude

Creative ideas often come to us when our minds have noodled on a problem for a while.  We also design better solutions when we are in a positive frame of mind.  Being grateful for what we have can increase our creativity. 

A lot of executive coaches and time management experts advise making a list of three things for which we are grateful for at the end of each day.  Gratitude reminds us of our blessings and that we are not alone.  Often, these gratitude lists describe people and relationships instead of “stuff” and money. 

So, instead of approaching your next product innovation project from a position of “what needs fixing,” I suggest you try figuring out what is already working.  Be grateful for customer feedback that illuminates quality issues and show generosity to customers who highlight improvement opportunities.  Ask your customers what they like about a product. 

Practice gratitude to increase your creativity.  Before you go to bed tonight, jot down three things for which you are grateful.  Then, consider how you can enlarge and enhance opportunities tomorrow.  Be creative!

Recharge

Because our subconscious mind does much of our “creative” work, we need to give our brains a rest.  A lot of people say they get their best ideas in the shower.  Why?  In the shower, there is no television news, there are no housekeeping chores, and there are no looming work deadlines.  Our brains are resting – and roaming. 

I recently took a two-week vacation to go hiking in the desert southwest.  We only turned on the television twice during that time, I rarely checked the “news” (or national debt) on my phone, and checked email only for urgent issues on weekdays.  I totally unplugged (except for my presentation to a developer’s conference on the topic of … creativity). 

Unplugging allows us to recharge.  When you unplug, you can suddenly hear the birds and the wind.  You see the world through fresh eyes.  Colors are more vibrant, and your dreams are clearer.  These are the elements of creativity.  You must find the time to unplug and recharge to build your creative muscles. 

Sleep

Of course, being on vacation means waking up without an alarm clock.  Most adults need about eight hours of sleep, but we get only five or six due to work, family, and other commitments.  My vacation allowed me to recharge by getting enough sleep.  A long day of hiking with sun and fresh air (and sometimes rain and wind) made sleep a glorious respite.  And on vacation (without an alarm clock), I woke up – fully rested – when the sun gently peeked through the window. 

Everyone knows that getting enough sleep is important for health and well-being, but if you work in innovation, you also need enough sleep to be creative.  The gray matter recharges with sleep and neuroscientists tell us that sleep allows new pathways to form between our brain cells.  Again, our subconscious is at work while we sleep, generating new ideas to serve our customers. 

One trick I use is to consider a big, hairy problem before I go to sleep.  I have already put myself into a positive state of mind by considering different gratitudes for the day.  Then, as I think about a problem and doze off, I can dream about solutions.  More often than not, I wake up with a new idea, a new solution, or a better way to do things. 

Supercharge Your Creativity

Creativity is a mental muscle that needs attention – just like our physical body needs good nutrition and exercise.  Product innovation professionals must improve creativity to continue designing and developing interesting and valuable products and services.  Three ways to supercharge your creativity are:

  1. Practice daily gratitude,
  2. Routinely unplug and recharge, and
  3. Get enough quality sleep. 

You can learn more about improving your skills for innovation and creativity at my presentation “Innovation Magic:  Creativity in a Hybrid World” at the upcoming ACMP Texas conference on 17 September.  Learn more about the conference and other great speakers that are Imagining the Future here.  You might also be interested in a special two-hour creativity workshop I’m offering on 1 October.  Learn more and register here. 

Decision-Making for Product Managers

Every day we face hundreds of decisions:  what to wear, what to eat, and what music to play.  Most of our decisions are of little consequence, such as wearing the red shirt instead of the blue one.  Our small daily decisions of food and exercise can add up overtime to a more healthy, longer life span or one with health struggles.  Many such small decisions are made automatically, based on our personal values or habits.  (Read a short post on Routines for Innovation Teams here.)

As product and innovation managers, our decisions can have significant impacts on the happiness and satisfaction of our customers.  The small, daily decisions to perform maintenance at a factory impacts the long-term quality of products, just as our daily choices to eat well and exercise impact our longevity.  Other decisions are more clearly influential in whether new technologies are tested or implemented and whether or not an investment is made in a given product or process.  These larger decisions have both short-term and long-range impacts on external customers alongside internal finances and operations.  Such decisions should be approached with the rigor of the scientific method. 

A Decision-Making Process

While not every decision merits analysis via the scientific method, it is important to recognize the typical steps through which individuals and teams make decisions.  For decisions involving high-risk or trouble-shooting customer situations in which little is known, the decision-making model is especially helpful.  Other times, steps are skipped or combined. 

Note that we show the decision-making process as a cycle.  Every decision we make as product managers cascades to future decisions regarding customers, technologies, and products.  The follow-up (Step 6) of each decision results in a new set of questions and problems to ensure customer satisfaction.

Step 1:  Identify the Problem

For many troubled-shooting situations, like a poor quality or off-specification product, identifying the problem is often the most challenging step in the decision-making process.  Product engineers and quality management specialists are very good at solving problems, but we must be careful in defining the correct problem to solve.  Moreover, management may be making a decision regarding which of many investments to make in the product portfolio, so the problem is more than a binary decision.  In this case, product innovation decisions involve trade-offs, resource and schedule constraints as well as financial investment and customer satisfaction measures. 

It is not unusual for product development teams to revisit the problem statement during subsequent steps in the decision-making process.  As data is gathered and hypotheses are tested, the problem statement is refined and re-characterized.  Remember that problem statements must be in the terms of the customer (benefits) rather than applying internal technology attributes to products.  Sometimes a symptom, such as off-spec product, is really a sign of a deeper problem, such as poor-quality materials or inefficient factory processes.  Such issues can impact customer satisfaction and profitability.  Product managers must give attention to both external (customer) and internal (operations) elements for a balanced view of innovation.

Step 2:  Define Objectives

Once the customer’s problem has been clearly defined, the new product development team must assess their goals in making the decision.  If you only need a “band-aid” to keep the product profitable for a short time until a replacement product is marketed, your decisions will be different than if a new product is being developed.  New products often require new technologies and new factory construction, even with an anticipate product life cycle of several years.  (Read more about the product life cycle here.)

Other product development decisions evaluate the trade-offs among scope, schedule, and budget for the development project by emphasizing one element more than the others.  Senior management often recognizes the value of all projects but can only invest in a few projects due to resource constraints.  Again, these decisions focus on the entire product portfolio, including existing products and new product development.

Step 3:  Propose a Hypothesis

Sometimes this step is called “Make a Pre-Decision”.  At this phase of the decision-making process, you are determining how to make the decision.  Will a special team be assigned to assess customer feedback data?  Will the decision be made by through normal operating and functional management meetings?  How will customer concept and prototype testing occur?  Will existing or new customers be tested?

At the conclusion of this phase of work in the decision-making process, the new product development team will have formulated a specific plan to advance the objectives of the decision.  This will be unique to each product decision. 

Step 4:  Generate Alternatives

There is never one right answer.  Even as product development and innovation professionals with strong opinions and deep customer knowledge, we know that there are different approaches to solving customer problems.  To generate profitable new products, we may choose to adjust factory conditions or marketing collateral.  There are consequences to each decision that may involve raw material costs, labor expenses, or reputation in the marketplace.  Ultimately, new product decisions must lead to customer benefits and company profits.

At this stage of the decision-making process, risks and consequences of each alternative are also discussed.  Risk management is an ideal process to help with product development decisions such as forecasting costs and benefits.  Alternate strategies for a product portfolio use comparisons such as SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) to generate alternatives for project investment decisions.  (Read about SWOT and other strategic product management tools here.)

Step 5:  Evaluate Alternatives

As different alternate solutions to customer problems are generated, they must be evaluated.  This is the phase of decision-making process in which product development professionals use our special skills and expertise.  We gather and analyze data to test hypotheses and to support alternate choices in features or attributes.  We interact extensively with customers at this phase.  Collecting and analyzing quantitative data according to scientific principles yields measurable comparisons.  Qualitative data further serves to support customer feelings and attitudes regarding new product features and marketing approaches.

Step 6:  Make a Choice

In quality control situations, the product manager may be responsible for making a choice among alternatives based on cost and customer satisfaction.  In other situations, the entire new product development team may serve as internal consultants to management or project clients who will be making final product launch decisions.  Product innovation professionals must present all relevant data and information accurately and honestly so that whoever is making the decision can do so objectively.  Product managers, in particular, are responsible for making recommendations regarding profit and loss for a brand product line or new product.  These choices have impact on finances, manufacturing, and market share.

