Innovation is a journey - not a destination

This article was born when I noticed the sign posted in title image - at this #googlemaps location. Let's start our journey. #rawagility

The cultural elements of innovation

In his book "Where good ideas come from - the natural history of innovation" Steven Johnson beautifully states as follows:

At the center of the glass, the perspective shifts from nature to culture, and the scales widen: from individual thoughts and private workspaces to immense cities and global information networks.

Does this ring a bell for all agilists reading this article? Don't be surprised - I had that exact thought. We all know the natural elements listed above. Any organization is made by its people - their brains and cells. The #culture of that organization is reflected in its #workspaces , organizational structure, various networks [hierarchies, information etc.]

The curious case of vanishing R&D Labs

You would be familiar with R&D Departments of the past. They are no longer the "ONLY" sources of #innovation and interestingly they are vanishing faster than we think.

Ben Southwood in his article "The rise and fall of the industrial R&D lab" gives a wonderful insight into what happened to all those famous R&D depts.

In the absence of large firm innovations we now have an innovation system where start-ups and small teams, whether private sector or academic, do most early stage innovation.

I have highlighted the word #smallteams above - as #agility encourages small teams.

Innovation from House of Lean of Scaled Agile Framework?

Scaled Agile Framework ( Scaled Agile, Inc. ) contains excellent guidance on how Innovation culture can be nurtured. Just like "Built-in-Quality" - Innovation should be "Built-in" thus enabling teams to move away from the thought of "Innovation is R&D Dept's baby" to "Innovation is natural for every one".

Please refer to this article on more on Lean-Agile Mindset of Scaled Agile Framework?.

A2I KVA of Evidence Based Management from Scrum.org

Evidence based management from Scrum.org ( Scrum.org ) - introduces a #KeyValueArea - "Ability to Innovate" - the effectiveness of an organization to deliver new capabilities that might better meet customer needs.

The goal of looking at the A2I is to maximize the organization's ability to deliver new capabilities and innovative solutions.

Further the EBM Framework introduces the following #KeyValueMeasures like Innovation Rate, Defect Trends, On-Product index to name a few. Please refer to EBM Framework here.

End Note: SAFe? House of Lean and EBM - a deadly combination for promoting an Innovation culture across agile teams

This is what I discovered while working in Agile Transformations at different levels in different organizations in both India and USA.

Thanks for your time coming this far.

Copyrights, disclaimer:

• All copyrights and trademarks belong to respective owners.
• References:
• Scrum.org's EBM - https://www.scrum.org/resources/evidence-based-management
• SAFe's House of Lean - https://www.scaledagileframework.com/lean-agile-mindset/
• The rise and fall of the industrial R&D lab: https://www.worksinprogress.co/issue/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-american-rd-lab/
• Where good ideas come from - https://www.amazon.com/Where-Good-Ideas-Come-Innovation/dp/1594485380