How do you prioritize innovation projects?

?Define clear innovation criteria aligned with your strategic goals. ??Consider factors like strategic fit, market potential, and customer value. ??Evaluate technical feasibility, financial viability, and environmental impact. ??Assign weights to each criterion based on your priorities. ??Ensure the criteria reflect your long-term vision and business objectives. ??Use a transparent process to avoid bias and ensure consistency. ??Regularly review and adjust criteria as market conditions and business goals evolve. ??Involve key stakeholders in the prioritization process for broader insights.

In my experience, innovation arises when we become concerned about the established model, motivating us to review it. Financial, strategy, customer needs, trends and many other criterias give us insights and motivations to think deeply about. Curiosity, creativity and attitude precede idealization and technological transformation. The transformational process is multidisciplinary, non-cartesian and often illogical facing review of concepts and absolute truths. Nowadays, interconnections and rapid changes require boldness, discipline and flexibility. Thinking outside the box is no longer enough. We must live outside of it, acting to transform it.

One widely used method is the Weighted Scoring Model. This involves first defining the criteria you deem important, such as strategic alignment, customer value, market potential, technical feasibility, ... Another effective tool is the Balanced Scorecard, which allows you to assess ideas from multiple perspectives. This tool ensures that your evaluation considers not just immediate financial returns but also long-term strategic benefits and operational impacts. For a more collaborative approach, you could use Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis tools like the Analytic Hierarchy Process. AHP helps in structuring your criteria into a hierarchy and then performs pairwise comparisons to determine the relative priority of each criterion.

My industry packaging is no different to any other, defining clear innovation criteria is essential for effective decision-making. In my business, we consistently emphasize the importance of aligning innovation with broader objectives, which is crucial for packaging design and functionality. The lack of a clear set of criteria defined is one of the main reasons why so many businesses struggle to deliver killer outputs.

?? Clear criteria are essential for successful innovation, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and consistent decision-making. ?? Strategic Fit Aligning innovation criteria with organizational strategy ensures ideas support long-term goals, driving meaningful and sustainable impact. ?? Social Impact Incorporating social and environmental considerations into your criteria helps prioritize projects that align with broader societal goals and responsibilities. ?? Financial Viability Financial criteria provide a reality check, ensuring that innovation projects are not only visionary but also economically sustainable. ?? Defining criteria upfront streamlines decision-making, reducing bias and improving the quality of innovation outcomes.

In my view, without going overboard, start by setting clear objectives and constraints. Use structured brainstorming methods like SCAMPER (Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to Another Use, Eliminate, Reverse) for incremental improvements. For radical changes, consider Blue Ocean Strategy to identify untapped markets. Group ideas into categories like “Incremental” for low-risk, quick wins, and “Radical” for high-reward but riskier ventures. Limit the list by applying criteria such as feasibility, alignment with strategic goals, and ROI potential. Finally, involve a diverse team to ensure a balanced portfolio of ideas, and then prioritize based on impact and resource requirements.

Creating a long list of ideas is like throwing a wild party for innovation. Gather dreamers from every corner, encourage brainstorming without limits, and don't filter—let the wildest ideas crash the party. Use diverse perspectives, blend tech with creativity, and capture every spark of genius. Then, it's time for a dance-off: sort ideas by impact potential, feasibility, alignment with goals, and the 'wow' factor. The ones left standing are the A-listers ready to rock the innovation stage.

Lors de la génération d'idées, l'accent mis sur la diversité et l'abondance est crucial. Enrichissez ce processus en intégrant des techniques de pensée latérale et de résolution de problèmes créatifs pour stimuler des idées non conventionnelles. Cela pourrait inclure des séances de brainstorming inversé ou des ateliers de "pensée à l'envers" pour défier le statu quo et générer des idées innovantes.

In the realm of creative thinking and innovation, particularly during team brainstorming sessions, the concept of 'no idea is a bad idea' plays a crucial role in fostering a fertile environment for generating potentially groundbreaking ideas as part of the generation of a long list. This principle encourages the free flow of ideas, no matter how unconventional or outlandish they may seem at first glance. It's crucial to reinforce this principle at the beginning of your ideation session to ensure everyone is free to really let go creatively.

Uma boa prática é organizar sess?es de brainstorming e workshops de idea??o para gerar uma ampla gama de ideias. Além disso, colete feedback de clientes, conduza pesquisas de mercado, analise concorrentes e detecte tendências. Utilize ferramentas como software de gerenciamento de ideias, notas adesivas ou plataformas online para organizar e categorizar essas ideias, criando um conjunto diversificado para ser filtrado nas próximas etapas.

Having been involved in several innovation funnels, I've seen the power of a structured screening process. Tools like assumption based analysis and early qualitative & quantitative user research have been particularly effective in filtering ideas. This process isn’t just about finding the winners; it’s equally about identifying and learning from the ones that don’t make the cut.

In idea screening, it's helpful to apply both macro and micro evaluations effectively, as suggested by reforge. Macro evaluation involves a broader view, assessing how each idea aligns with your company's overall strategic sequencing. It's about asking the right question and understanding the strategic fit. After this initial broad assessment, micro evaluation comes into play. This involves a more detailed examination, focusing on market attractiveness, internal capabilities, and resource implications. The combination of these two evaluation types ensures that the chosen ideas are not only strategically aligned but also likely to succeed.

