The next frontier: Design Thinking
March 19, 2008, 3:55 am
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Future of Work,
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Andrew Tan,
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GE,
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prototyping,
The Mayo Clinic,
what if,
whatif,
whatif innovationHere’s another little ditty from Andrew Tan’s blog WhatIf which covers innovation & design from an Asian perspective. And no, he’s not part of the global outfit Whatif Innovation, he runs his own innovation company and this is his personal blog.
Design thinking is t
he latest and hottest methodology talked about to help a company innovate. GE calls it CENCOR (calibrate, explore, create, organize and realize). The Mayo Clinic calls it SPARC (see, plan, act, refine, communicate). Andrew’s new company calls it GIP (Gather, Ideate, Prototype). Its most obvious and direct power is in the creation of new products and services. Design thinking allows an organization to differentiate its products and services in an avenue other than pricing.
Andrew’s method is not dissimilar to the IDEO method of industrial design, one which has nurtured some of the most popular innovations of the past few decades. Apple’s first mouse. Prada’s ultrahip Manhattan store. Stand-up toothpaste tubes that don’t get icky. The Palm V.
In the Ideo universe, great design doesn’t begin with a far-out concept or a way-cool drawing. It begins with a deep and empathic understanding of the human condition. The first step for any Ideo team on any project is to try to empathize with the people who might use whatever product or service that eventually emerges from its work. Ideo has crafted a set of systematic research methods for understanding what the firm calls “human factors.” It then goes on to develop ideas and from those ideas, prototypes which can be tested for real responses on real people.
Looking for innovation superstars?
February 13, 2008, 11:51 pm
Filed under:
creativity,
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Get another life,
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Anna Farmery,
David Meerman Scott,
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Innovation Talent,
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The Engaging Brand,
WebInkNowI had brekky with a friend of mine this morning & amongst other things, we were talking about finding talent. He’s always on the lookout for people, I’m on the other side of the fence & always on the lookout for new freeelance opportunities. There’s a lot of people hunting for innovation consultants, innovation talent, researchers etc at the moment in Sydney. The market is abuzz with movement. People are moving around, everyone wants to know who’s free, who might come where & who’s looking for what. Anyway, this friend & I were talking about how innovation companies themselves are often not that innovative [ironically] when it comes to hiring. How they can talk innovation & have theories on innovation but when it comes to hiring practices, recruiting talent & looking for new blood, often their approach can be anything but.
As I was pondering this post-pancakes, I came across a couple of articles that speak to this topic brilliantly. So rather than bang on & paraphrase, I’ve just posted them here. Enjoy.
(more…)
Are innovation companies the new ad agencies?
January 15, 2008, 11:06 pm
Filed under:
Advertising,
Agency structure,
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advertising industry,
australia,
ex-agency people,
ex-MD,
ex-planners,
Innovation,
innovation agencies,
Innovation shops,
Innovative advertisingI’ve been reading a lot of posts recently about whether advertising agencies need to innovate, do they need to get a better handle on digital and interactive media?, do they need to position themselves more innovatively? do they need to innovate in their perspectives on communication and more broadly speaking, marketing? If I could flip that for a minute and pose a different question which has been stalking me; what space is it that the innovation companies themselves occupy?
Once there was a time when you needed an MBA, a thicker waist and a sound understanding of Hamel, Prahalad or Christensen to talk about real innovation but it seems now that any Tom, Dick or Barry with a new creative hotshop can play their quarter in the innovation game. When I used to think about innovation companies, big cheeses like McKinseys came to mind, now it seems that innovation companies are springing up quicker than moles in a hole. And whose running these new innovative and creative hothouses? Ex-agency people. Ex-planners. Ex-MDs.
Don’t get me wrong I’m not objecting to this in any way. I think it’s time “innovation” came out of the textbook, decreased the amount of models it presented build by build in powerpoint and struck up a friendship with natural creative strategists.