Step 7:  Implement the Choice

Once a decision is made, the decision is implemented.  In many cases, new product development teams will simply transmit instructions to modify a known product to the factory (e.g., a derivative product).  In other cases, a financial decision may lead to a months-long or years-long development project involving dozens of new product development professionals, engineers, IT, and various contractors.  For many technical professionals, the “hands-on” implementation of the decision can be the most enjoyable part of working because they see a design come to life!

Step 8:  Follow-Up

This step is often overlooked in the decision-making process but is arguably the most important. It is critical for both individual learning and for product development improvement to understand the impact of an innovation decision.  Also, if the outcomes of the decision did not deliver the expected results, another alternative may need to be implemented or customer problems investigated to a further degree.  If the outcome of the decision met the objectives of the new product development project, then the process may be documented as a best practice.  Follow-up is the essence of the product post-launch review.  (Read more about post-launch reviews here.) 

Decision-Making for Product Development

While not every decision needs a heavy, methodological approach, many decisions we make as product managers and innovation professionals do indeed require a systematic thought process.  The steps outlined here validate that you correctly identify the customer’s problem and define objectives in the decision-making process.  You also want to ensure that you define potential solutions and evaluate alternatives objectively.  Follow-up after a product decision is made verifies customer satisfaction and profitability. 

New product development team leaders can use the decision-making steps to help a team gather relevant information at the right point in the process.  Further, as product innovation professionals deploy the scientific method in making product decisions, the skills for technology and marketing spread across a broad spectrum of decisions for new product development.  Good decisions lead to improved product development processes and outcomes.

Do you need to make better and faster product development decisions?  To help you implement effective product decisions, please join our best practices Master Class on Leadership for Project Managers starting 18 August.  Register here. 

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Four Elements of Creativity

Product innovation is a fabulous field in which to work.  Innovation mixes several interesting ingredients – markets, technologies, creativity – to generate products that are valued by customers.  In turn, companies generate profits when they deliver products and services to consumers that delight and inspire them.

Researching markets and technologies is deliberate and structured within product innovation.  Product managers use inquiry tools and statistical analysis to understand categories of customers as well as to pinpoint areas of opportunity.  R&D practitioners analyze experiments and data to design novel technical solutions.  Market research and technology development both follow specific processes with known performance metrics.

Yet, creativity if often shrouded in mystery.  Many people assume they are not creative because they don’t view themselves as “artists”.  Others claim that only wild-eyed scientific geniuses are creative, coming up with ideas like a lightning strike.  In truth, creativity for product innovation is also a structured process with four key elements.

Cross-Functional Teams

There are two elements to creativity from a people perspective – individual and team creativity.  As individuals we all have different experiences and bring that diversity when generating ideas for new products.  Individuals with various work skills and backgrounds “see” the problem differently.  For example, a marketing specialist might define the problem in terms of product awareness while a technology specialist might see the problem as a set of puzzles and a technical code that will unlock the solution. 

Higher levels of creativity occur, however, when we collaborate as a team.  The marketer cannot successfully deliver innovation on his own by simply raising product awareness.  The technologists cannot deliver a new product by simply designing a great piece of hardware.  Instead, when we combine the viewpoints of a cross functional team, we can generate truly radical innovations.  Sharing the different perspectives of a problem – from the customer’s viewpoint as well as from each team members standpoint – enhances creativity and the end solution. 

Boundaries

While it seems counter-intuitive, creativity increases when we place reasonable constraints around the problem.  You might dream about your weekend plans if you had infinite money and no restrictions on your time.  Perhaps a trip to an exotic beach or taking in a Broadway show would be on the agenda?  Yet our dreams of limitless wealth are not actionable. 

Teams are most successful in identifying creative product solutions when there are some boundaries around the problem space.  Having infinite funds or unlimited time opens every possibility and too many choices can be overwhelming.  Instead, your weekend plans must be creative if you can only spend $100 and have two fixed time commitments.  Maybe you take the kids to the zoo just after their Little League game.  It’s a fun and unusual family activity while solving the problem within the given constraints. 

Curiosity

It goes without saying that curiosity must be a key element of creativity.  The status quo cannot serve to grow a business or to generate innovative products over the long-term.  Creative curiosity is a desire – a passion – to figure out how things work.  In new product development, the marketing representative is curious about the problems consumers face and the technical representative is curious about how to build a widget to solve that problem.  Creative curiosity is always looking for ways to improve a system and searching for the “real” problem. 

