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DOs and DON'Ts of a Successful Innovator
By: Peter Drucker
DOs
Start small – try to do one
specific thing...
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Turning Ideas into Reality
"Before there is a prototype, the ideas exists
in abstract form only," writes Paul Sloane.2 "It is described in
words and leaves scope for misunderstanding. It is hard for the originator
to convey exactly what he or she has in mind, and it is easy for people to
get hold of the wrong end of the stick. Once the prototype exists then
people can see and touch and feel the idea. Comments for improvement will
flow thick and fast. Whether the prototype is a model in cardboard and
string or a software application consisting of a few skeleton screens with
nothing behind them, it presents a framework for refinement and extension of
the idea."2
Google
is the Internet’s number one search engine today. What is the reason for
their remarkable success?
It’s
beta testing and
market learning. They
launched a less than perfect service into the market place to get market
feedback. Feedback is the answer to dominating a market. It also makes
great business sense. Google's competitors were trying to
perfect a product by themselves separate from their target market as
Google was continuously and rapidly upgrading their original beta
version by listening to
the customer. They strived to achieve
harmony with the
reality...
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Prototyping is a Dance
"Prototyping is a dance," writes Tom Kelly1
from
IDEO. Sometimes the music doesn't
move you or your steps fail. But that's no reason to stop. Just as writer's
block happens when writers stop writing, so, too, does innovation grind to a
halt when prototypes stop being built. When the muse fails you, don't mope
at your desk. Make something."
"I just prototype a bad idea and maybe shoot
the hell out of it," says one of IDEO's engineers. He'll often know it's not
the solution he wants, but if he prototypes it, he can shoot it down faster
and then find out what doesn't work or perhaps discover something new.
"Prototypes can be a source of creation and insurance. When all else fails,
prototype till you're silly."1

A Source of Inspiration: Encourage
Accidental Discoveries
"Quick prototyping is about acting before
you've got the answers, about taking chances, stumbling a little, but then
making it right. Living, moving prototypes can help shape your ideas. When
you're
creating something new to the world, you can't look over your shoulder
to see what your competitors are doing; you have to find another source of
inspiration," writes Tom Kelly1 from
IDEO. "Once you start drawing or
making things, you open up new possibilities of discovery. Doodling,
drawing, modeling. Sketch ideas and make things, and you're likely to
encourage accidental discoveries. At most fundamental level, what we're
talking about is play, about exploring borders."1
Learning About the Markets for
New-To-The-World Products
"No one tests the depth of a
river with both feet."
– Ashanti proverb
Radical
innovators generally have only the outlines of a very big
picture and, compared with incremental innovators, must operate in
the dark, since customers seldom have a context for understanding
the product or its capabilities. Neither the final
new-to-the world
product, nor its applications can be described reliably. As
exploratory questions are most important for market learning,
traditional
market research
methods designed to answer traditional market research questions are
used infrequently in radical innovation projects. To do a better job
of learning about markets
for radical innovations, some alternative
approaches, including early prototyping, should be practiced.5...
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Case
in Point Discovery
of the Structure of DNA
Source:
The
Art of Innovation, Tom Kelley
"I decided that no harm could come from
spending a few days building backbone models," said 1963 Nobel Prize winner
James Watson, referring to the metal prototypes he and fellow geneticist
Francis Crick used to model and test their hypotheses. "Perhaps a week of
solid fiddling with the molecular models would be necessary to make us
absolutely sure we had the right answer."
Although their academic colleagues were
skeptical of the approach, Watson and Crick's freethinking style and
openness to two-dimensional and three-dimensional prototyping helped guide
them toward the momentous discovery of the structure of DNA. Even Watson
sometimes wondered if he was floundering. "My doodling of the bases on paper
at first got nowhere. Not until the middle of the next week, however, did a
nontrivial idea emerge. It came while I was drawing the fused rings of
adenine on paper."
High-Growth Business Development...
New Product Design...
Fuzzy Front End...
Different Role of Prototyping...
Test Marketing Your New Product...
Market Learning through Experimentation...
Discovering New Customer Values...
Use Prototypes to Sell
Your Ideas to Others...
Specific
Mindset and Skill Requirements...
Test Marketing
Your New Product or Service...
Some Tips for
Successful Testing...
Case
in Point New Type of
Vacuum Cleaner...
Case
in Point
IDEO - a World Leading Product Design Company...
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