Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Training
    • Class Registration
    • On-demand Training
    • GTPAC COVID-19 Resource Page
    • Cybersecurity Video
    • Veterans Verification Video
    • GTPAC Community
    • Other Training Audio & Video
  • Useful Links
  • Team Directory
    • Albany Counselor
    • Athens Counselor
    • Atlanta Counselors
    • Augusta Counselor
    • Carrollton Counselor
    • Columbus Counselor
    • Gainesville Counselor
    • Savannah Counselor
    • Warner Robins Counselor
  • Directions
    • Athens
    • Atlanta – Training Facility
    • Atlanta – Office
    • Albany
    • Augusta
    • Carrollton
    • Columbus
    • Gainesville
    • Savannah
    • Warner Robins
  • COVID-19
  • New Client Application
  • Contact Us

31 innovation questions (and answers) to kick off the New Year

January 29, 2011 By ei2admin

1.  How do you define innovation? Something different that has impact.

2.  What are different types of innovation? Innovation is more than whiz-bang technology; consider different strategic intents (e.g., create a new category, extend current business) or innovation mechanisms (e.g., new product, distribution channel, marketing approach).

3.  How do I spot opportunities for innovation? Go to the source: the customer you hope to target.

4.  Which customers should I target? Look beyond your best customers to those who face a constraint that inhibits their ability to solve the problems they face in their life.

5.  What should I look for? As Drucker said, “The customer rarely buys what the business thinks it sells him”; look for a job-to-be-done, an important problem that is not adequately solved by current solutions.

6.  How should I look? Start with deep ethnographic research; avoid focus groups!

7.  How do I come up with an idea? Remember the Picasso line “good artists copy, great artists steal;” seek to borrow ideas from other industries or geographies.

8.  What is disruptive innovation? An innovation that transforms a market or creates a new one through simplicity, convenience, affordability, or accessibility.

9.  What is the best way to disrupt a market? Embrace the power of trade-offs. Seek to be just “good enough” along historical performance dimensions but introduce new benefits related to simplicity or affordability.

10.  What does “good enough” mean? Performance above a minimum threshold to adequately solve a customer’s job to be done; sacrificing performance along traditional dimensions can open up new avenues to innovate.

11.  What is a business model (and how do I innovate one)? How a company creates, captures, and delivers value; codifying the current business model is the critical first step of business model innovation.

12.  How can I “love the low end”? Build a business model designed around the low-end customer’s job-to-be-done.

13.  How do I know if my idea is good? Let patterns guide and actions decide; remember Scott Cook’s advice that “for every failure we had we had spreadsheets that looked awesome.”

14.  How can I learn more about my idea? Design and execute “high return on investment” experiments to address critical unknowns.

15.  How can I get other people behind my idea? Bring the idea to life through visuals and customer testimonials.

16.  How long does it take new businesses to scale? Almost always longer than initial projections; be patient for growth and impatient for profits.

17.  Why is innovation so important? The “new normal” of constant change requires mastering perpetual transformation.

18.  Why is innovation so hard? Most organizations are designed to execute, not to innovate.

19.  Who are your influences? Academics like Clayton Christensen and Vijay Govindarajan, leading-edge innovative companies like Procter & Gamble and Cisco Systems, and thoughtful writers like Michael Mauboussin and Bill James.

20.  How do I encourage innovation in my organization? Stop punishing anything that smells like failure, recognizing that failure is often a critical part of the innovation process.

21.  What is “the sucking sound of the core?” The pull of the core business and business model that subtly influences new ideas so they resemble what the organization has done before.

22.  What is an innovation “safe space”? An organizational mechanism that protects innovators from the sucking sound of the core.

23.  How should I form and manage innovation teams? Keep deadlines tight and decision makers focused.

24.  What is in a good innovation strategy? Overall goals, a target portfolio for innovation efforts, a mechanism to allocate resources to achieve that portfolio, and clearly defined goals and boundaries for innovation.

25.  What is the best way to manage an innovation portfolio? Make sure you correctly capture current activities and measure and manage different kinds of innovations in different ways.

26.  What does ‘prudent pruning’ mean? Recognizing that destruction is often a critical component of creation.

27.  What role should senior executives play in innovation? A big one.

28.  How can I personally become a better innovator? Practice – innovation is a skill that can be mastered.

29.  How can I find more resources for innovation? Shut down “zombie projects” that are a drain on corporate resources.

30.  How can I more quickly turn good ideas into good businesses? Remember what Edison said – genius is “1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”; get ready to sweat.

31.  Has anyone built the ability to innovate at scale? An increasing number of companies, such as Google, Apple, Procter & Gamble, Amazon.com, Cisco Systems, Godrej & Boyce, and General Electric.

— Reprinted from Scott D. Anthony’s Havard Business Review blog, December 27, 2010.

Filed Under: Contracting Tips Tagged With: innovation

Recent Posts

  • DoD publishes long awaited interim rule on CMMC
  • GSA Region 4 OSDBU hosting small business webinar
  • GTPAC launches COVID-19 resource page
  • GDEcD seeks GA Manufacturers and Distributors that can help with critical health care supply needs related to COVID-19
  • Georgia DOAS to hold 4th Annual Georgia Procurement Conference April 21-23, 2020

Popular Topics

8(a) abuse Army bid protest budget budget cuts certification construction contract awards contracting opportunities cybersecurity DoD DOJ False Claims Act FAR federal contracting federal contracts fraud GAO Georgia Tech government contracting government contract training government trends GSA GSA Schedule GTPAC HUBZone innovation IT Justice Dept. marketing NDAA OMB SBA SDVOSB set-aside small business small business goals spending subcontracting technology VA veteran owned business VOSB wosb

Contracting News

DoD publishes long awaited interim rule on CMMC

Small business subcontracting for cloud computing gets easier

Long awaited changes to WOSB/EDWOSB regulations expected this summer

The CMMC has arrived: DoD publishes version 1.0 of its new cybersecurity framework

GSA keeping ‘on track’ with schedule consolidation

Read More

Contracting Tips

A guide to labor and employment obligations for federal contractors

Who pays for CMMC certification?

Other transaction agreements: Where does an unsuccessful bidder go?

Knowledge is power, if you know how to use it

EAJA provides relief to construction contractor for government’s bad actions

Read More

GTPAC News

GSA Region 4 OSDBU hosting small business webinar

GTPAC launches COVID-19 resource page

GDEcD seeks GA Manufacturers and Distributors that can help with critical health care supply needs related to COVID-19

Georgia DOAS to hold 4th Annual Georgia Procurement Conference April 21-23, 2020

MICC Fort Stewart hosting acquisition forecast open house on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020

Read More

Georgia Tech News

Dr. Abdallah testifies on U.S. competitiveness, research, STEM pipeline at Congressional hearing

Georgia Tech’s Technology Square Phase III to include George Tower

Student surprises his teacher with Georgia Tech acceptance news

Georgia Tech Applied Research will support DHS information safeguarding effort

$25 million project will advance DNA-based archival data storage

Read More

  • SAM.gov registration is free, and help with SAM is free, too
APTAC RSS Twitter GTPAC - 30th Year of Service

Copyright © 2021 · Georgia Tech - Enterprise Innovation Institute