It makes you wonder whether ex-agency style innovation companies will eventually settle into the realm of new product innovation and brand / communication innovation briefs and business consultants will move into a more creative space to deliver innovative scenario planning and creative business model innovation.
It has always seemed to me that the perfect balance would be the rigour and robustness of a company like McKinseys together with the intuitive, disruptive and sometimes cowboy-style of some of the great creative strategists found in agencyland.
My question is this. Are many newly birthed innovation companies destined to become the ad agencies of the future? and if so, where does that leave the ad agencies of now?
Thoughts . . . ?
ROI = Risk of Inaction
Todd Earwood at the Blog World Expo and posted the top 10 quotes heard on day one. One we love is . .
“When you say ROI, do you mean return on investment or risk of inaction.” – Paul Gillin, Paul Gillin Communications
Kindly provided by Tomorrow’s Trends
Waiting for the innovation muse?
“It strikes me as interesting that when businesses want to see more innovation, they talk about creativity. They hold workshops on how to be creative. But when you talk to most creative people — like artists, inventors, and yes, bloggers — they don’t talk about creativity, they talk about process. Maybe our processes and practices are the primary drivers of real creative endeavors. It’s like the zen buddhist said, “Stop searching for God and just sit!”
An interesting thought, taken from here
Another innovation in user generated content
South Korean MusicShake is a online amateur music mixing service. The service lets users create their own professional quality music using various tools. They hope to provide personalized music for ringtones, and personal websites (blogs, profiles). The service is developed and distributed by SilentMusicBand Corp.
It looks like another great tool for bloggers and I’d tell you more about it but it doesn’t work with any other browser except Microsoft Explorer.. so that’d be their first mistake…
Hang your balls out in the wind & try something new
According to Michael Porter the big cheese of marketing & business theory, competitive advantage is built on difference. Yet,companies are rushing toward sameness, fueled by “best practices” and incremental innovations. Why aren’t we looking at the “Most Innovative or Inventive Practice” as well? Why aren’t we looking at people doing it really differently? It’s much easier to do what everybody else has done because if it always looks like it should work and if it doesn’t, well it’s not your fault is it because it’s worked everywhere else so how could you have known…?
I think every strategic business review meeting should include a session at the end after the global best practice has been thoroughly reviewed and applied, a session w
here people celebrate those who hung their balls out in the wind to try something new. After all, innovation is hard and trying something completely new is even harder.
The people we’re most likely to learn from & be inspired by are the people who look at things differently. Who tried something new and it worked, or maybe it didn’t. Which is not to say there’s no value in BestPractice, of course there is value in something which has been tried and tested in other markets and worked. In some industry sectors and business areas, best practice makes the best sense. But when it comes to innovation, “Innovative Practice” is just as important.
That’s all.
Time of Day Retailing
Waitrose is to target ethical food lovers drawn to the recently opened Whole Foods Store in London by opening a new concept outlet.
The supermarket’s Marylebone store is currently undergoing refurbishment but will reopen later this month with a refreshed store design and an enhanced product range.
Specifically tailored to the shopping habits and the culinary tastes of customers in the upmarket local community, it will aim to offer a new shopping experience – complete with some new and innovative additions such as the ‘Time Of Day Counter’ to meet the needs and lifestyles of Marylebone shoppers.
In the morning customers will be able to select smoothies, granola and yoghurt, muesli and fresh fruit. Lunches offerings will include salads and freshly prepared sandwiches made to order.
In the evening the counter will offer a choice of full three-course meals to cater for ‘easy cheating’ cooks- food that can be prepared quickly, tasting and looking as good as home cooked.
http://www.utalkmarketing.com
he latest and hottest methodology talked about to help a company innovate. GE calls it CENCOR (calibrate, explore, create, organize and realize). The Mayo Clinic calls it SPARC (see, plan, act, refine, communicate). Andrew’s new company calls it GIP (Gather, Ideate, Prototype). Its most obvious and direct power is in the creation of new products and services. Design thinking allows an organization to differentiate its products and services in an avenue other than pricing.
