Innovation in Practice

The LAB: Innovating Shredded Wheat with S.I.T. (July 2009)

“We put the ‘NO’ in innovation!”  The good people at Post Cereal have a new twist on innovation…NOT innovating as a statement of the product's ubiquity and staying power.  “Some things just weren’t meant to be innovated."

How could I resist?  It was just too tempting to use systematic innovation on this simple product, especially in light of the perception that it should not be innovated.  Though the ad campaign is a spoof, I wonder just how much the people at Post really believe this.  What if shredded wheat could be innovated to create new growth potential for this 116 year old product? 

Here is a brief history from Wikipedia:

Henry Perky invented shredded wheat cereal in 1893. The wheat is first cooked in water until its moisture content reaches about 50%. It is then tempered, allowing moisture to diffuse evenly into the grain. The grain then passes through a set of rollers with grooves in one side, yielding a web of shredded wheat strands. Many webs are stacked together, and this moist stack of strands is crimped at regular intervals to produce individual pieces of cereal with the strands attached at each end. These then go into an oven, where they are baked until their moisture content is reduced to 5%.

I'll use all five templates of the Systematic Inventive Thinking method to see what new opportunities we can uncover. 

The LAB: Innovating a Credit Card with S.I.T. (June 2009)

Credit card companies must innovate to overcome the financial and public relations consequences of recent government legislation.  The Credit Card Reform Act of 2009 is a "bill to protect consumers, and especially young consumers, from skyrocketing credit card debt, unfair credit card practices, and deceptive credit offers."   These changes go into effect in 2010, and they will undoubtedly reduce the financial performance of card issuers.

The concept of using a card for purchases was described in 1887 by Edward Bellamy in his utopian novel Looking Backward.  Bellamy used the term credit card eleven times in this novel.  The credit card has become a ubiquitous symbol of consumerism since then.  Many credit card innovations have emerged, some useful and others wacky.  Recent innovations include: paperless statement; online statements; custom logos to display your affiliations with colleges, companies, and other groups;  a magnetic strip to read information more efficiently and securely.

The key for credit card companies is to reduce their reliance on price (in the form of interest rates, penalties, and fees) and increase their pipeline of innovative services for which consumers will be willing to pay.  That is the focus of this month's LAB.

The LAB: Innovating a Surgical Mask with Task Unification (May 2009)

Crisis creates opportunity.  That certainly has been the case for surgical mask makers and retailers as people scramble to buy them to protect against the H1N1 swine flu virus.  Companies and governments are ordering masks by the case load.  The surgical mask has become the number four selling item in women's apparel at Amazon.com, moving ahead of another strapped item - the bra.  The rush to protect against the virus extends beyond surgical masks as people seek any form of protection.  Soon we will be tracking the pandemic on our iPhones.

Surgical masks have been around since 1860.  Since then, lots of innovation has occurred.  One of my favorites is shown here - a clear mask so that doctors and nurses can see each others' face to improve communications. The fashionable surgical mask idea has been around for a very long time, but it is back with a vengeance.

There is debate about the value of surgical masks in the operating room.  Experts question whether they protect people from viruses like swine flu.  At best, masks seem capable of short term protection from large particle droplets transmitted at close contact.  Masks prevent transmission both to and from the wearer.

Given the questionable efficacy of surgical masks, this would seem a ripe opportunity for PROBLEM-TO-SOLUTION innovation using a methods such as TRIZ and Goldfire.  For this LAB, I will use Systematic Inventive Thinking (SOLUTION-TO-PROBLEM innovation) to see if there are novel ideas to extend the value of the surgical mask and perhaps address some of the unmet needs as well.  For this exercise, I am using a 3M 8210 respirator version that is N95 rated.  We start by listing the components:

The LAB: Innovating a Computer Keyboard with Attribute Dependency (April 2009)

Zachary Campau is an MBA candidate at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan who I met last week while lecturing there.  He was intrigued by Systematic Inventive Thinking, and he emailed me with a proposition.  He noted that I preach a lot about the value of team innovation, but I don't practice what I preach.  He noticed in my LAB series that I innovate alone, thus not taking advantage of the power of collaboration.  He was right.  So I accepted his offer to join me in my next LAB posting...this one.

