How can you manage innovation projects with limited information?

Tools like the problem statement or the customer journey map don't just streamline this process; they breathe life into it. By mapping out the customer's experience, we gain empathetic insights into their needs, the hurdles they face, and the aspirations they hold. This nuanced understanding translates to solutions that resonate deeply with the target audience, making the innovation not just a product or a service but a genuine answer to a pressing need.

This may work incidentally but is generally disproved by the overwhelming instances of success after pivoting, e.g. Apple (not saying pivoting is essential, just evidential). I would argue that a truly innovative mindset and a culture of creativity, critical thinking and anti-bullshitism will consistently outperform methods, processes and data-worship - considering the dismal success rate of innovation startups despite the widespread availability of the same methods, processes and data. It's implausible that 99% of innovators were ignorant or reluctant to follow them. I bet it mostly worked when a critical mass of true innovators had the grit and empowerment to break on through mountains of method/data-driven/cover-your-mediocrity bullshit.

Managing innovation projects with limited information can be challenging, but it's not impossible. Start by defining clear project objectives and scope. Encourage your team to gather available data and insights, even if they are limited. Embrace uncertainty and maintain flexibility in your project plan. Regularly review and adjust your strategy as new information becomes available. Foster a culture of experimentation and learning, where failures are seen as opportunities to adapt. Leverage external networks to tap into collective wisdom and expertise. Lastly, keep communication channels open and transparent to ensure everyone is aligned and informed.

It is rare for anyone to be managing significant change projects alone...there is almost always a project team. First gain clarity about the 'problem' (and whose problem it is) plus some clarity about preferred solutions. If it becomes obvious that there is insufficient information, use the team to identify all missing information. Create a plan to collect some answers. If it proves impossible to find key information needed for a successful project, (unless it is future and technical ink downs), why would you run the project at all?

To manage innovation projects with limited information: ? Set a focus via a clear long-term goal, a drafted vision, or a product North Star (NS) metric to guide the project. For example, Netflix's NS "watch time" leads to innovations in recommendation algorithms and streaming quality. If you need more info for this step - research first. ? Next, ask experts at your company what they know. Make assumptions about customer and business needs, and map the customer journey to define key interactions and challenges. Brainstorm and develop a Proof of Concept to test and refine your ideas. ? Finally, create and test a realistic prototype with users, ensuring it aligns with business objectives, customer needs, and your product vision.

When you lack information ask yourself 2 questions 1. what's the downside if I am wrong 2. can I engineer a Test & Learn or AB testing to validate my hypothesis Develop a scenario (best, realistic, worst) planning for both product appeal, cost and timeline and continue to refine the assumptions as more information is available

Don't look at the agile approach necessarily as try and error but use the below canvas as a road map to make it clearer for yourself and the team: 1- what are the parts of the project which are fixed? in the most innovative projects as well you have boundaries and fixed assumptions. 2- WHY you are doing the project? consumer needs are a good place to start but finding the core reason for the project will make your choices easy on the way to implement. 3- what can I do to make it more accomplished (you read more clearly) till the next sprint? your team shall do to learn, shall fail to succeed, and shall crawl to run 4- what is the next step to have more "Management/ Client buy-in"? now you shall be more clear on the project's Black-Box :)

Embrace an agile and iterative project management approach. Break down the project into small, manageable tasks or iterations. Regularly reassess priorities and adjust the project plan based on emerging information. This flexibility enables you to adapt to the evolving landscape of limited information.

WENNOVATE instead of INNOVATE The main reason why innovation projects get stopped is according to a linkedin poll: ‘LACK OF MANAGEMENT BUY-IN. That’s why in my experience as facilitator of 100+ projects you should better WENNOVATEinstead of INNOVATE. Let me explain… Innovation is a long journey with high uncertainty. That’s why you should get all your internal - and external partners and the decision makers aligned as from the start, agreeing all on both your assignment and process. When you WENNOVATE in the way your project will be based on: - commitment, - trust, and - openness. Check out the FORTH innovation methodology, which combines design thinking with business thinking, which is based on this WENNOVATE principle.

This is completely true. Aim for incremental steps forward and expect to get things wrong along the way. By taking small steps, you can adjust and pivot much more readily. As information becomes more available and you can reduce your assumptions (and so reduce your risk) you can make larger leaps forward. Reducing the cycle time between doing and learning is critical. This helps increase the pace of your assumption testing and ultimately drive a more efficient overall solution development approach.

Focus on the items which 1. Are on the project critical path (any delay, delays the project) 2. Have biggest impact on the innovation financials Another good tool is the decision tree.

Real practical - I love using a tool we call "Killer Assumptions" it helps teams identify the one or two assumptions that have the potential to kill their idea or project. Three simple steps: 1. Start with an expansive exercise. List all the assumptions that must hold true for your idea/project to be successful. 2. Looking at the list you just created, highlight the assumptions that will have the highest impact (the ones that are absolutely necessary for your idea to succeed) 3. Finally, looking at the highest impact assumptions you highlighted - which of those are most uncertain? Those that you need to figure out or your idea will fail. Those are your "killer assumptions" that you now need to run experiments against.

Developing an innovation project will drive you to uncharted territory, with a lot of uncertainty. If your main idea makes sense, you can find creative ways to finish the project successfully. Creating a table to check (in a group) the likelihood and impact of the known risks worked for me several times.

This is the point where the clearer you can be on what assumptions you’re making and the potential impact of those assumptions being wrong matters. Understanding which assumptions need testing vs those that you can the risk of being wrong on helps give you focus on where to spend your energy. You’ll never know everything and there will always be risk. The point is not to create a perfect solution, but to have something that’s good enough for right now, that then enables you to learn more with real world results. Take those learnings and evolve.

Assumptions about innovation and expected investments, risks and outcomes are manyfold. Structuring the innovation business case with a business model canvas usually helps to clarify scope and expectations within the organization. Typically disastrous for innovation projects are: (1) lack of an innovation environment with proper infra and tooling, (2) unrealistic planning in terms of time, resources and budget, (3) skilled and trained staff with the right mindset, (4) fear of failure and consequently incomplete or too generous reporting (establish that failure of innovation projects is not bad and has value in itself, by learning from the mistakes), (5) underestimating collaboration with third parties. Manage these aspects for your success.

A diverse team is vital in innovation, especially with limited information. My experience shows that diversity in culture, experience, and geography, alongside professional skills, drives creative solutions. Encouraging open-mindedness and challenging norms within teams can lead to groundbreaking ideas, as innovation often comes from unexpected sources. A team diverse in thought and experience is key to transformative and universally resonant innovation.

Building on Corrado’s perspective - For ideation exercises I like to build my team using the rough rule of… 1/3 Deep experts, 1/3 with a tangential relationship to the problem (maybe finance, IT, legal support for the experts), and 1/3 wild card ideators. Folks that don’t have a relationship to the problem but can push thinking on anything. Of course led by an effective facilitator. Overall team’s expertise and mindset mix varies depending on the task at hand.

300 Spartans were able to hold off hundreds of thousands of Persians, because they had deep understanding of the terrain, they possess superior weapons, and they knew how to optimize the use of those weapons because of their disciplined training. The term “force multiplier” comes from this event. We can create force multiplication with our innovation efforts when we position people that thoroughly understand the business domain (terrain) and the weapons of our day (technology), and continually learn new ways of using those weapons (training).

Diversity bias is the worst enemy in innovation; surrounding yourself with likewise thinkers and yes-sayers will not get you anywhere. Combine creative with tasks oriented, commercial with scientists and engineers. I usually bring to the task force a couple of smart people who have no experience in the area to bring a different prospective

In my experience, when you have limited information, the role of the team becomes more important. You need to rely on the expertise and knowledge of the team. I believe that having more experts in the area and industry relevant to the problem is crucial when managing projects with limited information. It's essential to have people from all aspects of the industry (clients, employees, engineers, managers ..) to ensure that you can collect information from all angles.

I believe observation is the most important tool that can help you understand the problem deeply. While I agree that the mentioned tools are important and essential, I still believe observation and empathy can offer insights that other tools can't.

When I worked in innovation I would go on expeditions with team members from different backgrounds (fragrance & flavor experts, scientists, marketers, insights, sales, manufacturing) and do consumer immersions in relevant places. In my case, my innovation focused on ingredient storytelling, so I would go to Siberia or the Silk Road, meeting with witch doctors, parapharmacists, healers, spa owners, tribal heads, zoologists, and biologists. Once I was in a wooden barrel with an external tube, where herbs were inserted to heal your body with their steam. That simple observation made me think that I could replicate that process in a shower gel combined with the hot steam of the shower. Palmolive Banya (sauna in russian) was born.

Tap into external sources of information to supplement your project's knowledge base. Engage with industry experts, conduct market research, and explore partnerships or collaborations. External insights can provide valuable perspectives and fill gaps in your understanding, enhancing the project's overall robustness.

The easiest way to kill your idea is slooooooowly....losing momentum. The next easiest way is to smother it with all the project management tools that are listed here. Think of the "goldilocks rule" when it comes to monitoring progress - not too little, not too much, it needs to be just right. Ensure the level of monitoring is in service of the overall success of the project and the project management does not become the project.

Too much strategery and little execution creates organizational fatigue. If you have limited resources it may become the end of the initiative or company. The last thing you want is to create innovation-fatigue. Dedicate resources or a portion of your effort to project management. Someone with a familiar background to the type of project or company or technology- will bring an added layer of execution and support with risk and change management aspects. Therefore project and program management should be leveraged to develop and deliver innovation (incorporate lean or agile approaches-as mentioned above).

Agility and flexibility are fantastic. Like all things in life, however, they come with downsides, the most salient of which is reactivity at the expense of long-term strategic goals. To keep innovation projects on track, I recommend scenario planning adapted to your situation. If you’re developing a new product, consider the possibility of abysmal initial reviews from customers, and budget the time and resources needed for in-depth design changes. If you’re in change management, you know that attitudes will change over time, requiring new ways to influence. If you’ve got these scenarios on your radar from the very start of a project, you’ll be able to pivot without losing sight of your end goal.

Regularly review and adjust your project plan based on the evolving information landscape. Be open to modifying timelines, objectives, or strategies as new insights emerge. This continuous review and adjustment process ensure that your project remains responsive to the limited information available.

In the emerging world, this approach to innovation is dated and will become obsolete. Our world is calling us to be opportunity creators; no longer problem solvers or experts. Real innovation means letting go and being not only curious but courageous about experimenting with the unknown. When you stay stuck then you follow the old paradigm. But when you truly innovate, you let go of the tried and true. There are no "best" practices any more. “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” Bucky Fuller remind us! In the emerging world, success and failure don't come with us. This is where we innovate around our greatest opportunities ...

All of the points of this article could be articulated to "any project" really. Tracking risks, assumptions, having a clear goal, etc. I believe those are good suggestions and thoughts, but not really the main reason why something succeeds or fail in companies. I believe two items are not properly represented and are very critical: - having buy-in from the organization to chase the endeavor (this is really about all leadership commitment to invest in innovation) - having the right people on board. The article mentions about diversity which is great - but we really need to make sure we have a team of people that are not afraid of the unknown, that can work in ambiguous situations. Thats not that common to find from my experience.

This AI-generated text makes sense as a ‘learning from the past’ best practices piece. However, as well explained by Ayelet in another comment, we no longer live in the past. The future is here, it’s fast and it requires a very different mindset to innovate.

There’s a big risk for mid/large companies in chasing ideas (big or small), which is fun and exciting but without a connection to a clear understanding of who you are as a company and the core differentiating strengths you want to bet on, will often lead to wasted money, culture clashes and disappointment. Instead, follow a strategic innovation framework - align on what your core capabilities should be in relation to the market (if it’s not core and is potentially valuable look for vendors), know the capabilities you want but don’t have. Invest in these capabilities with an initial customer-driven outcome (but with multiple options), then monitor both the initial outcome and capability development.

Maybe the most important aspect of leading an innovation project is stakeholder support. For example if you are a CEO, CTO or COO launching an initiative, no matter how well you run the project, if you don’t have board buy-in for freedom to learn and fail and commit for some time to the strategy you can fail to launch quickly sometimes killing potentially great initiatives. Same with customers. If they don’t feel the value or feel it’s a disservice to them and only self-serving, it can put the business at risk.