Are you curious?  How do you approach a new opportunity?  Creative curiosity involves jumping in to quickly learn the who, what, why, and how of a problem. 

Learning

The final element of creativity is learning – learning from failure and learning from each other.  Not every idea works out as we planned.  Sometimes our ideas are too radical for an existing market.  Oftentimes, we cannot find the cost-effective technology to scale for commercial application.  These are “failures” by one definition, yet there are also opportunities for learning.  Each piece of knowledge stacks up to help us solve the next problem, even if one particular approach didn’t work out perfectly. 

Another aspect of creative learning regards quality.  A lot of us are perfectionists because of our passion and love for our customers and career.  Yet, sometimes, good enough is good enough.  When a famous artist changes his style from realism to abstract, he might learn new techniques and learn to be satisfied with the quality of each new painting, even though it isn’t perfect.  A mystery author can add new twists and turns to the story line, depth of characters to her text, but the book must be written in order to be read and appreciated.  Learning to define “done” is an important feature for creativity within the bounds of product innovation. 

Four Elements of Creativity

A lot of people I know claim they are not creative.  This is troubling since I know a lot of people working in new product development.  Everyone can be creative.  I suggest you start with these four key elements of creativity. 

  1. Use a cross-functional team to build empathy across many different perspectives. 
  2. Place loose boundaries around the problem space to enhance creativity. 
  3. Encourage curiosity by offering new options and seeking to deeply understand the problem. 
  4. Practice continuous learning and accept failure by recognizing that good enough is good enough.

Creativity starts with leadership.  Please join our best practices Master Class on Leadership for Project Managers starting 18 August.  Register here. 

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Passion and Persistence

Innovation is often conflated with creativity.  While successful product innovation requires application of a new technology or developing new markets, creativity lends the new with the known.  Both innovation and creativity hinge on passion and persistence.

Click here for the 30-second video summary and then read on.

What is Innovation?

Innovation is the introduction of something new.  Sometimes we find a new technology that makes a task simpler or cheaper.  There are product innovations that make the lives of consumers better and there are process innovations that make factories run more smoothly.  Product and process innovations deliver value to the customer and value to the company (profit).

We also observe innovation in marketing when an existing product or technology is introduced to a new market.  For example, using your smartphone to take a photograph is known technology.  Using your phone to take a photo of a check and deposit it to your bank account is a new market application.

A third category of innovation is a new business model.  Business models (read more here) are the narratives of how companies serve customers and create value for both he customer and themselves.  Sometimes a business model innovation is simple, such as changing fast food pick-up from a drive-through window to curbside.  Other times the business model transformation is huge – do banks need tellers anymore if we take photos for depositing checks and get cash from an ATM?

Thus, innovation can be small or large.  Innovation can involve technology, markets, and products.  And, innovation can encompass sales and delivery channels. 

What is Creativity?

Dicationary.com defines creativity as “the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns…”  I often think of artists as creative people.  I envy their talent in oil painting, woodworking, and jewelry-making.  Interestingly, my friends and family have told me that I’m creative with my handmade greeting cards.  As a chemical engineer by training, I’m pretty sure I’m not an artist – I think of myself as a nerd!

Yet, artists are just as dedicated to their craft as nerds are committed to engineering and coding.  Artists study their subjects – people, landscapes, texture, and colors – just as engineers study math.  And successful artists commit hours to perfecting their technique and media, just as engineers spend hours at university learning sophisticated calculus, statistics, and physical chemistry. 

The Common Thread

So, innovation and creativity share the common idea of creating something new.  To be successful at innovation, a company needs creative concepts, but creativity is not enough.  Creative artists and innovation professionals share passion and persistence in their quest to create something new.

Passion

Passion is a desire for something that is so intense you cannot imagine not having it.  Artists are passionate about their work.  They talk about a necessity to paint so that a scene in their imagination can become real.  Mystery writers have a passion to create a tension and they must write so they, too, can find out who-done-it. 

Innovation professionals also have deep passions.  We want to make a product work and to solve a customer’s problem.  We must create a better way for our customers to access information or to perform daily tasks.  Sometimes an innovator’s passion is the technology – knowing that if people can use a new device, it will make their lives better.  Creating the new technology is work of love.

