The Innovation Process

The innovation process must be using in every single phase of the decision making or other method to accomplished the mission of the project. This is because, with this process, we can generate a new idea for every single part in the process of construction especially when we need face the problem. So, this is a stages of making the innovation.

Stage 1: Generate Ideas

This is the exhilarating part of the process! Do this in teams rather than individually...which is what suggestion-box systems tend to promote. Innovative ideas generally come from a vision, an unreasonable demand, or a goal.

To get innovation going in your organization, ask; "What is impossible to do in your business today, but if it could be done, would fundamentally change what your business does?" Answers to this question will help you to see the boundaries of a new organization and a new you! That is where innovation begins.

This is the exhilarating part of the process!

Stage 2: Capture Ideas from The First Stage

Do this through team discussion or discussion among peers. Make sure to record the ideas. A great brainstorming technique is to ask each team member to silently brainstorm individually. Ask them to write each idea they come up with on separate sticky notes. Then have the team create an "affinity diagram" on the wall or whiteboard by collectively organizing all ideas into columns of similar ideas.

Now the drudgery begins!

Stage 3: Begin the Innovation

• Review the entire list of ideas and develop them into a series of statements of ideas. The team will then need to agree on which ones to explore further.
• Next, quantify the benefits of each statement of ideas to pursue. Do this in reference to the department, the organization and/or the customer.
• Then describe how the statement fits with the organization's strategy, mission, and objectives.
• Now you will have to estimate the business potential...the expected outcomes of implementing the idea.
• Although the organization has yet to apply and think through the innovation, these steps are designed to capture ideas and agree on a statement of feasibility before trying the Innovation.

Stage 4: Develop a Business-Effectiveness Strategy

Innovation implementation begins here. It usually means a re-think of an existing process, product, or service. This is not the same as looking at an existing process and improving it. It is describing what a future process will look like.

The innovation team will first develop this "picture of the future". This is usually where the innovation resides. The easiest way to get started is to have the team members list their basic assumptions about the way things are now done (that the Innovation is intended to overcome). Then they'll brainstorm, discuss, and record every single idea that arises about a possible future process. It helps to use yellow stickies to record ideas individually first and then consolidate them all. The team will conclude by writing a full paragraph that describes the innovation and illustrating it on a flowchart. This will provide them with a look at the entire "future process".

Essentially the team will have detailed how to possibly go about the process without concern for current thinking or typical procedure. This is similar to what Mary did with her inventory system in the example at the beginning of this article.

Stage 5: Apply Business Improvement

Once the innovation is applied, it is necessary to continuously examine it for possible improvements to the process, product, or service. In the example of building a house in 3 hours, how could the team improve the process by using fewer people or less money?

The team starts this process by identifying the business process gaps between what is done in the present and what is done in the innovation. This is followed by identifying the blockages and barriers which will stop them from improving the innovation. Estimating the difficulty, benefits, costs, support required, and risks is necessary before the team can refine the innovation process. Then it will be ready to apply the improvements identified.

Stage 6: Decline

In time, it often becomes obvious that what was once an innovation no longer fits. Continuous improvement of the existing process, product, or service is no longer of value; perhaps the former innovation has now become outdated or outmoded. It is time to let it go; abandon the existing thinking, and set a new goal to start the innovation process once again. It is time for new innovations in response to external pressure.