Sometimes innovation feels like magic when you haven’t found the recipe for delivering innovative solutions reliably. Is dependable innovation possible ? We think the answer is yes.
Innovation comes from a deep understanding of your customers or users and a proven process for transforming that knowledge into insightful, user-tested solutions. Your users will say, “This is exactly what I need” and you’ll have the data to prove it.
“New ideas and new products always are a transformation of some existing practice; always respond to some existing human or business need. You can’t rely on the usual market research to figure this out.”
What if you have an exciting—even potentially disruptive—new technology or product? Is it really a winner without an accepting market? People say innovation is about creating something totally new. How can you collect requirements for something that has never been seen before and therefore has no market data to inform it? But new ideas and new products always are a transformation of some existing practice; they always respond to some existing human or business need (find out how). Inventing at its best addresses something that people care about, and if people care then there is something to study to inform that new invention. You can’t rely on the usual market research to figure this out. You need a learning organization that looks beneath the market and sees the patterns of use that your technology enables.