In Bridging Communication Gaps (Chapter 6 in PDMA Essentials Volume 3), I recommend hiring for passion over other qualifications.  Team members with passion will support your mission and strive for excellence.  Passion resulting in a work well done is a reward by itself.

Persistence

I saw a quote the other day that success only comes before work in the dictionary.  This is definitely what my parents taught me.  I also observe artists and creative people working with persistence.  Great writers and painters spend dedicated time every day working to master their technique.  We don’t see their mistakes and errors from practice.  What we are treated to is the result of creative persistence and hard work.

Successful innovation professionals are also persistent.  We cannot design and develop a new product just because we have an idea.  We must carefully (and ploddingly) analyze the data from potential customers and market segments.  We must be persistent in the questions we ask and to whom we ask.  Innovation doesn’t happen overnight, and we must be persistent in carrying a project through the long, boring times to achieve success.  You’ve probably heard of the entrepreneur who became an overnight success – after 10 years of hard work and persistence!

Innovation and Creative Leadership

Passion and persistence.  Goal-setting.  Managing schedules and budgets.  Creativity and innovation.  Leaders need all these skills (and more).  So, I’m really excited to offer you a chance to develop your passions for innovation through our new Leadership Master Class, starting 18 August (online).  This course was created from years of experience in building innovation leaders and incorporates many of the tools from the popular Life Design Master Mind.  Learn more and register here. 

In the meantime, do what you love (passion) and do it well (persistence). 

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4 Critical Skills Every Innovation Leader Must Master

Watch the 20-second summary and then read on!

Innovation managers are outliers in a world of functional managers.  An engineering manager hires and grooms talent to design safe and reliable manufacturing processes.  A business manager balances administrative tasks to maintain operational efficiency, and a sales manager ensures customer visits are scheduled as continued touchpoints.  Each of these roles includes measurable performance indicators:  safety incidences, organizational productivity, and sales revenues. 

In contrast, innovation and product development managers have no certain goals and their output is fuzzy.  Innovation leaders integrate skills of the functional managers:  talent management, safety, reliability, manufacturing productivity, customer interactions, and sales revenues.  Yet, innovation leaders face higher levels of technical and market uncertainties. 

So, which skills are absolutely critical to success in innovation?

What is Innovation?

First, let’s take a step back and define innovation.  If I were to ask 25 people what innovation means, I would get 35 different definitions!  For our purposes, let’s assume innovation means the creation of a new product, service, or program that brings value to the producer and to the consumer.  Thus, we include sales revenues as value to the company and utility, functionality, and convenience as values to a customer. 

The Four Critical Skills

Knowing that innovation is fraught with risk, innovation leaders must master four critical skills to succeed.  These are:

  • Business knowledge,
  • Talent acquisition,
  • Process capability, and
  • Strategic decision-making. 

Business Knowledge

Successful innovation leaders process information from a variety of internal and external sources.  They must understand the business from a technical perspective and understand customers from a market perspective.  Traditional business goals, like financial analysis and productivity studies, are a factor in mastering the business.  Innovation managers must use this information to prepare a profitable business case for any new product or service. 

Business knowledge extends to trends, fads, and emerging technologies.  Innovation relies as much on learning and change as it does in building efficiency into a current model.  Successful innovation leaders study adjacent markets and industries and apply world-class best practices to compete over the long-run. 

Talent Acquisition

Because new product development (NPD) is inherently risky, innovation project team members use different tools to work together.  A successful innovation manager builds a team that balances creativity, operational expertise, and customer interactions.  Persuasion, negotiation, and conflict management are capabilities of an innovation manager who recognizes diversity of functional experience to commercialize a profitable new product. 

Process Capability

It goes without saying that any manager must be organized and efficient with his or her time.  Innovation managers use NPD processes and product portfolio management (PPM) to drive product development.  Choosing and adapting an appropriate process is a hallmark of a successful innovation manager. 

NPD processes range from conventional phased-and-gated waterfall systems to agile methodologies with hybrid systems like WAGILE becoming more popular today.  (Read more about WAGILE here.)  Understanding the organizational culture, executive risk tolerance, and the business model allows an innovation manager to select an effective NPD process.  Of course, the execution of a product development project within the NPD process is linked to effective collaboration of team members – a direct link to talent acquisition as a key skill for the innovation leader to master. 

