Innovation Management Practices

💎 60 UX Strategy Methods And Activities (Figma) (https://lnkd.in/eCDU-vhR), a large repository of UX methods, templates and activities for ideation sessions and product sprints, from storyboards and brainwriting to 6 thinking hats, journey mapping and concept testing. Neatly put together in one single place by fine folks at Merck. The team has also put together a very thorough overview of their UX Strategy Kit (https://lnkd.in/ek5dEYn4), broken down by categories for strategy, observation, ideation and warm-up, along with detailed video walkthroughs, examples and step-by-step guides. Frankly, most of these methods are unfamiliar to me. And by no means is the point to actually study and apply all of them. What works for you works for you. To strategize, I rely on How Might We but also think about metrics that should be moved once we implement some features or refine some user flows. For event storming and brainstorming, I tend to rely on Bono’s 6 thinking hats to align brainstorming, and (of course) journey mapping. For ideation, I love using storyboards to jump right into the user’s success story, but would also use card sorting with cut-out paper cards to understand user’s mental model. And for almost every project, I’d run concept testing with tree testing or Kano model, or low-fidelity/paper prototyping to understand if we are on the right track. Once you sprinkle a bit of critical thinking, early user testing and strategic planning across the design work, you gain confidence that you are moving in the right direction. And really that’s all you need. A few of my personal bookmarks with UX methods and activities: UX Tools For Better Thinking, by Adam Amran 👏🏽 https://untools.co/ Playbook For Universal Design (+ PDF/Powerpoint templates) https://lnkd.in/ernris4g UX Methods & Projects, by Vernon Fowler https://lnkd.in/eAHaiaSm 18F Method Cards https://methods.18f.gov/ Hyperisland UX Methods Resource Kit 👍 https://lnkd.in/eDTaci7T How To Design Better UX Workshops, by Slava Shestopalov https://lnkd.in/edxqCC-n How To Run UX Workshops With Users, by yours truly https://lnkd.in/ejm7_TsS Happy designing, everyone — I hope you’ll find these guides and resources helpful to get started. Just don’t feel like you have to try out all of them. It might be much more worthwhile to get early feedback from stakeholders and end users, even if your work isn’t really “good” enough. Good luck! #ux #design

The best book on creativity I've ever read is 48 pages long, was written in 1939 by an ad man who left school in 6th grade, and takes about 30 minutes to read. Here's his entire method: The book is "A Technique for Producing Ideas" by James Webb Young. Young wasn't an academic...he was a copywriter at J. Walter Thompson who created one of the most controversial ads in history (a 1919 deodorant ad so blunt that 200 women cancelled their magazine subscriptions and female copywriters told him he'd insulted every woman in America. Sales went up 112%.) Here's the method: Step 1: Gather raw material (both specific and general). Young says the quality of your ideas is directly tied to the quantity and diversity of what you feed your brain. * Specific material is research about the actual problem. * General material is everything else: history, psychology, random conversations, unrelated industries. The more pieces you have, the more combinations are possible. Step 2: Mentally chew the material. Take the facts and turn them over. Look at them from different angles. Try fitting pieces together like a puzzle. Young says most people quit here because it's uncomfortable...you're holding a bunch of disconnected information and nothing clicks yet. That discomfort is the process working, not failing. Step 3: Drop it completely. Stop thinking about the problem. Go for a walk. Watch a movie. Sleep. Your subconscious is still connecting the pieces even when your conscious mind has moved on. Step 4: The idea shows up on its own. Young says it'll come to you "while shaving, or bathing, or most often when you are half awake in the morning." This only works if you did steps 1-3 honestly. If you skipped the research or rushed the chewing, nothing shows up in the shower. Step 5: Test it against reality. Take your idea to other people. Let them poke holes in it. Young says most people are so attached to the flash of insight from step 4 that they skip this entirely, and the idea dies on contact with the real world. Good ideas survive criticism, but great ideas get better from it. The underlying principle is simple: An idea is nothing more than a new combination of existing elements. You can't combine things you haven't collected, and you can't connect dots you've never seen.

“Collaborative Innovation” - new cartoon and post Disney alum Paul Williams once shared the brainstorming method developed by Walt Disney. Disney used to separate the act of coming up with and executing ideas into three distinct steps (and associated mindsets): The Dreamer, The Realist, and The Spoiler. As Paul wrote: “By compartmentalizing the stages, Walt didn’t let reality get in the way of the dream step. The realist was allowed to work without the harsh filter of a spoiler. And, the spoiler spends time examining a well-thought idea… something with a bit more structure. “When we brainstorm alone and in groups – too often – we tend to fill the room with a dreamer or two, a few realists, and a bunch of spoilers. In these conditions, dream ideas don’t stand a chance.” The Dreamer mentality specializes in blue sky thinking without constraints, the Realist mentality puts practical structure to the ideas, and the Spoiler asks the hard questions and kicks the tires. We need all three mindsets. But we need those mindsets at the right time and in the right way. Walt Disney would go so far as to dedicate different physical rooms to each mindset. These rooms helped prompt what mindset was required at each stage. They helped ensure that innovation remained both creative and practical. I’ve been thinking about these stages and mindsets in the context of AI. Several studies (including new research at Wharton) have shown that while Generative AI can help boost the quality of individual ideas, they can also limit the diversity of ideas. There can be a “Great Same-ening,” as Ian Whitworth once put it. As the Wharton study’s authors wrote: “The true value of brainstorming stems from the diversity of ideas rather than multiple voices repeating similar thoughts… “Diversity is often overlooked, but it needs special protection. If you don’t solve for it explicitly, you won’t get it.” Part of the challenge and opportunity of incorporating AI into innovation is deciding what collaborative roles we want humans and AI to play. Assigning roles like The Dreamer, The Realist, or The Spoiler could be a way to start. AI alone won’t create a culture of innovation. >>> To sign up for my weekly marketoon email newsletter, click here: https://lnkd.in/gG4GkZsj For related cartoons and all the links in this post, click here: https://lnkd.in/g9Dumagx #marketing #cartoon #marketoon

For all the intent to accelerate AI transformation, few have progressed as fast as they'd like. The Frontier Firm Initiative (FFI) at Harvard Business School brought together business leaders to discuss and uncover the organizational friction points that slow adoption. An excellent article by Karim Lakhani Jared Spataro Jen Stave, PhD (gift link in comments) distills seven common friction points from the meeting and extensive real-world data. Alongside this the report that "the organizations making the most significant progress are converging on a shared operating-model blueprint". The seven frictions: ⚠️ The Proliferation of Pilots Organizations are running many promising AI pilots, but few become repeatable operating models that create company-wide value. ⚠️ The Productivity Gap AI often lifts individual productivity, but little of that gain reaches financial results unless work and roles are redesigned. ⚠️ The Burden of Process Debt AI exposes messy legacy processes, making workflow redesign essential to scaling effectively. ⚠️ The Identity Problem of Tribal Knowledge Transformation slows when people resist externalizing the tacit knowledge tied to their expertise and status. ⚠️ Governance in an Agentic World As agents begin taking actions across systems, organizations need stronger models for accountability and oversight. ⚠️ Architectural Complexity Enterprises face major integration challenges as they try to make AI work across fragmented platforms and vendors. ⚠️ The Efficiency Trap Focusing on AI mainly for cost reduction limits its value when the bigger opportunity is redesigning how value is created. The most interesting part of how organizations successfully transcend these challenges is what they call "Clean-Sheet Process Redesign" "Leading firms have moved beyond bolting AI onto legacy workflows. Instead, they treat the technology as a trigger for clean-sheet thinking. Clean-sheet redesign involves discarding legacy workflows entirely and asking: “If we were building this process today with modern AI agents, how would we do it?”" This takes courage, vision, and sufficient engagement from employees for them to shift their identities as well as their work. But Humans + AI work and organizations must be designed from a vision of what can be done, not by incremental change from what exists today.

