It was designed to manage the interface between project teams and your company… for portfolio analysis, resource planning, risk reduction, tracking, etc. Fine, but you also need to improve the interface between teams and customers. Competitive advantage in customer-facing innovation requires skills and tools your competitors lack.
More in e-book, www.SuperchargeStageGate.com
Many companies struggle trying to enter new markets or introduce new technology. You can apply a new “de-risking” methodology to identify those "landmines” that could blow up your project. This approach not only gives teams a detailed roadmap to follow… it allows them to clearly communicate risk to management. ... Read More
If you want a blockbuster new product, you need to meet all 6—not just 4 or 5—of these conditions: 1) A need exists. 2) The need is uncovered. 3) A solution is developed. 4) The solution is delivered. 5) Value is captured (via pricing). 6) Value is protected (via patents or trade secret). ... Read More
Pursue unfamiliar B2B markets with confidence… by combining New Product Blueprinting and Discovery-Driven Planning. You can use the FAQS map to move from uncertainty to certainty: F for Facts, A for Assumptions, Q for Questions, and S for surprises. ... Read More
About 100 books on innovation are now written weekly… and 100 times as many articles on innovation are now published as in the 1970’s. So if you haven’t noticed, you might not be paying close attention. You know… like General Motors and Chrysler weren’t paying attention to Toyota and the Quality Wave in the 1970’s.
The good news is that your competitors may still be focused on initiatives other than whole-hearted, market-facing innovation. Like Toyota in the Quality Wave, you create a competitive advantage by moving faster and harder on this. More in 2-minute video, Catch the innovation wave.
More in white paper, Catch the Innovation Wave
Think you can validate your new product concept with customers and avoid confirmation bias? Good luck with that. In your last performance review, did you agree with your boss’s praise more than his criticism? If so, you may not have overcome confirmation bias quite yet.
So if you want to avoid innovation malpractice, you need to stop leading the witness in interviews. Let them lead you to what really matters to them. My suggestion: Focus your customer interview on their desired outcomes. Then just check afterwards to see if their outcomes are a good match for your intended solution.
More in 2-minute video, Give your hypothesis the silent treatment
What’s the definition of “ideation?” The meaning of “ideation?” As Voltaire reminded us, “If you want to converse with me, define your terms.” So, what is “ideation”? Ideation Definition According to Merriam-Webster, it’s “the act of forming or entertaining ideas.” However, as a definition within the larger new product development process, that’s not overly helpful. ... Read More
For over 30 years, companies have used the Vitality Index. But this metric has shortcomings addressed by two new metrics from The AIM Institute: 1) The Growth Driver Index (GDI) measures how you are building your growth capabilities. 2) The Commercial Confidence Index (CCI) assesses your commercial risk on new product development. ... Read More
In the 1970’s, Detroit automakers didn’t realize they were in a battle for quality. but Toyota did. In later years, the battle moved from quality to productivity improvements. But those were both last century’s battles. Today the battle is over innovation… to deliver more value to customers than your competitors.
Does your business leadership team know it’s in a battle for innovation? One way to find out is to wait until a competitor upends your market with a blockbuster new product. A better approach is to start building innovation capabilities earlier and strong than those competitors. More in white paper, Catch the Innovation Wave
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You’ll have much better project reviews if they understand this difference. You can only assign a level of risk if you know the probability of an unfavorable event, e.g., 40% chance of a thunderstorm. It’s pointless—even misleading—to assign probabilities of success, net present values, and so forth in a project’s early phase. That comes later, after your team drives dozens of assumptions from uncertainty to certainty. The methodology for doing this isn’t difficult: Check out this 2-minute video at Why risk and uncertainty are different.
More in video, Project de-risking with Minesweeper® software
How critical is speed to new product innovation? Imagine a project that leads to new product sales of $5 million per year, with average profit margins. What’s the net present value of launching this product just one month earlier? $80,000! That’s $4000 per business day. Think we could use a little more urgency for new ... Read More
There are 4 Innovation Maturity Levels: 1) Solution push, 2) Solution validation, 3) Market insight, and 4) Market scouting. Learn how to dramatically boost your B2B innovation just by reaching Level 3. ... Read More
We see three common shortcomings with B2B product launches: 1) Low-quality front-end work: Suppliers develop the wrong product, so even the best launch is just putting lipstick on a pig. 2) Poor linkage between stages: The launch is not driven by what was learned in the front end. 2) Out-dated promotional tools: This includes poor selection of the many traditional and digital tools available today. It helps to follow these 4 steps: The Right Product delivered to the Right Market using the Right Message through the Right Media.
More in 2-minute video, Launch new products with power
Is your business looking for ways to accelerate its new product development? Here are four ways to do this: 1) Set clear design targets in the front-end. When the team knows what the customers wants early-on, it eliminates second-guessing, dead-end detours and hesitation. 2) Concentrate resources on fewer projects, staff them for speed, and kill any dead-end projects quickly. 3) Focus on “time-to-money” (not just “time to market”). If you engage customers throughout development, they’ll anticipate your new product and begin evaluating it sooner. 4) Eliminate “organizational friction”… travel bans, spending freezes, hiring delays, re-orgs, new initiatives, and so on.
More in 2-minute video, Pursue fast innovation