Strategic Decision-Making

Finally, innovation leaders act strategically as well as tactically.  We have discussed the tactical and operational skills of acting on business knowledge and deploying an appropriate NPD process already.  But, knowing “how” is very different than knowing “why”.

Successful innovation managers use decisions as opportunities to increase product knowledge and to improve customer service.  Strategic decisions include which markets are attractive, what technologies are appropriate, and what products ought to be developed.  This focus on specific growth objectives and competitive analysis differentiates a successful innovation leader from other functional managers.  Check out our new virtual Master Class on Leadership, starting 18 August here.  This course is specifically geared to the challenges of innovation, product, and project managers.

Four Critical Skills that Innovation Leaders Must Master

Innovation leaders must be adaptable, flexible, knowledgeable, and expectant.  All managers must know their trade and be ready to measure performance outcomes.  Yet, successful innovation leaders balance risk, investment, markets, and talent in a unique stew to produce customer satisfaction.  Mastering the skills in business knowledge, talent acquisition, process capability, and strategic decision-making differentiates the successful innovation leader. 

Learn More

I highly recommend New Product Development Professional certification for any innovation manager.  You will learn how strategy, portfolio management, and NPD processes guide decisions for innovation with best practices tools and techniques in process design, market research, and team-building.  Register now for the next session of the NPDP workshop here.

Planning for New Product Development

A famous quote by Eisenhower tells us that we should plan well but know that our plans will be disrupted.  Planning includes creating a set of activities, tasks, and milestones to achieve specific goals and objectives.  You can think of planning as a roadmap to a destination with rest stops (checkpoints) built into the route.

New product development (NPD) is important for every organization, regardless of size or industry.  Technology and markets are changing constantly.  Globalization introduces changes in raw material supplies, labor, and distribution.  Digitization has brought forth changes in how we manage relationships with customers and a dependence on sophisticated data models.  Without designing and launching new products, services, and applications, organizations will fall behind their competitors.

As Eisenhower’s quote describes, our ability to anticipate and manage risks is the purpose of planning.   NPD is risky.  Financial investments are lost if the technology or markets failed to materialize.  Revenue shrinks and expenses soar if customers express dissatisfaction with an existing or new product.  The organization’s reputation suffers irreparable harm if a commercial product fails to meet expected quality and reliability standards. 

So, instead of anticipating doom and gloom, let’s look at how planning can improve the execution and outcomes of NPD. 

NPD Processes Manage Risk

Implementing and following a step-by-step NPD process reduces risk.  For example, a standard waterfall process (see the figure below), simultaneously minimizes investment risk and technology risk.  In a traditional staged-and-gated NPD process, work is done in stages and decisions are made at gates. 

Each subsequent phase of work requires additional investment as R&D work scales to commercial production through the process steps.  Fortunately, technology risk is minimized because the knowledge, data, and information gained in each stage frames a go/no-go decision at the next gate.  If the business case and markets continue to look attractive, the new product development effort moves to the next stage of work. 

Planning Estimates

One element of planning that helps us to reduce risk is estimating.  The most successful organizations use both cost estimates and resource estimates to plan an NPD project.  Furthermore, the best organizations also use actual project data and metrics to create future project plans. 

What do we mean by using current data for future planning?  Most organizations create new products in just a handful of categories:

In many organizations, the bulk of NPD work is tweaking features of existing products to deliver a “new product” to existing markets or to introduce existing products to a new market.  These “derivative” products are common enough that it is easy to establish a database to improve estimates of future, similar projects.  That is, we can take averages of elapsed time and actual costs from a set of completed projects to plan a better estimate for a similar project in the future. 

An Example

Let’s say you are the Product Development Manager at a food and beverage company.  The company is constantly on the lookout for new flavors and considers any novel combination of juices as a new product.  Upon investigating the last three new flavors of juices launched in the past three years, you uncover the following data. 

  • Stage 1 (Brainstorming):  3 days, 10 people
  • Stage 2 (Concept Testing):  2 weeks, 4 people
  • Stage 3 (Business Case Development):  6 weeks, 3 people
  • Stage 4 (Prototype Testing):  12 weeks, 10 people
  • Stage 5 (Scale-Up):  15 weeks, 18 people

As the Product Development Manager, you can use this “average” data to estimate, to plan the next similar new product development project.  The result includes an estimated project schedule in Gantt chart format (see figure below), resource estimates, and cost estimates (see the table below). 

