SWIFT – Sorting through and evaluating the new ideas

How do you evaluate the merit of a new concept for a product or service at the fuzzy front end? One very effective way to do this is to apply the SWIFT method (Dorval and Lauer, 2006).

To begin, you must first have completed the ideation process, that is, ideas have already been generated via brainstorming or other technique, and the best ones have been screened. The concept statement is clearly written, and individual key words from the statement are defined and understood by all team members. The SWIFT methodology can then be applied to these concepts.

SWIFT = Strengths, Weaknesses, Individuality, Fixes and Transformation

Strengths – The group lists all of the strengths about the particular concept. Begin each statement with “It might work because…” Why does it seem like a good idea? What about this concept will help it get through later NPD phases? Why will others like it (employers, distributors, customers, users)? Beginning with strengths causes the team to avoid negative responses to new ideas.

Weaknesses – The group then lists all of the weak points of the concept. Begin each statement with “It might not work because…”What problems are foreseen? What NPD hurdles may result? What objections may others have to the concept? Try to rank order the list to be used in a later stage.

Individuality – The group then lists all the elements which make the concept novel or different (from other products or other new ideas). What does the concept have which others do not? How does this concept differ from the others? Individuality is not the same as strengths. All concepts may have the same strengths. Individuality identifies what makes each idea unique.

Fixes – The team now moves from evaluation to development, by finding fixes to the weaknesses previously identified. Work on the top two or three weaknesses which may be show-stoppers or may prevent success. How can the weakness be turned into a strength? How can it be eliminated? Is there a way to eliminate it which is difficult or painful? The team can begin to see how a particular concept may not so good after all.

Transformation – The team now goes back to the original concept statement and reworks it to encompass the changes which have been made. Does it still sound like a good idea? Does it still hit the target? Has some key aspect of the idea been lost?

If this methodology makes sense to you and seems like a good idea you can read detailed instruction and examples in the PDMA Toolbook 2 for New Product Development, Chaper 10.

Top 10 Innovation Killers

This is an excellent article describing the causes of innovation initiative failure. In summary, senior management holds the keys to either success or failure. Proper execution in the establishment of an innovation framework is critical to future performance. This article will help you determine what is wrong and how to fix it, or to avoid failure altogether. The list:

• Not creating a culture that supports innovation
• Not getting buy-in and ownership from business unit managers
• Not having a widely understood, system-wide process
• Not allocating resources to the process
• Not tying projects to company strategy
• Not spending enough time and energy on the fuzzy front-end
• Not building sufficient diversity into the process
• Not developing criteria and metrics in advance
• Not training and coaching innovation teams
• Not having an idea management system

Joyce Wycoff is the Co-Founder of the InnovationNetwork, an organization which helps organizations build competency in innovation. She is the author of several books in the field of innovation and creativity including industry standards Mindmapping and To Do … Doing … Done! For more information about innovation, please go to www.thinksmart.com.

6-Sigma vs. Innovation

I have two daughters. The youngest is 6-Sigma. The oldest is Innovation. I’m caught in the middle as mediator between the two as they whine and complain to have their own way. 6-Sigma wants everything in order, on time, and the same, day-in and day-out. Any change to the household drains her energy and makes her cranky. Innovation, on the other hand, lives for spontaneity, change, risk, and chasing birds. The routine of daily life saps her energy and leaves her feeling trapped. Both girls are necessary and desired parts of our families. Both girls provide something unique and cherished to our family. But how can I, as their father, enable them to coexist and thrive under the same roof?

When I arrive at work in the morning the same problem confronts me. 6-Sigma methodologies were adopted long before innovation was added to our corporate strategy (statement) and things were feeling pretty comfy, until “innovation” was added to the list of directives. The problem is that we try to manage “innovative” projects within the same old 6-Sigma methodologies. Why? Because the same 6-Sigma gurus within our company were charged with establishing an innovation methodology!

I recently participated as a technical consultant on an NPD team in which several technical hurdles remained to be overcome. Three months had elapsed since the technical problems were identified, but no progress had been made. All experiments had led to failure.

The team leader, a process engineer, decided we would continue to develop both the process and the manufacturing equipment at the same time (you know – concurrent engineering). We were well into Phases 1, 2, 3 and 4 of our phase gate process simultaneously. The official spin was that we were “going to continue making progress and allow the technical development to catch up”.

Let’s stand back and look at this pig for a minute. We were exposing ourselves to maximum risk and allocating maximum resources to a project which was ultimately doomed to fail because of technical infeasibility. How could we have done things differently?

