7 steps to innovation ... or not

A friend of mine sent me a link to these steps (link here) and asked if I agree with these steps to innovation inside a company.

=============
1. Identify an institutional need that intersects with your passion.

2. Get a clear vision of your goal (this step includes doing your homework on what others have done).

3. Enlist support from others and seek feedback (really two parts here).

4. Create value -- at first this means working on your own time without compensation or recognition.

5. Document and share your success/progress.

6. Work to institutionalize your product/service/vision (be satisfied with baby steps; they add up).

7. Persist despite setbacks.

The steps come in the order above, but you also need to return to previous steps. It's iterative. For example, at certain points you'll need to refocus your vision; you'll need to continue to create value, etc.

By doing these seven steps you have the best chance to succeed. If you fail to do any of these steps, you will fail. Guaranteed.

--BJ Fogg ||| www.bjfogg.info
=============

Humm... I agree in concept. My gut reaction is that this is formula like; doing all these steps does not guarantee innovation. If you do everything on the list you still can end up with un-innovate things.

The other gut reaction: These are not deep sentences. They read easy and quick. But some of these take a _lot_ of work. The one I have trouble with all the time: "Enlist support from others and seek feedback."

This requires hunting down people, cajoling, convincing, bribing, enticing, directing them, wishing them to really participate. This is an art, I am convinced of this. There are people I know that can never get people to follow them on a project or idea and there are others that people will quit their jobs to follow the person's idea.

Create value is another high level easy to state item that has large implications. Understanding what the value is, figuring out how to create value by doing deep dives into the customer or environment, knowing who will actually value the created value, etc. hard hard hard.

I think number 7 is the most important. I have seen some ideas that would never have been done if persistence was not involved. I would add 8. (ok 7.1) "be prepared to take slings and arrows".

The list is a good start but it takes practice and experience to get these steps to the point they really start to create innovative ideas.

Comments

0 Responses: