What are some of the tools and methods that you use to assess and mitigate innovation risk and failure?

The critical parts to communicate and align your efforts are the why, how and what. Goals are useful, but without connecting the rational and motivational pieces we're less likely to get the buy-in we're after.

Uma boa prática é definir metas e critérios claros de inova??o antes de come?ar a gerar e testar ideias. Utilize ferramentas como metas SMART, OKRs, canvas de proposta de valor e lean canvas para alinhar os esfor?os de inova??o com os objetivos estratégicos, necessidades dos clientes e oportunidades de mercado. Isso ajuda a medir o sucesso e a comunicar essas metas e critérios de forma clara à equipe e partes interessadas, garantindo que todos estejam alinhados e focados nos mesmos objetivos.

The vision serves as a guide for your innovation journey. However, breaking it down into SMART goals and OKRs ensures that it is actionable. SMART goals are Specific (clearly defined), Measurable (trackable), Achievable (realistic), Relevant (aligned with broader objectives), and Time-bound (with a set deadline). On the other hand, OKRs involve setting qualitative Objectives (what you want to achieve) and quantitative Key Results (how you’ll measure success). This structure helps align your team's efforts with strategic priorities!

En effet, je privilégie SWOT car on peut le déployer sur la durée du projet. Il fournit un cadre très simple et ajustable si le projet vient à prendre une direction nouvelle ou inattendue. Par exemple avec l'arrivée d'un nouvel acteur sur le marché, d'un problème technique lors du développement ou de mésentente entre les initiateurs de l'innovation.

Start by doing a PESTEL analysis (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, Legal) to get a broad view of external factors that might impact your innovation. Also, dive into a VRIO analysis (Value, Rarity, Imitability, Organization) and the Resource-Based View (RBV) to look at your innovation assets from the inside out. To shape your strategy, wrap this vision up with a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). Using these tools together helps you spot risks and opportunities, setting you up for smarter innovation decisions.

As innovation facilitator of 100+ projects I like to share how you can MITIGATE PROJECT RISKS in 10 WAYS 1. Market Research: Understand your target audience and their needs. 2. Prototyping: Build and test prototypes to identify flaws. 3. Cross-functional Teams: Bring together experts from various disciplines. 4. Iterative Development: Break the process into phases. 5. User Feedback: Involve users to gather insights and validate. 6. Risk Analysis: Identify potential risks and their impact. 7. Minimum Viable Product (MVP): Launch an MVP. 8. Agile Method: Embrace agile practices to adapt. 9. Quality Assurance: Implement robust testing procedures to catch bugs. 10. Communication: Maintain clear communication within your team.

I suggest taking a LEAN approach here. Begin by future casting and then apply a pre-mortem technique to envision all the possible ways it could fail. Develop a risk mitigation calculator that enables you to measure the risks and prioritize them systematically, so that you can mitigate the most significant ones first.

There's a couple of useful tools I recommend in for risk identification and mitigation. Assumption mapping and hypothesis driven discovery is an excellent and rigorous approach. Also, combine that with the pre-mortem technique to uncover and mitigate risks

Um dos maiores riscos em um projeto de inova??o é você achar que você tem algo muito importante nas m?os, mas ninguém concordar com você. Nunca caminhe muito em uma dire??o sem ter de alguma forma validado as suas hipóteses antes. E essa valida??o precisa ser feita, preferencialmente, com o público-alvo dessa inova??o.

Experimentation is vital to explore, test and learn. The key is to identify what it is that you are trying to learn. For most it will fall into desirability and behaviour change. LEAN and discovery-driven planning are useful tools.

Implementing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is practical to reduce risks in product or service's design and avoid overcommitting. "Fail fast, fail forward" mantra is crucial for applying the MVP strategy effectively. It allows for rapid, iterative prototyping, a process that allows great agility in development. Hypothesis testing is also crucial. Start with a reasonable set of hypotheses, then explore and confirm or disconfirm them to unlock new opportunity areas. Also, keeping your end-users engaged along the way is key. This ensures your innovation aligns with real-world needs and fosters a more robust connection in the development process!

A principle I've always held central is that the best way to mitigate innovation risk is through continuous experimentation and validation. Adopting Lean Startup principles and embracing the build-measure-learn feedback loop has proven effective time and again. In practice, this means using MVPs and prototypes to test assumptions and gather user feedback. Early and frequent experimentation has been a game-changer in many projects, allowing for agile pivoting and iteration based on real-world data and insights.

