The Empty Whitecoat

New Concise Introduction to Strategyn and Outcome-Driven Innovation

This short introduction to Strategyn and Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI) is designed for a C-Level audience. It summarises the six critical capabilities companies must develop to become successful innovators, outlines the key tenets of ODI, describes what types of innovation ODI applies to and defines the varieties of organic growth it can drive. Some client testimonials and case-studies are briefly mentioned too...

Download A Short Introduction to Strategyn and Outcome-Driven Innovation (pdf)

Fixing the Innovation Process

A short post from Taverner Research summarises our view on customer needs and reasons for product failure succinctly.

90 percent of all new products fail. You see them all the time: they fill bargain trays in department stores and mark-down aisles in supermarkets.

Why is this? What's wrong with the product development process? Why is failure so much more common than success?

According to Tony Ulwick of Strategyn, it's because people have got the innovation process the wrong way around.

Here's how it usually works. Someone has an idea - a lightbulb - about a fantastic new product. The idea is evaluated and if the right people give the thumbs up, it goes ahead. Maybe the idea comes from a brainstorming session. Either way, it is pretty much guesswork about what the market needs or wants.

Another source of ideas is customer feedback. But when you ask customers what they want, their answers aren't very useful. They either tell you about features your competitors offer, or they suggest things that in the end, they don't want enough to buy.

The solution, according to Ulwick, is to start with a systematic, rigorous look at what your customers are doing, or trying to do, in their lives and work. The goal is to find holes in real-world processes, holes that the customer would like help with. Maybe a workman needs to carry more tools up a ladder. Maybe a surgeon needs to reduce the chance of unwanted bleeding. This approach, driven by real life problems and solutions, is better and more useful than dreaming up products in thought bubbles.

With that as a starting point, you can work to fill real market needs as opposed to imagined market needs. Then, and only then, it's time to innovate.

To explore these ideas and concepts further, a recent webinar by Tony Ulwick is still available on the American Marketing Association website here: Kill Bad Innovation Theory and Revolutionise the Innovation Process. I also have a version of the content that I presented recently at the 4th Strategic Innovation Forum in Barcelona. 

I shall be posting about how Outcome-Driven Innovation feeds StageGate product development processes very shortly.

Join the Strategyn UK associate network

Owing to a number of recent outcome-driven innovation client wins, we welcome speculative applications from talented individuals to become an associate of Strategyn UK delivering ODI projects in the UK and mainland Europe.

If you have a proven track record in product development, voice of the customer, innovation or marketing strategy, we are interested in hearing from you. You will have:

• A strong background in an innovation, product development or marketing strategy discipline
• Experience gained either on the client-side, in a consultancy or as an independent
• Excellent written, spoken and numeracy skills
• Strong project management capability
• Analytical and hands-on with data
• Superior client-relationship skills
• Willingness to learn and challenge long-held industry assumptions
• International languages a bonus
• Honesty and integrity

For an informal discussion about how you could become a part of the Strategyn UK associate network of innovation and marketing professionals that is helping companies adopt a new standard for innovation, please drop me a note with a copy of your CV and a covering letter. Should you be accepted, you will have an opportunity to receive funding to become trained in Outcome-Driven Innovation at the Strategyn Institute in Colorado, US  - as well as play a key role in the growth of our business with an option for a permanent position in the future. I look forward to hearing from you.

About Strategyn UK

We create product and service strategies for client companies using our patented innovation methodology. We work with a company's executive management to invigorate growth and drive share holder value through creating an internal engine for innovation. Our structured innovation process takes approximately 4 months to complete and the result is a precise view of where in the market there are opportunities for our client companies to create value. This process has created billions of dollars for value in market cap for client companies. Our list of clients includes Microsoft, Unilever, Colgate, MetLife, StateFarm, Motorola, J&J, Medtronic and AIG to name a few.