You must validate your ideas -- this can be through customer feedback, innovation frameworks, market research, etc. Prioritize the ideas based on feasibility and ability to solve a problem.

Ideas are a dime a dozen. Actionable ideas are more valuable. All ideas have costs on terms of resources and attention. You don't want to dedicate your attention to low value ideas when greatness is available. But ideas are mental babies. It can be painful to leave some favored ideas sitting on the table for later. But it's necessary. Life requires choices. You can't do it all!

Uma boa prática é usar ferramentas como matrizes de pontua??o, listas de verifica??o ou árvores de decis?o para filtrar e priorizar suas ideias de inova??o. Aplique critérios de inova??o e classifique as ideias de acordo com suas pontua??es. Utilize a matriz de inova??o, funil ou mapa de portfólio para visualizar e comparar as ideias com base em seu nível de novidade e impacto. Isso ajuda a eliminar ideias fora do escopo, inviáveis ou de baixo valor, focando naquelas com maior potencial e alinhamento estratégico.

Testing ideas and developing small pilots is critical. If there is not space to safely test and pilot, it will be harder to overcome any resistance to the idea. Organizations that create this safe space will be rewarded with new innovative thinking and tools.

We should follow an evidence-based approach for idea testing. This involves formulating a testable hypothesis from the idea, designing an experiment (like interviews or prototypes), and collecting data. The gathered data is analyzed, leading to insights that help confirm, refine, or pivot the idea. This iterative process helps to de-risk ideas, providing market-validated refinement. Process Hypothesis Formation Experiment Design Conduct Experiment Data Analysis Learn and Iterate

When it comes to prioritizing innovation ideas through validation, I've learned that managing expectations is key. It's all about finding the right balance between thorough validation and the need to iterate. Prototyping and testing have been my go-to methods for validating assumptions and making sure our solutions hit the mark. I like to keep things simple with prototypes, using tools like Adobe XD or Marvel (Prototype on Paper), and testing them with a small group of users who fit our user persona. And if you're looking for a great read on how to talk to potential customers, "The Mom Test" is it.

Testing your ideas is so important because it gives you the opportunity to get feedback to refine your product. It is one of the only ways to check for product market fit.

It's great to use tools like a scorecard or dashboard; however, in my experience it typically comes down to finding the right product that will fit within the market and timed appropriately. Many innovations were created before their time and thus they were not useful. Timing of invention is almost more important than the invention itself.

With validation complete, select the most promising ideas based on how well they meet your innovation criteria and their potential for impact. Prioritize these ideas using a scoring model or a prioritization matrix to rank them according to their strategic fit, potential benefits, and resource requirements. Consideration should be given to balance quick wins against long-term strategic projects.

Prioritizing is key to having a clear focus and making progress. After brainstorming, define your priorities and start determining which ideas to move forward with accordingly.

Na minha experiência, uma dica prática é usar ferramentas como o scorecard de inova??o para monitorar o progresso e o desempenho dos projetos. Isso ajuda a garantir que os esfor?os estejam alinhados com a estratégia e equilibrados entre diferentes tipos de inova??o e níveis de risco.

These criteria should take into account the company's strategic goals as well as market requirements and technical feasibility. Prioritization is based on a comprehensive evaluation of the ideas. Continuous monitoring and adjustment of priorities is crucial, as market conditions and company goals can change. This structured and flexible approach ensures that your innovation projects offer the greatest possible added value and that your company is successful in the long term. Finally, it is important to evaluate the results of the communication measures. By using the right communication channels and tools, we are able to effectively share our innovation ideas and gain the necessary support for their implementation.

Innovation projects should correspond with the organization's and its stakeholders' expectations. This necessitates consistent communication with stakeholders and sponsors to establish boundaries and foster internal trust.

I’m my experience innovation needs to be encouraged and supported so that it becomes an inherent cultural characteristic. It doesn’t happen in a vacuum - you have to create an environment that encourages people to think creatively, and provide opportunities to indulge curiosity. Some of the greatest innovations come from flinging yourself down the proverbial rabbit hole, with checks and balances when you come up for air.

Innovation is a balance of systematic, process thinking and creative and imaginative thinking. One without the other renders innovation futile. Here's the thing: When innovation becomes to systematized, it is generally deprived of the secret ingredient that make innovation meaningful for an organization. However, when there is a lack of governance and process, ideas become random acts of chance. Both are fraught. From my personal experience from being on the corporate and start-up side of business, you either need to find a rare breed who can pivot between these two mindsets. Or, you need to construct a team that reflects both of these thinking skills and the intermediaries that can harvest the best of both groups to keep the peace.

When it comes to prioritizing innovation projects, most companies tend to focus on things like potential ROI or how well the project aligns with their overall strategy. But there's another factor that's just as important, even though it doesn't get as much attention: resilience to future disruptions. When you're evaluating potential projects, you need to think about how adaptable they are to changes that you might not see coming. We're talking about shifts in market conditions, new technologies popping up, or even changes in what consumers want and need. It's not always easy to predict, but if you can choose projects that are not only innovative but also flexible enough to pivot, you'll be in a much better position to weather any storms.