Ten “worst practices” for gaining benefits from Innovation
Watch-out for these tell-tale signs of an innovation process that may be headed for big trouble 1. The plan for an innovation is all-or-nothing and looks only at the project as originally conceived; not at the underlying capabilities built up in it
2. There is no explicit plan to articulate and test assumptions and update the project plan subject to what is being learned
3. The innovation is fully funded through to market introduction at the point of initial project approval (without a requirement to demonstrate accomplishment of interim milestones).
4. The project is evaluated on a calendar schedule basis, not on the basis of milestones accomplished
5. Project team members are rewarded only for market introduction; and suffer negative consequences if their projects are stopped
6. The project is under pressure from senior executives achieve large revenues or market share quickly
7. The project is being managed in isolation from other activities in the business
8. The team members of the project have little experience with uncertain or ambiguous situations, even if they have a great track record in the core business
9. The CEO and senior team publicly argue that the project will make up for performance shortfalls in the core business in the near term
10. You have no way of measuring project benefits other than progress on plan
Share this article: 
- Posted: Monday, January 22, 2007
- Permalink
Next entry: Organizing Innovation Projects Previous entry: ILO Institute
Find a list of previous Case Studies here in PDF format.
recent entries
- Will Facebook’s IPO re-ignite growth in Silicon Valley?
- Why just being young is not a reason to doubt Facebook
- Why advertisements need to get a whole lot better before they will support social media
- Bing, Social Search and the beginning of the App Economy
- In case you missed it, Rita McGrath’s interview about Mark Zuckerberg