• Establish a separate phase gate process for “fuzzy front end” projects. The existing NPD process likely doesn’t take into consideration the probability of failure.
• Put our technical resources on the highest risk issues first. Chip away at it until the technical risk is reduced to an acceptable level.
• Establish a point at which the FFE phase gate will lead into the NPD phase gate.
• Establish a better way for the conductor to hear the train passengers yelling for him to stop the train.

For some real help you should get the PDMA Toolbook 2 for New Product Development, published by John Wiley & Sons.

There are two times in a man's life when he should not speculate: when he can't
afford it, and when he can.

- Mark Twain: Following the Equator, Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar

Face-to-face Collaboration

I recently came in contact with a large company which has grown explosively from acquisitions of similar product lines . We discussed at length their growing pains from new product development to marketing publications. They have a brand new, very stylish headquarters. A senior manager discussed with me how excited he was to be bringing the various new business units under one roof.

The problem, however, was evident as I arrived for my visit. Each floor of the building housed a different business unit including their engineering, marketing, sales and production planning departments. And the only way into the offices was through a receptionist area. Within each of these floors the various departments had walled-off offices and long corridors between groups.
This manager spoke about how they planned to “leverage the synergies” of the individual units.

Many companies lament having to build innovative teams with members located around the world. In my mind this company missed a great opportunity to bring all engineers together, all marketers together, and all salespeople together for real face-to-face collaboration.

Write It Out

If you have a week and a couple hundred thousand dollars you can go to camp at Doug Halls' Eureka Ranch in Newtown Ohio. In Doug's words, "it's a collection of disciplined and structured systems that when applied with diligence will double your odds of profitable success and triple your speed to market."

But, if you're like me you will have to settle on reading Doug's book Jump Start Your Business Brain.

The book is geared more to marketing than innovation, but Doug ties together science and creativity, math and muse.

One concept which stuck with me was the need to write in words exactly what makes the idea unique. Why is this so important? Well, I can think of a couple of easy ones:

1. It is too easy to focus on the science, estimates, technology, forecasts and projections but completely miss the "value" to the customer. The Segway is a great example. Dean Kamen very innovatively provided a mode of transportation which no one needs.
2. It is also too easy to miss the issues between the numbers. These are problems not reflected in all of the analysis, such as resource limitations between product lines or departments, senior level buy-in, or shifting corporate strategy. Critical relationships between projects are left unspecified. As a way to deal with this problem, Gordon Shaw of 3m began to require managers write out, in paragraph form, their reports. Please read the article, Strategic Stories: How 3M is Rewriting Business Planning, by Harvard Business Review.

So if you are on the very front end of an innovative thought, write out the following formula:

Customer + Benefits + Channels = $

• Customer: Who exactly is the intended customer
• Benefits: What exactly does this product / service provide that is different
• Channels: How will this product / service make it into the hands of customers
• $ = What amout of profit potential and cash fow resulting from the equation

(Thanks to Dr. William Gartner of Clemson University for this information)

By so doing you can tweak the business proposition at the least amount of cost, and possibly avoid offering something no one wants, no matter how technically advanced it may be.

Product Development & Management Association

If you are associated with new product development, especially if you are responsible for managing NPD, you must join the Product Development and Management Association. Go to www.PDMA.org and register. The PDMA has produced a valuable set of resources encompassing the entire product development, management and innovation space. They also offer a certification in product development which may be advised for a few of your key innovation employees. One word of advice - It is easy to get lost in the vast amount of information provided by the PDMA. You should take it in small bites. I was like a squirrel in the road upon my first visit to the site. Now I try to have some idea of what I’m looking for before I dive in. Please share your thoughts if you are a member. What do you like / dislike about the organization?

Networking yet?

One of the keys to the innovation process is your personal network, or people with whom you have direct, personal, and open contact. As an innovation manager you must guarantee that your employees have access to a very broad, diverse and growing network of people. Please read Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg, by Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell describes (in a fun way) how informal network contacts most often provide the linkages necessary to bring forth new ideas, and provide the resources needed for success.

In summary:

Each of us has contacts, and each contact has other contacts. Contacts tend toward insular groupings, such as your poker club, Sunday School class or coworkers. All members are familiar with one another within a group. However, it is likely that members of one group do not know the members of the other groups. In this case you are the "linkage" between groups. It is precisely these "linkages" who bring innovation and growth because they tie together different people, skills, experiences, products, services, thoughts and ideas. Your assignment, should you accept it, is to meet as many linkages as possible. You don't have to know everyone within a group. You just have to know someone who does. Here is a diagram:

Networking is a way of life. Without it innovation cannot exist.