Derivative Product Development Estimates
Stage# FTE
(Full-Time Equivalent days)		Cost
($100k/year per FTE)
1:  Brainstorming30$11,538
2:  Concept Testing40$15,385
3:  Business Case Development90$34,615
4:  Prototype Testing600$230,769
5:  Scale-Up1350$519,231
Total Estimated Cost2110$811,538

For this project, the innovation team has estimated a profit of $1 per bottle of juice sold with 5-year sales of 100M bottles.  Thus, we can get a rough estimate of profitability (approximately $99.2M).  A rough business case estimate can help the organization determine whether to continue this project or allocate scarce resources to another one.

NPD Project Planning

Planning is the act of creating tasks, activities, and milestones to drive completion of goals and objectives.  Planning does not prevent all risks from occurring but minimizes uncertainties in technology and market development.  Even though new product development (NPD) is risky by its very nature, planning via a structured process allows us to create more accurate cost and resource estimates, thereby reducing investment risk. 

To learn more about NPD Processes, join the two-part workshop sponsored by PDMA and Global NP Solutions.   Register here – the first session is 17 June 2021.   Contact me at info at Simple-PDH.com to learn more about utilizing effective planning as a Product Development Manager.   

Learn more about building a successful NPD team at any of these upcoming events. 

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Project Controls in Innovation

Controlling is often a misunderstood management function.  In everyday use, we use the term “controlling” to mean manipulating or limiting other’s behavior.  Yet in engineering management, project management, and new product development (NPD), controlling is an important process that helps the team leader assess the performance of a project and of his or her team. 

Definition of Controlling

Let’s define controlling as follows, consistent with the American Society of Engineering Management (ASEM). 

“A management function of measuring performance and comparing the results with established standards to ensure that the work conforms to requirements and brings a desired outcome.” 

Defined in this way, controlling is a critical function that assures work meets expectations.  If at any time, the project outcomes are not meeting expectations, we make adjustments to bring the product or project work into alignment with the plan. 

Steps in Controlling

There are typically four steps that product and project managers follow in controlling. 

  1. Set a baseline,
  2. Measure performance,
  3. Compare the baseline against performance measures, and
  4. Take corrective action as necessary. 

Set a Baseline

In project management and NPD, setting baselines for performance should be easy.  In reality, however, setting baselines requires substantial planning effort on behalf of the project leader.  The baseline must reflect the best outcome of project planning.  Principles of project management dictate that during the initiation phase, the project leader and team members identify requirements from all project stakeholders.  Gathering and documenting project requirements ensures that stakeholder expectations can be met. 

In innovation projects, customer needs are documented in the PIC (product innovation charter).  During all stages of the structured NPD process, the innovation project team will test customer needs to ensure alignment with the product design.  One way in which to map customer needs to engineering design specs is to use the QFD tool (quality function deployment).  Read more about process design here. 

Measure Performance

In Step 2 of controlling, we measure the performance of engineering and project teams.  Here, both individual and team member performance are assessed as well as the project requirements.  For example, if a new product development project had a customer requirement to increase battery life by 50%, the engineering team would measure all new battery designs against the performance standard.  A new battery with just 20% increase in lifetime would be inadequate, while a battery with a life that is 48% longer is considered a successful technology.  The project is approved when it meets the technical hurdles and would move along in the NPD process. 

image from creative commons with free to share and use

Compare Baseline Against Performance

In Step 3 of controlling, the project leader and project team members assess the project performance by comparing current design elements against the baseline set forth in the project plan.  It is important to ensure that the baseline and product performance requirements are measurable so that this comparison is meaningful.  Objectives are stated in measurable terms and metrics are gathered without difficulty or subject to opinion or interpretation. 

Again, for instance, battery life extension of 50% is measurable.  The initial battery in the current product demonstrates an average of 3-hour life before requiring a recharge.  Sample batteries in lab tests demonstrate 4-hour, 4.2-hours and 4.4-hours.  These data points are easy to compare to the initial product performance level.  The product development and innovation teams strive for measurable goals and objectives to improve customer satisfaction. 

