Innovation: Art, Blue Ocean, Dilemma
Editor | On 01, Jan 2010
Message: 1104Posted by: Brian Jameson
Posted on: Monday, 17th September 2007
Green clovers and purple diamonds anyone?
I'm catching up on some innovation reading and am frustrated finding so much that says, yes, go do it, it's so important. But where's the how? I'm trying the book advertised on the right side of this side next. Anyone have other recommendations?
Message: 1106
Posted by: QualityColorado
Posted on: Monday, 17th September 2007
Brian,
Sorry, but its not clear what you are asking — are you looking for innovation and creativity sources in general?Or, somethings specifically on Blue Ocean?Or, something else?Best regards,QualityColorado
Message: 1109
Posted by: playallday
Posted on: Wednesday, 19th September 2007
Brian,
Where's the how? In what regard, other than Lucky Charms?
Do you want to learn to invent? This is something that can't exactly be taught. It's more of an art, an idea, an inspiration and approach to think outside of boundaries using common business sense. I've worked with dozens of inventors, some with truly revolutionary ideas, others with a small step improvement idea, and a few born out of necessity. I don't think any of them could define how they did it or why they did it. Furthermore, I can't tell you they some lost everything and others launched new industries. It's a hard topic to define without knowing exactly what your asking.
If you want to establish a culture of innovation within your company you'll find an ample supply of consultants and books related to this topic.
My only recommendation would be to seek out a few inventors in your town and have a chat. At the very least I can assure you that you'll meet some interesting people.
-Play-
Message: 1110
Posted by: Lynda Curtin
Posted on: Monday, 24th September 2007
Here's a book I find useful: Driving Growth Through Innovation by Robert Tucker.
You are discovering what is so great about innovation: there is no one right recipe. This means people don't have to fit into a preconditioned box that might not fit how they like to think, explore and work.
Message: 1111
Posted by: Brian Jameson
Posted on: Sunday, 30th September 2007
I want to learn to innovate. And to do it more than once. And reading the Art of Innovation, Innovator's Dilemma, etc. don't provide much in terms of take-home lessons. I didn't read those books to appreciate that I need to innovate. I wanted to learn HOW to innovate.
Message: 1112
Posted by: QualityColorado
Posted on: Sunday, 30th September 2007
Brian, Good afternoon!
For creativity (how to do it), you may also want to try some of the books and related products by Roger von Oech (oldies-but-goodies):“A Whack on the Side of the Head””A Kick in the Seat of the Pants””Expect the Unexpected””Ball of Whacks””Creative Whack Pack”etc.Best regards,QualityColorado
Message: 1115
Posted by: David Fiedler
Posted on: Tuesday, 2nd October 2007
Brian,
Please read “Theory of Inventive Problem Solving” by Gene Altshuler who studied inventors and their methodology (which the inventors themselves did not recognize) for all his life. Subscribe to the Triz Journal. Read the articles for how and what people are doing. If you have the money, go to Invention Machine and buy their Tech Optimizer software – probably the most useful tool to discover and utilize Altshulers 40 principles. Anyone can become an inventor and be innovative as long as you remain teachable. Those who rely on the “art form” and “inspiration” are no longer leading the way when it comes to inventing.
Message: 1116
Posted by: Lynda Curtin
Posted on: Tuesday, 2nd October 2007
David has given you helpful recommendations and shared an important insight. Yet, many people are teachable but never develop skill and competence. To add to his recommendations – select a variety of tools for your innovation tool kit and learn to be competent using them. Practise. Practise. Practise. Set yourself up to be ready to use your tools right when you need to like they are second nature.
I am in Hawaii right now and the Island roads are filled with cyclists preparing for the Iron Man Triathlon which is scheduled in a week or so. These athletes have learned their tools and trained their techniques to become world class. They have searched for the best products and tips, tested them, tried different ones until they found what worked for them. I think they demonstrate a significant part of the “how to” in your question. Enjoy your journey.
Message: 1120
Posted by: Paul
Posted on: Saturday, 6th October 2007
We have an “Innovation working group” set up in response to one of our customer's comments that, as a systems supplier we “should be more innovative”. The biggest hurdle we see to being innovative – in other words the first step on the “how to innovate” journey – is to understand the problem to be solved. And the biggest challenge in gaining that understanding is that the problems that really need an innovative response are often the problems that no-one can articulate.