Now, what images come to mind when you think of the word "networking"?

• Politicians gladhanding voters and kissing babies
• Phone calls from relatives selling Amway
• Job fairs in which everyone needs a job, but no one has one to give

Networking should be as natural as shaking hands and remembering names. The challenge for many of us is to get out of our existing groups and meet other people. The key to networking is to meet as diverse a group as possible. Afterall, your network is not valuable if everyone knows everyone else.

Another tip is to keep a list of people you meet - name, occupation, location, phone number, email, contacts, and whatever else you can scrape off. This will prove invaluable later on.

Brainstorming?

If you’re like me, you have resorted to holding brainstorming sessions within your group in order to come up with some great ideas. Just a little advice from someone who still carries psychological scars from the exercise – don’t do it. Here are a few off-the-cuff reasons:

1) No one in your organization knows how to properly manage a brainstorming session. You likely won’t realize that until you try it for the first time.

Think “we need an outside consultant for this”.

2) Brainstorming sessions usually include the same old group of people – your gurus, who are all working from the same body of knowledge and experience. They will likely come up with the same ideas.

Think “we need diversity within the group”.

3) Few companies lack ideas. What they need is execution - how to turn the idea into cash.

Think “we need an idea support system”.

4) Everything is open and acceptable with brainstorming. Nothing is off limits. The problem is that most companies severely limit the scope of ideas which will be considered. And the larger the company often the more limited the scope of search.

Think “we need to have open minds as we identify opportunities”.

You probably don't need more ideas. Your employees and their networks already have plenty of good ideas. You need an improved way of moving ideas from a person’s brain into the pipeline of development within your organization.

There are hundreds of books on the subject. Here is most of the thought boiled down to a few bullet points:

• You should encourage ideas from everyone, not just your gurus.
• You should encourage employees to get off topic and mill around in new and different areas.
• You should provide a work place for employees to mingle, chat, and collaborate.
• You should permit employees to group together naturally. Innovation is all about the network and the relationship. Forced team structure can lead to broken networks and impaired innovation.
• You should ensure innovation is sponsored by the senior-most managers, and is driven from the top down.
• You should encourage your employees to journal. This captures the idea vapor before it disappears.
  
  

For more on creating an innovative culture you should read The PDMA Toolbook 2 for New Product Development, published by John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0-471-47941-1. Don’t try to read the whole book at once. Just digest chapters 1 and 2.

For advice on journaling, see The PDMA Toolbook 1 for New Product Development, published by John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0-471-20611-3, pages 46-47.

Strongly consider joining the Product Design and Management Association (PDMA). This is not an ad, but I am a member.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Introduction

Innovation? Networking? Collaboration? If you’re like me, you have been challenged by your company to foster an environment of creativity. Your boss has told you to “go innovate something because the company must grow”. Maybe you are like me in that you have read dozens of books, articles and research publications devoted to finding the “innovation sweet spot”, but none of it seems to quite fit. The theory sounds easy, but application is proving difficult.

My own personal experience? Despite what the books may suggest companies still often make their own decisions based on where they are – not where they want to be.

I’m devoting this blog to finding what seems to work for companies just starting out on the path to innovation. Your first few steps are critical, and they set the direction for future development. If you work for a $10B+ multinational corporation you probably already have an innovation infrastructure - possibly even an innovative culture. Your insights and experience are invaluable and I ask you to please share your knowledge.

If, however, you are part of a small-to-medium sized company faced with adapting to explosive globalization, downward price pressure, lagging new product pipelines, or pessimism within the ranks, you may wish to visit this blog from time to time. I’ll be posting information which you can use to make immediate improvements in your areas of influence to improve the innovation process. At the same time, you also will have insight into what does (or does not) work. This is an opportunity for you to share your experience with others.

If you are part of a startup or very small company, you probably have what I call “the spark”, which is the drive and resources to develop that new thing which everyone must have. You are in an enviable position. Larger companies pine for the days when they too had the spark. Your insights can help the old man learn how to be a kid again. Please share what you know.

Finally, no one has time to read a treatise on innovation. I’ll try to be short, concise and efficient with my posts. Expect links, lists, recipes and a few articles.

I hope you find this blog helpful.

Chris Wayne