We decided to innovate a computer keyboard using the Attribute Dependency tool.  But there is more to the story.  We did this all via phone while he was in Ann Arbor and I was in Naples, Florida on holiday.  In fact, I decided to multi-task by both innovating with Zach while doing one of my favorite pastimes: fishing.  My ultimate dream was to create a BIG innovation while simultaneously catching a BIG fish.  Of course, luck would determine the ultimate outcome.  The big innovation was something I could count on happening.  Fish, on the other hand, tend to be less cooperative.

The LAB: Innovating a Garage Door Opener (March 2009)

Teaching people how to innovate is rewarding.  It empowers them.  It unlocks their minds to believe that innovation can happen "on command."   People realize there is no excuse for not having enough ideas or being innovative once they have been trained.

This month's LAB features the output of one of my students, Michael Sanders, in my class, "Applied Marketing Innovation."  For the final exam, students were assigned a product at random.  They had three hours to apply all five templates in the Systematic Inventive Thinking method to come up with true new-to-the-world innovations.  They were graded on how correctly they applied each template as well as the novelty of their inventions.  Michael's assignment:  Garage Door Opener.  Here is what he did.

The LAB: Monetizing Twitter with Attribute Dependency (February 2009)

Venture capitalists could increase the value of their investments by applying a corporate innovation method to those investments.  Take Twitter for example.  It just received its third round of funding - $35 million.  Yet it has no revenue, no business model...just the promise of such.  It is the perfect time to innovate. 

I decided to take the challenge to create new concepts for the Twitter platform that have the potential to earn money.  Others are chasing this, too, including the Twitter management team.  It reminds me of the early days of Amazon when many (including me) wondered if the company would turn a profit.  The difference between Twitter and Amazon is an important one.  Amazon started with a business model in mind.  From there, it had to achieve economies of scale.  Twitter started with none.  Economies of scale do not matter until it can define a viable business model.

Let's see how innovation can help.

I used the Attribute Dependency template of Systematic Inventive Thinking, a method of innovation that works like no other I have found.  Attribute Dependency (or AD for short) differs from the other templates in that it uses attributes (variables) of the situation rather than components.  It is a powerful tool and more challenging than the others in some respects.  It yields amazing results.  You start with an attribute list, then construct a 2 x 2 matrix of these, pairing each against the others.  Each cell represents a potential dependency (or potential break in an existing dependency) that forms a Virtual Product.  Using Function Follows Form, we work backwards and envision a potential benefit or problem that this hypothetical solution solves.  Innovation!

The LAB: Innovating The Kindle with Task Unification (January 2009)

As we await the arrival of Amazon's Kindle 2.0, it is a perfect time to begin innovating their next generation device.  Anytime is a good time to innovate, but it is especially meaningful to innovate just as you launch your latest innovation.  It tells the world you are serious about creating a sustainable pipeline of new growth opportunities.

This month's LAB uses the Task Unification tool of Systematic Inventive Thinking to create new concepts for the Kindle.  The definition of Task Unification is: assigning an additional job to an existing resource.  The general idea is to break the current product down into components and then systematically give each component a new task or activity.  This creates an abstract "pre-inventive" form that we then take and discover potential benefits, target markets, and adaptations that would make the innovation very useful and unique.  This is what I call "Solution-To-Problem" innovation.

My goal is to come up with innovations that are not obvious or mere incremental changes in functionality of the current device.  If that is all we wanted, we could look at the iPhone or other electronic gizmo for ideas.  I don't own a Kindle (yet), so I will work from the Kindle User's Guide to make my component list. 

1. Screen Display
2. Control Buttons
3. Keyboard
4. Cursor bar
5. Select Wheel
6. Dictionary
7. Speaker
8. Wireless
9. Storage
10. Battery
11. Search (Software)
12. Music Player

As I try to do in all LAB sessions, I created the following innovations in about an hour:

1.  SCREEN:  Kindle makes reading easier.  It tracks how fast you read and adjusts the scrolling speed to a comfortable level.  The screen resolution adjusts to your eyeglass prescription to optimize readability (brightness, contrast, text size).

2.  SOFTWARE: Kindle helps you become a better reader.  It keeps track of how much you read, the level of difficulty, when you read, at what intervals, and at what speed.  It becomes a "reading trainer" by suggesting ways to improve your speed and comprehension based on your patterns.

3.  STORAGE:  Kindle is a book management system.  It keeps a complete inventory of all books you own or have access to, digital and physical.  It relates the material you are reading now in a newspaper article or blog to books that you own so that you are aware of the connection.  It flags you to view material in books you own as it may be relevant to what you are reading now.  It connects context.

4.  CONTROL BUTTONS:  Kindle controls other things in your home.  It becomes a universal remote to control room lights, stereo, and TV.

5.  WIRELESS:  Kindle is a social tool.  It connects you with others who have a Kindle.  It alerts them on what you are reading at that moment in Twitter-like fashion.  It connects members of a book club who are all reading the same book, and it allows members to bookmark and comment on parts of the book, all shared wirelessly or perhaps via Instant Messaging.  Kindle sends what you are reading to your Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, or blog so that others can see what you are reading...now.

6.  SPEAKER:  Kindle translates words and speech.  It has Text-to-Speech function so you can highlight a written passage and then hear it spoken in words over the speaker.

7.  WIRELESS:  Kindle enhances your imagination.  It integrates Google Maps with what you are reading so that you can visually see the location that is being discussed or described.

I can't wait for Kindle...3.0!

The LAB: Innovating a Refrigerator with the Division Template (December 2008)

A corporate innovation method should be robust enough to produce incremental as well as disruptive ideas.  One of my favorite templates in the S.I.T. method is called Division because it does just that.  The Division template takes a product or service, divides it or its components, and rearranges them to form a new product or service.  It is a particularly useful template to help people see their product or service in completely new ways.  It helps people get unstuck from the "fixed" frame that we all have naturally about our products or services.

My favorite example of Division happened during an innovation training session.  One of the participants was a bit cynical about the method and using patterns to innovate anything.  To help him overcome this, I let him select any product or service that he was convinced could not be innovated further.  He chose the refrigerator, a concept that has been with us since 1000 BC.  What follows is how we used Division in this spontaneous exercise to change his mind. 

The LAB: Innovating a Fishing Pole with Multiplication (November 2008)

Can you innovate a mature product?  Consider the fishing pole which dates back to the ancient Egyptians - it certainly qualifies as a mature product. This month's LAB will innovate it by using the systematic innovation method called Multiplication.

Fishing is the largest sporting activity in the U.S. with 40 million participants, far more than golf or tennis combined, the next two on the list.  Recreational fishing generates more than $125 billion in economic output and more than one million American jobs. If sport fishing were a corporation, it would rank above Bank of America or IBM on the Fortune 100 list of largest American companies.  The pathway to growth for any large, mature industry is: innovation!

We start by listing the components of the product.  We then make a copy (or copies) of each component, one at a time.  The new copies must be different in some way from the original component.  We then use Function Follows Form and work backwards to envision what the "pre-inventive form" could be used for.  We innovate by taking something that doesn't make sense at first, then find a legitimate purpose for it.  Here is what I came up with (about an hour's worth of work):

The LAB: Innovating a Recruiting Process with Subtraction (October 2008)

Do systematic methods of innovation work on services and processes?  This may be the most common question from corporate executives who want to learn innovation methods.  This month's LAB will focus on a familiar corporate process: employee recruiting.  The tool we'll use is Subtraction.  

To use Subtraction, we make a list of the components. With a process or service, the components are simply the steps to deliver the process or service. We remove a step one at a time to create the Virtual Product/Process.  Working backwards with Function Follows Form, we innovate what the potential value or benefits would be without the component.  What would the new process do?  Who would use it?  Why would they use it?  What benefits emerge?

Here is a recruiting process map of a well-known software company:

   

Here are four Virtual Products I created with Subtraction.  For each, I offer potential innovations and the benefits they might deliver:

1.  REMOVE INTERVIEWS:  The recruiting process would not allow interviews of candidates.  Benefit: hiring managers now have to rely on less subjective data such resumes and references.  They would have to rely on objective data such as job testing or personality testing.  Another benefit is candidates are shielded from interviewers who are less gifted at selling the benefits of working at the company.  They would have to rely on standard information provided by HR, thus avoiding negative or misleading information about the company.

2.  REMOVE JOB POSTINGS:  The recruiting process would have NO jobs posted anywhere even though many openings might exist.  Benefit:  There would be more job applicants because they could not self-screen or self-eliminate from not seeing jobs that fit them.  The company's message would be "open door": if you need a job, apply.  We'll find one that fits you.  This also might encourage hiring managers to be more creative about the people they consider for a job, perhaps seeking certain personality types or cognitive skills over experience.  Another benefit is the company avoids contingency recruiters who take job postings without the company's approval and try to fill them for a commission.  

3.  REMOVE SCHEDULE AND PLAN INTERVIEW:  The candidates have to find a way to get an interview without the benefit of the company's HR department setting it up for them.  Benefit:  This is more efficient as it cuts out the "middle man."  Another benefit is it becomes a way to test how assertive and personable the candidate is setting up their own interviews.  It helps them establish a rapport with the hiring manager before the interview takes place.

4.  REMOVE HIRING:  (You were just WAITING for that one!)  The recruiting process has all the traditional steps except the final one - hiring.  Benefit:  This allows a company to keep a pulse on the available talent pool  without the cost incurred from adding staff (a lot of companies actually do this). Another benefit is it reduces time, money, and the effort involved in negotiating salary, benefits, etc.  Also, it helps the company test its recruiting process to determine the effectiveness and accuracy of its interviewers and techniques.  The problem, of course, is how do we actually get the candidate on board?  This is where the REPLACEMENT function comes in handy in using this tool.  We can replace the function but not with the original component.  So what would replace hiring (in the traditional sense)?  Perhaps contracting.  Perhaps a third party does the hiring.  Or perhaps the candidates have to follow a process and guidelines to hire themselves on board.  Self-hiring?  That's novel.

The LAB: Innovating the iPhone with Attribute Dependency (September 2008)

Here are ten innovations for the iPhone that I would love to see.  I created these using the Attribute Dependency tool.  It is the most powerful of the five tools of Systematic Inventive Thinking, but also the most difficult to learn. 

To use Attribute Dependency, we start by making two lists.  The first is a list of internal attributes of the iPhone.  The second is a list of external attributes - those factors that are not under the control of the manufacturer (Apple, in this case), but that vary in the context of how the product or service is used.  Then we create a matrix with the internal and external attributes on one axis, and the internal attributes only on the other axis.  This matrix forces the combinations of internal-to-internal and internal-to-external attributes that we will use to innovate.

That's the hard part.  Now the fun begins.  We take these virtual combinations and envision them in two ways.  If no dependency exists between the attributes, we create one.  If a dependency exists, we break it.  Using Function Follows Form, we envision what the benefit or potential value might be from the new (or broken) dependency between the two attributes.

The matrix that you develop using this tool can become quite large.  To make it easier, you can download the one I used for this exercise and follow along with the innovations below.  I put the number corresponding to each idea in the appropriate cell of the matrix.  Here are the ideas along with the attribute dependencies that led to the idea:

1.  CARRIER-CONTEXT:  Allow users to switch wireless carriers depending on whether phone calls are business or personal.  Pre-select which phone numbers go through which carrier in the iPhone's Contacts.  This makes it easier for people to keep track of phone expenses and allows enterprises to control and monitor costs more accurately.  Same could be done for email addresses.

2.  FUNCTION-CONTEXT:  iPhone apps re-arrange automatically on the desktop depending on the context of use (with friends, family, co-workers, or myself).  For example, with co-workers, the apps become more business related (conferencing, calculator, tools, timer, meeting planning, notes, etc).  Geo-sensing tells the phone who you are with, then changes appropriately.

3.  VOLUME-LOCATION:  The iPhone goes to silent mode automatically depending on where it is (in conference rooms, churches, the boss's office, etc), or switches to a louder mode in places like the car, grocery store, or other noisy environments.

4.  JOB-FUNCTION:  The iPhone is customized with apps depending on job, profession, or job type.  A health care worker, for example, might have an iPhone that is optimized for a hospital setting (updated information about patient location, records, medications, potential cost savings, infection risks, etc).

5.  LOCATION-LINKAGES:  Wi-fi and other linkages (carrier, email client, SMS) change depending on location to optimize for the situation.  For example, wi-fi would turn off for certain networks that are password protected so the phone stays connected to the cellular network.  Saves time from having to switch back and forth manually.

6.  BATTERY LIFE-TIME:  The user can switch to a "battery conservation mode" that will power down features not needed (color screen goes to black and white, wi-fi off, vibration off).  Or, the iPhone does it automatically depending on time of day such as at nighttime.  For travelers who like to keep the phone on all night in their hotel room, this would save time and battery life.

7.  CAPACITY-RANGE:  Enable iPhone to "borrow" the optical disk space of a nearby Mac of PC much like the MacBook Air does.

8.  PHOTO QUALITY-BROWSER TYPE:  This is an odd one, but that is the beauty of this tool - it makes you put together combinations of attributes you would not think of.  In this case, the iPhone would allow you to vary the photo quality to load into different browser types or features. 

9.  MUSIC SOURCE-LOCATION:  The iPhone would recognize when it is in an airplane, restaurant, store, concert, museum, or other venue, and it would pick up the music or broadcast that is streaming just within that venue.  It might include advertising or other useful information relevant to the venue (example: restaurant menu specials, airport flight delays, museum closing time, etc).

10.  FUNCTION-LOCATION:  The iPhone "shopping buddy" would tell you what items on your shopping list to get in a certain order to save the most time.  It would suggest items on sale as substitutes for what's on your list.  It would tell you what checkout line is fastest, and it would know how much you are about to spend.  Perhaps it could link right to PayPal and complete the checkout process for you.

To learn this tool, consider taking a course such as the one being offered next month in Chicago.  I'll be there!

The LAB: Multiplication (August 2008)

The Multiplication tool is one of the five powerful thinking tools taught to me by the folks at Systematic Inventive Thinking. I like this tool because it is simple and yields great results.  Even children can learn it. 

Multiplication works by taking a component of the product, service, strategy, etc, and then making one or several copies of it.  But the copy must be changed in some way from the original component.  The original component is still intact, unchanged.  Now using Function Follows Form, we work backwards to take this hypothetical solution and find a problem that it solves.

One of our blog readers, Jim Doherty of the Grabbit Tool Company, agreed to let me use their main product, the EZ Grabbit Tarp Holder, for this month's LAB.  I bought a set at Ace Hardware last night, and used the Multiplication tool just now to create some new product ideas.  Here is a demonstration of the EZ Grabbit:

We start Multiplication by making a list of the components:

1. Sleeve
2. Dogbone
3. Chord
4. Grip
5. Lock

Make a copy or several copies of each component, one at a time, and change something about it.  What would be the benefit or potential use of the product with this new, changed component?  Here are some ideas:

1. Two sleeves, but the second sleeve is attached, back-to-back, to the original sleeve.  This would allow a second tarp to be attached to another one (with its own dogbone).  There could be three or perhaps even four sleeves, arranged in quadrant style (with the openings facing out), so multiple tarps could be attached.  The copied sleeve could be longer than the original, allowing different tarp configurations.
2. Multiple dogbones, but each is optimized for different types of material (tarp, plastic, terry cloth, cotton, denim, etc) to prevent damage, improve grip, etc.
3. Multiple chords, each coming out of the same dogbone with its own hole, to allow different attachment points.
4. Two grips, the second one attaches to the first one to allow it to be hung from a hook.
5. Two locking mechanisms, the second one used to attach to the fabric temporarily so it does not get lost or slide around during placement.

Once we have raw ideas like these, it's a good idea to get early customer feedback and perhaps build some working prototypes to let customers envision using the new product.  The ideas above are incremental innovations to the product's original category, so it can be valuable to get customer feedback about potential uses of the new embodiments outside the category to find breakthrough ideas as well.

The LAB: Task Unification on a Guitar (July 2008)

The suggestion from one of our readers (thanks, Erez!) is to use Task Unification on a guitar.  His  comment suggests that players have trouble keeping their guitars in tune when playing in a band.  They need to reduce the time it takes to re-tune between songs.  I liked this assignment because I play guitar, and I have a small collection of electric guitars, an acoustic guitar, and a banjo.  This will be the first time I have applied a systematic innovation process to invent new guitar concepts.  Let's see what happens.

At least two guitar makers have addressed this with electric guitars.  Gibson has their Robot Guitar that automatically tunes itself to one of several tunings including "standard" (EADGBE) tuning.  Pull a knob, dial the tuning you want, and...presto...the guitar tunes itself.  Transperformance has their version, The Performer, which does the same but includes a clever LED on top of the guitar so you can actually track what is happening to each string.  Both have onboard computers and some sophisticated string management systems (pulleys and servos) to do this.   Here is the Robot Guitar in action: 

While I consider this innovative, I see these as the traditional model of innovation:  IDENTIFY PROBLEM - FIND SOLUTION.  These guitars are cool, but they are heavily engineered and technology driven (I don't plan to own one).  The elegance of the systematic approach is that it works in reverse: IDENTIFY SOLUTION - FIND PROBLEM THAT IS SOLVES.  This approach, in my experience, leads to simpler and thus more innovative ideas.  What would be amazing is to find solutions on the acoustic guitar without all the electronics and mechanisms inherent in electric guitars.  That is what I focused on for The LAB this month.

Task Unification is the template that assigns an additional job to an existing resource or component (either internal or external).  We start by listing the components of the product.  Here is the list I made this morning:

1. pickguard
2. sound hole
3. fretboard
4. frets
5. bridge
6. bridge pins
7. dots
8. nut
9. strings
10. tuners
11. tuning pegs
12. truss rod
13. finish
14. bracing

There are two tasks I want to assign, one-by-one, to each of these components:  knowing when a string is out of tune, and helping put the string back in tune...quickly.  So we phrase it this way:  "The pickguard has the additional job of knowing when the strings are out of tune."  Then I try to imagine what the pickguard has to do to make that happen.  A more general way to innovate is to give the pickguard an additional job from a list of tasks, one-by-one, then imagining what problems that solves or what benefits that produces (using Function Follows Form).  This approach will yield a wide range of potential innovations beyond just tuning the guitar.

I came up with these ideas:

For knowing when the guitar is out of tune:  the tuning pegs indicate when they have slipped (rotated due to the force of plucking the strings) or when the string has slipped.  It does this with some sort of pop-up indicator, perhaps gradually to the degree of slippage.  A quick scan of the tops of the tuning pegs could tell the player the status of each string independently and which ones are in most need of re-tuning. 

For re-tuning the guitar quickly:  the bridge pins can be pushed in, perhaps in gradual notches, to place slightly more tension on a string to bring it in tune.  For playing in a band, this would be good enough until the player could use the tuners to do their regular job.  Another advantage is the bridge pins are nearest the right (strumming) hand so its convenient and unobtrusive to quickly push a bridge pin while playing. 

Thank you for joining The LAB this month.  Your ideas and comments are welcomed.

The LAB: Demonstration of Task Unification (July 2008)

Welcome to The LAB.  This month, we will focus on Task Unification.  This tool is one of five templates in the S.I.T. method of innovation.  The tool works by taking a component of a product or service and assigning it an additional task or job.

What I need from one of our readers is:  a suggested product or service.  I will use this suggestion to apply Task Unification to innovate new embodiments.  Please post your suggestion in Comments below.  Innovation results will be posted shortly!

The LAB: Innovation in Real Time

The readership of this blog has steadily grown, and it's time to start demonstrating how innovation works...in real time.  Once each month, I will post The LAB.   This is where we will use a specified innovation tool on a product or service that is suggested by one of you, the readers of this blog. 

Once I have received a suggested product or service (posted in Comments) from one of you, I will use a specified innovation tool to create a new-to-the-world innovation.  I will show results in a subsequent post with a description of how I applied the tool and used each step of the process to create the innovation.  In some LABs, I may be able to include a drawing or rendering of the innovation.  We'll start this month.

For those people interested in the innovation space, my firm belief is that we need to make a regular habit of innovating so we can perfect the craft and set the pace for others.  It is not enough to talk about and read about innovation.  It is essential that we all do it.