So our first step in the “how” journey is to get a bunch of people (maybe 30 or so) in a coffee-room / cocktail party environment in small mobile groups of 5-6 to come up with an answer to a question. We invite, cajole and bribe (free food and drink!) everyone from the most important people in our organisations (the people who clean the bathrooms and empty the waste and recycling bins) all the way to the other end of the usefulness tree (and I could never put anything libellous or derogatory in a post, so I’ll leave you to form your own viewÉ) to join us. The first thing that most groups want to say is that we’ve asked the wrong question. This is *real* progress à because this way we do get to find out where an innovative response is needed. Now that we have a situation to address we can start to analyse it. If you play chess, you’ll understand that there are many depths of analysis à the deeper the analysis usually the better the player à understanding not just a good tactical response to a given situation but forming a strategy that might involve sacrifices but that could lead to a forced winning position or, at worst, a strong positional or material advantage. “Good” innovation relies, I believe, on having the long sight and a clear view of the “whole chessboard”.
So my own answer to “how”: open communication about the challenges; deep thought about the long term and whole picture; consensus on a SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bounded) objective; and open communication about and along the journey.
Message: 1127
Posted by: K.S.Ramachandra
Posted on: Sunday, 14th October 2007
Dear Brian,From your question it is not clear about your reading on innovation specifically related which method/context.Nevertheless I wish to tell my version of “how” of innovation My sincere belief is that “the how” of innovation is very much in reading, understanding and practicing TRIZ- its 40 principles and the contradiction matrix.Unless on understands this thoroughly and attempts to practice it “innovation” cannot be experienced.Thee have been plenty of literature on how people in varied areas( including technology, business, IT , Human resources, Government projects etc) have applied TRIZ to realize “innovative solutions ” to many tough problems/situations. You can read excellent articles,case studies and lessons in Triz-journal to find for yourself on what I have said here.The very essence of TRIZ is to dispel many the myths about innovation(like the one you have have expressed) and make “innovation” a structured and scientific tool/methodology which can be learned and practiced.Innovation happens automatically if you practice TRIZ principles and in due course it may so happen your mind always starts applying this tool( ie.how)to any day to day problems and contradictions you come accross Please let me know if I am right or wrong after doing as said above.Best of luck and regards,K.S.Ramachandra
Message: 1129
Posted by: Andrei
Posted on: Wednesday, 17th October 2007
Modern TRIZ contains a variety of different tools, many of them much more powerful than the 40 inventive principles and the contradiction matrix.
Message: 1132
Posted by: rallythevoices
Posted on: Monday, 22nd October 2007
“More powerful than…” Different, yes. But I think the power depends on the type of problem you are facing.
The nice thing about TRIZ for newbies is that sometimes you can make a big chance – take a big leap innovation-wise – with “just” the contradiction matrix and inventive principles. Yes?
Message: 1133
Posted by: Ellen Domb
Posted on: Wednesday, 24th October 2007
I agree with “rallythevoices”–beginners can make significant breakthroughs with a very small amount of TRIZ knowledge. And, after they have made those advances, then they are motivated to learn more and do more sophisticated applications of TRIZ.
When I do “one hour TRIZ” (usually a dinner meeting talk) I introduce the concept of ideality, a taste of the 40 principles, and the radical idea that tradeoffs are bad, because they require something to get worse for something else to get better. Almost every time I get e-mail a few days later that someone has solved a problem that was a big roadblock in their industry–wow, that feels good, and I know I've gotten someone else started learning TRIZ.
Message: 1136
Posted by: Jack Hipple
Posted on: Friday, 26th October 2007
Psychological stimulation is a limited and inefficient approach to innovation. These types of processes, as well as massive trial and error as practiced by Edison, were fine until we gained an undertanding that creativity and innovation are sciences and not psychology. Many years of TRIZ use has shown that it can solve problems other techniques cannot and that it is not neccessary to rely on random stimulation in the shower or book reading to be creative. This left brained approach is contrary to our long held beliefs in this area, but anyone truly serious about creativity and innovation needs to understand TRIZ. Thes comments do not necessarily apply to pure art, advertising, etc. areas, though TRIZ has made special impact in the advertising area.
The barriers to acdeptance of TRIZ are normally two. First, ego. The idea that a problem may have already been solved in a parallel universe strikes at the heart of our feeling that our problem are special and unique. I have been practicing TRIZ for 8 years (as well as being certified in the psychologically based techniques) and haven't seen one yet. Second, it requires significant problem definition time as opposed to generating hundreds of non-useful ideas that have to be filtered and discarded. This up fron problem definition time to generalize a problem and relate it to existing inventive patterns is something that some individuals and organizations simply won't do. They would rather solve the wrong problem ten times instead of the correct problem once. I don't have a solution to either problem (welcome ideas!).