Effectively shifting gears between the different phases of the #Innovation Pipeline

1.    #DesignThinking
2.    #LeanStartup
3.    #BusinessModel Innovation
4.    #AgileDevelopment

Adventurous as the word innovation may sound, an innovation consultant’s job consists for a large part in de-risking the innovation process. In order for innovation to be a viable undertaking for any company, the outcomes of the innovation need to be maximized, while the risk involved needs to be contained as much as possible.

In our work with Fortune 500 companies, we channel innovation processes through a pipeline to achieve just that. One of the big challenges in this Innovation Pipeline, is to know which tools to use, at what moment, and when to switch from one phase to the next.

The Innovation Pipeline

An innovation pipeline is typically split into problem fit (is the solution desirable to customers?), solution fit (is there a way to capture value back?) and growth fit (is the solution technically feasible and scalable?).

First you uncover the right problems to solve, then you propose ways to solve them. Once validated through experimentation, you scale-up. Below methodologies typically converge with different stages in the innovation pipeline.

Design Thinking is a mindset that allows teams to explore customer-centric insights, needs, and problems through abductive thinking and inductive qualitative research methods in order to inform the starting point for a risky project. This is the phase where you ask yourself if you’re building the right things.

Lean Startup is a mindset that enables teams to further de-risk the innovation process whilst exploring and validating core beliefs, assumptions and hypothesis in a systematic scientific way through fast evidence-based learning loops.

Business Model Innovation is a mindset that allows teams to prototype value creation, capture and delivery exchanges amongst stakeholders whilst defining clear assumptions and hypothesis to validate in further evidence-based learning iterations.

Finally, you’ll ask yourself if you’re building things right. Agile Development is a development mindset that builds upon the customer-centric feedback loops and allows for continuous adaptability during the building or execution phase of an innovation project

Source: Board of Innovation

#TransformPartner – Your #DigitalTransformation Consultancy