Make extensive use of Design Thinking / Human Centered Design. Validate the idea through deep user research, synthesis of user research, reframe the problem, generate new ideas, pick one and prototype starting with user experience. Test with the user researched audience and make tweaks. Then test with bit larger audience, make tweaks to improve then test with a larger audience. If idea still delights target users then scale up the usage & enjoy the benefits. PS: MVP is not enough! Use MVE (minimum viable ecosystem) to validate & test. Read The Wide Lens for MVE).

There are many ways to manage your innovation portfolio. Strategically, the first that comes to my mind is diversification. Spread your risk on multiple projects to mitigate the impact of any single failure. Also, prioritization is key. Along your innovation funnel, give priority to projects with higher return on investment and alignment with your strategic goals. Operatively speaking, keeping up with regular reviews and strategically allocating resources is essential. Also, risk assessment is the true litmus test of any innovation initiative, while stakeholder engagement is the fuel.

Use portfolio management tools and techniques to allocate resources strategically across different innovation initiatives. Tools like innovation pipelines or stage-gate processes can help prioritize projects, allocate resources efficiently, and track progress. Regularly review and reassess your innovation portfolio to ensure alignment with strategic objectives and resource constraints.

In managing your innovation portfolio, focus on assessing each project's maturity level to avoid premature scaling. Utilize models like Technology Readiness Level (TRL) to gauge development stages. This approach ensures proper resource allocation and prevents scaling projects before they're ready. Understanding the maturity of each initiative allows for informed investment decisions and sustainable innovation outcomes.

Diversify your innovation portfolio to balance risk and ensure resources are allocated efficiently across projects. Use portfolio management tools to oversee this balance and adjust as needed.

Reframing failure as an inherent part of the innovative process is crucial when seeking solutions with a greater impact that will generate positive public value. Creating spaces that dismantle the stigma of making mistakes and redirecting that narrative toward collective learning is a path for us to move towards organizations that more fully embrace the lessons of failure.

With a good innovation system and culture, you never fail. You get it right, or you learn. Both are wins. Be sure to create rituals that make ruthless honesty and "failure" a feature.

Na minha experiência, uma boa prática é realizar retrospectivas e post-mortems para aprender com falhas de inova??o. Utilize essas ferramentas para identificar o que deu errado e como melhorar, promovendo uma cultura de experimenta??o e aprendizado contínuo na organiza??o.

People don’t set out to ‘fail’! Start using the term ‘experiments’ to encourage and build a constantly learning culture. The result of an idea experiment could be thumbs up or neutral or thumbs down. Run a post Morten to uncover the learnings & share widely.

The first step in learning from failures is to build trust within the team. This comes from setting the environment that is open and safe. Leadership is key in this regard as is the leaders actions to show how important innovation and improving is.

A great tool for assessing and mitigating innovation risk and failure is DirectSuggest's award-winning employee suggestion box app. DirectSuggest makes it simple for employees to share innovative ideas on any device surrounding company created categories with the assurance they automatically arrive to the proper decision-maker. Every employee can also collaborate on these innovative ideas via voting and commenting to assess/mitigate innovation risk/failure and enhance the quality of ideas. Learn more at https://www.DirectSuggest.com

The paramount risk and failure in innovation are not in the setbacks themselves, but in failing to learn from them or repeating past mistakes. The key is to establish a continuous learning loop within the organization. This involves not only extracting lessons from each experience but also ensuring these insights are accessible company-wide. Sharing learnings across the organization fosters a culture of informed experimentation, where every challenge becomes an opportunity for growth. By doing so, the entire company becomes more agile and adaptive, turning potential failures into stepping stones for future success. This approach of shared and continuous learning is vital for sustainable innovation.

When macro economic down turns come, Innovation efforts get killed or shut down. Only far sighted leadership doubles the innovation efforts in down turn but with laser focus in target areas. Innovation can be disruptive but also non-disruptive. Companies must adopt both types & not chase the shiny new objects with only disruptive innovation mindset.

Foster collaboration and interdisciplinary teamwork to leverage diverse perspectives and expertise in innovation projects. Invest in continuous learning and skill development to empower employees to navigate uncertainty and drive innovation effectively. Cultivate a supportive environment that encourages risk-taking and experimentation, while also providing safety nets and support mechanisms for teams to recover from setbacks.