Q: Innovation is supposed to be really creative, so wouldn’t it hurt the creativity to set up a standard process for it? ACE advises: You really don’t want a process that hurts creativity. But, for most businesses, new product development is so important that it just can’t be left up to an unmanaged or random […]
Q: Innovation is supposed to be really creative, so wouldn't it hurt the creativity to set up a standard process for it?
ACE advises: You really don't want a process that hurts creativity. But, for most businesses, new product development is so important that it just can't be left up to an unmanaged or random inventor's cycle. New products and services are the lifeblood for future revenue.
To be effective, the ideas that are generated need to be implemented. It's not an innovation until implementation is complete. Organizations can be effective at implementing many things but not all things and not all things at once. They need to sort the ideas to fit what they are good at.
An innovation process doesn't guide the specifics of the new products, but it does constrain the ideas to align them with business strengths. The focus areas are chosen to ensure that the rest of the business can truly support the products and the business can win.
The second part of an effective innovation process is to ensure alignment with strategic intentions and objectives of the company. Strategy can best be implemented by ensuring that resource allocation to key objectives matches that intention.
Innovation processes ensure maintenance of the strategy and understanding of what it will take in resources and time to complete the projects.
Finally, a process doesn't constrain creative energy and doesn't limit creativity. It simply focuses that creativity towards the markets and technology where the business can succeed.