Take Corrective Action

At the heart of the controlling process is the idea that correcting errors early leads to higher quality products and that the development effort will be less expensive overall.  Thus, the final step in the controlling function is to take action based on analysis of the data from Step 3.  In the case where performance matches expectations and baseline plans, no action is required. 

Frequently, controlling will reveal that a project is over-budget and/or behind schedule.  In these situations, the project manager and sponsor must work with the customer to modify the plan.  Some tools are available to help accomplish the work within the required time frame, but these schedule adaptations normally require additional costs (e.g. crashing and compression).  Further, missing the timeline for a new product launch can impact the overall profitability of an innovative new product. 

Controlling Function

In engineering management, project management and new product development, controlling is an important management function.  The four steps in controlling are: (1) set a baseline, (2) measure performance, (3) compare the baseline against performance, and (4) take corrective action as appropriate.  To learn more about the controlling function and other ways to improve new product project execution, you must earn your New Product Development Professional (NPDP) certification.  Check out our training and speaking schedule for innovation and project management here. 

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Can Nerds Serve the Customer?

I’m a self-admitting nerd.  My educational background is in engineering and I enjoy learning how things fit together.  I love to watch movies, but I never know the names of actors or actresses.  I fail miserably at the literature questions in Trivial Pursuit™. 

Yet, I love math, logic, and reasoning.  In recent years my fondness to “figure out how things work” has become a study of people, leaders, and teams.  Successful innovation teams have a different culture than others. 

A friend and colleague mentioned that her son was studying mechanical engineering.  She encouraged him to take a Design Thinking class so he could learn about human-centered design.  I agree wholeheartedly with her!  Engineers have an isolated educational experience driven by high-level calculus an intense theory of physics.  Of course, accountants, sociologists, and architects also have educational experiences driven by depth of knowledge, rather than breadth.

So, can nerds learn to serve the customer?

The Customer

First, we have to take a step back.  Any free economy functions to produce goods and services that generate profit for the seller.  Buyers pay a price for goods and services that give them utility and functionality at their own perceived value.  The buyer (or customer) seeks a benefit in purchasing a product that is greater than the price they pay.  Moreover, the price that the buyer pays must include a margin of profit for the producer.  If not, the producer will cease to offer those goods or services. 

A seller learns what to sell by studying customers and markets.  Customers are the key element in designing and developing new products.  My friend was very astute to encourage her son to broaden his studies beyond engineering.  New Product Development Professionals (NPDP) blend the unique skills of technology understanding, market perception, and product knowledge to successfully innovate profitable goods and services. 

Engineers, like other innovation leaders, have an intense curiosity about how things work.  Yes, we are nerds because we enjoy tinkering and troubleshooting.  So, trying to solve a customer’s problem by designing a new widget is exactly a perfect fit!

Design Thinking

Again, my friend gave her son a huge gift toward his employability by encouraging him to supplement engineering classes with Design Thinking.  Design Thinking is both a process and a set of tools.  From the process perspective, Design Thinking teaches us to collaborate with fellow nerds, customers, and any function that will help solve the problem.  From the tools point of view, Design Thinking gives us templates and techniques to elicit even the most obscure unarticulated customer needs. 

copyright Global NP Solutions

At the core of Design Thinking is empathy – an understanding of the feelings, thoughts, and attitudes of another person.  In the case of product development, the product development engineers build empathy for the customers by interviewing, shadowing, and observing their interactions with the product.  When we understand the struggle that a customer has to open a package or assemble the parts, we improve the features and functions of that product. 

For example, IKEA includes a small (cheap) hex wrench with its ready-to-assemble furniture (such as a bookshelf).  The packaging is small (a benefit to customers and transportation) but only nerds have a full tool chest available to assemble a bookshelf.  So, for most folks, the cheap hex wrench is a huge time-saver.  Parts are clearly labeled and the visual instruction sheet from IKEA gives simple directions to assemble the parts using the tools (hex wrench) provided.  Both the seller and buyer benefit – higher profit margins and enhanced perception of the product’s value. 

Image from Creative Commons

Engineers and Design Thinking

Yes, nerds can serve the customer!  Engineers are great at trouble-shooting and finding creative solutions to problems.  Augmenting our technical training with customer empathy creates a superhero innovation leader. 

If you don’t know the basic tools and process of design thinking, that’s okay.  Register here for an interactive, online workshop, led by a full-fledged nerd. 

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Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.