Tapping the Future

You can even write your own "science-fiction" stories about alternative futures to explore the possibilities, and how your organization might respond to them.

Looking at a selection of alternatives often provides clues about new innovation possibilities. Tools you can use to do this include trend extrapolation--where you research market or performance trends and make future plans on the assumption that those trends will continue--and for casting tools such as economic planning.

You could gather panels of experts (also known as "Delphi panels") to discuss the most likely outcomes of current events and help you tailor your plans to expected developments. You can even write your own "science-fiction" stories about alternative futures to explore the possibilities, and how your organization might respond to them.

ACTION POINT: Take account of current events in your future planning even if they do not seem to affect you directly. Remember that innovations can come from any area.

Article 8.2 Technological Achievement

Using proven techniques to assure performance is a must in today's highly competitive environment.

Technological achievement will be judged by factors such as:

• Design and specification sales.
• Sales growth in application products.
• Technological expertise of in house sales people.

Corporate strategy is a long run, time phased plan designed to achieve a high rate of return on investment, a market position so advantageous that competition can retaliate only over an extended time interval and at a prohibitive cost.

Using proven techniques to assure performance is a must in today's highly competitive environment. Most firms will not adhere to these guidelines leaving pathways for committed firms with clear vision to be consistent leaders.

ACTION POINT: Our style will be such to ensure bright futures for all.

Getting Ideas form Outside

keep monitoring...its continuing relevance to end users.

Procter and Gamble (P&G) used to spend around $3 billion each year on technology research, and employed more than 7,000 people to carry it out. However, it has now committed to sourcing half of its innovations from outside the company. In doing so , it has had to develop completely new ways of working, sharing its unused ideas with a wider world, and picking up on other people's ideas in the most unlikely of places.

For example, the idea of Pringles potato chips having messages printed on them was made a reality not by P&G research scientists but by connecting with a small bakery in bologna, Italy, that had developed a special edible ink and spraying process for the ink. The connection was made through one of the increasing number of Internet knowledge broker sites--a kind of eBay of innovation.

ACTION POINT: As our project progresses, keep monitoring not only expenditure and performance, but also its continuing relevance to end users. Otherwise you may find yourself with a perfectly executed innovation that your customers no longer want.

Getting Ideas from Users

the frustration experienced by users...can be channeled to create ideas and prototypes for innovations.

A potential source of innovation can be frustration: the frustration experienced by users who want something additional or different from the products and services they use. This can be channeled to create ideas and prototypes for innovations.

For example, Linux is not a product developed by a large corporation, but the result of collaboration among a community of users who wanted software that better suited their needs, and they continue improving and updating it.

Going to an older example: the pickup truck was not invented in Detroit by the large American car companies, but emerged on farms where farmers had bought the early trucks, stripped out the seats, taken off the roof, and improvised a truck more suited to their farm needs.

ACTION POINT: Work with "lead users" to capture their insights and prototypes. During process innovation inside the organization, use suggestion programs to capture employee ideas. Use web communities-- "crowd sourcing" -- to help create ideas for innovation or improve on what is already there.

Meeting Demand

...demand pull works inside the organization as well, as a driver of process innovation.

Necessity is the mother of invention, so making sure you understand user needs will help you pick up clear signals for innovation. Getting close to actual or potential customers and understanding their needs will help you understand user needs.

Market research is one good source of this, as are customer service and complaint records. Needs are not just about external markets for products and services -- demand pull works inside the organization as well, as a driver of process innovation.

ACTION POINT: Pay attention to sources of frustration highlighted by your workforce, and plan innovation to ease them.