Lightning in a Bottle is a “proven system to create new ideas and products that work.” So far it has great reviews on Amazon and looks to be a good read. Innovating, particularly in larger organizations, is never easy as bureaucracy and day to day fires always seem to take precedent. David Minter and Michael Reid provide anecdotal approaches to overcoming corporate obstacles by focusing on less ideas, decreasing bureaucracy by decreasing the number of people on the team, and keeping ideas simple in theory and communication (“Less words is more”). Duh? In reality, keeping things simple , especially in corporate organisms, is easier said than done unless there is a strong leader to make the calls and break the rules. Everyone wants to have their say, people have agendas (career) and “simple “takes time, effort and focus. I look forward to reading this one and hope there is a focus not only on process, but selecting the right people for innovation.
Honestly, after reading their 10 reasons why ideas fail, I do have some reservations (which makes me want to read Lightening in a Bottle even more).
Trying to sell things people don’t want to buy.
Okay, this simply should not be on the list. Products that sell the most are things that people did not know they did not know they needed (ie. iPod). You really do not know if something is going to sell unless you get it out in the market. I love Japan’s Akihabara (Electronic City). Companies like Sony and Panasonic create stuff and dump it here to see if it will sell. If it does, then they bring it to the masses.
The ideas don’t make financial sense.
Yes, the product must be profitable. Of course, one never knows if more marketing is going to be required to get the word out and a lot of times products do not scale as predicted.
Giving up too soon on good ideas, which are often big ideas.
What is a good idea and what is a bad idea?
Usually most people think the best ideas will never work to begin with. Look at the new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Hubble’s successor. It will orbit Earth from far beyond the moon and can not be serviced.The telescope was shot down when first conceived a decade ago because 10 dependent technologies had not yet been developed, let alone proven. Good or bad idea? Depends on who is driving it.
Pushing bad ideas for too long.
JWST is set for launch in 2010 and 9 of the ten dependent technologies have passed. Even if the telescope does not launch the development of these technologies will find other, useful applications. What is too long?
No separation of good ideas from bad ideas, so money is wasted.
How does one know if something is a bad idea without failing?
Thinking small.
Yep, the only reason I do not have a question about.
Delegating idea development to junior people.
Hmm, not sure about this one. What is a “junior person”? This is where I think most thought leaders pushing innovation have a ways to go with their theories. It’s not about whether their junior or senior, it is far more important if they are the right people in my book.
Not having specialized talent — idea factories or idea experts — to develop ideas.
What? Ideas are just ideas and the fewer experts the better. It’s more important to have people who can do things and keep prototyping costs to a bare minimum. Of course Minter and Reid are really selling their service as idea experts so this a an expected plug from them. Importantly, they do not “do” innovation from their list of services.
No process, or a poor process, for developing ideas.
If you have the right people, process takes care of itself. It’s more important to have a process for testing ideas.
No real, important differences in the idea versus the competition.
I don’t know about this one. The only important difference is if your product is better (quality, functionality, delivery, beauty, etc.). Being different for the sake of being different is not necessarily a good strategy.
I am sure “Lightening in a Bottle” has helpful suggestions and approaches to creating new ideas and I look forward to the read. Hopefully the book will answer my questions.