Would you be ready to transform your business? I will tell you a secret. Embrace change—but always honor the legacy that brought you here. My mission is to bring advanced technology to blue-collar businesses while preserving their legacy and scaling them successfully. When I first bought a family-owned factory, it was like stepping into a time capsule. The owner knew every nook and cranny. However, everything depended on them. The business was reliant on a single point of knowledge and effort. We started by implementing standardized processes and integrating technology to make operations smoother. It wasn't easy. Just like this trusty tractor, a family-owned business needed the right tools and processes to thrive in this new stage. One of my first moves was to automate the inventory system, which saved us countless hours and reduced errors. This change was hard for the old team to accept, but it made a world of difference. Legacy is built on a foundation of strong processes and forward-thinking.

My fail-proof strategy for fresh content ideas ↓ This strategy comes from publishing 700+ posts and writing 1,000s of drafts. And it’s easier than you might think. Here’s what I do: — 1/ Let ideas generate 50% of my posts come from when I’m out and about. Moving your body = unlocking your best creative mind. The other 50% come from doing ‘things’. Such as coaching calls with clients, commenting, etc. Ideas come from moving - not from trying to think of ideas. If you’re facing blank page syndrome → Move. — 2/ Keep a bank of ideas Anytime I have an idea of something, I jot it down. The best ideas come from: → Advice that I’ve shared to clients recently → Something that’s happened in my life → Something that’s sparked an idea I like to use these questions as prompts: 1/ What advice have I shared recently? 2/ What stories happened this week? 3/ What lessons have I learned? 4/ What have I noticed/experienced? 5/ What’s inspired a new thought/idea? Remember: People follow your story + your journey. — 3/ Choose a good framework When you have an idea, align it to a framework that feels good. I like frameworks because they’re very simple pointers to guide my ideas and make sure they flow well (so I don’t go off on random tangents). For example: Before - What was the beginning situation like? After - What does the ending look like? Bridge - How do I/they get there? Then I just jot down the relevant details to include so I know what I want to write about later. — The real secret to all of this: Writing for your ICP. I’ve tried 100s of strategies and systems to try and generate content. This is the best strategy that I’ve found that helps me connect with them, build trust, and turns into leads. It uses your own story + insights → Turns them into powerful posts → Makes your brand worth following. Most people think they need to spend hours chasing what others do. Turns out the best content is already in your head. You just need to unlock it.

I’ve had to protect my team in the past, particularly when their time or focus was at risk. I’ve seen this happen at companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, where mandates and initiatives would stack during the same timeframe. While each initiative alone might have been reasonable, together they overburdened the teams. Those compiled costs may be invisible to the folks driving the individual mandates. You may have seen teams get overwhelmed by a major release, a review cycle, and bi-annual business planning all at once. This type of time management stress is usually manageable, but there are times when teams can be stretched too thin and compromise morale and quality. When you witness this, I believe it’s crucial to step in. You will hear from your team and you need to be close enough to the issues to decide how to respond. This can be tricky for a leader: on one hand, you want to ensure your team can succeed; on the other, you’re part of the broader leadership and need to support the decisions being made. Sometimes, you have very little room to maneuver. In those cases, I find it most effective to have a private conversation with key decision-makers. Meeting behind closed doors allows you to present the reality of your team’s capacity without putting anyone on the spot. Armed with clear data or project plans, you can often negotiate more realistic timelines or priorities. Another common pressure is when stakeholders create frequent direction changes. Repeated shifts in goals or features will thrash your team and waste energy. This often reflects deeper issues with strategy, alignment, and communication. However, you may not have time for a complete overhaul of your planning processes, and you still need a way to prevent thrash. A short-term fix is to set firm near-term milestones or “freeze” dates, after which any changes must go through a formal triage process. This ensures that if changes are necessary, they follow a transparent, deliberate sequence rather than blindsiding. After the freeze, broader project changes can be considered. Ultimately, I see my responsibility as a leader as fostering an environment where my team can perform at a high level, stay motivated, and avoid burnout. Part of a leader's role is to protect their team’s capability and long-term health. There will always be sprints and times when you need to push, but you also need to consider the long view and put on the brakes when required. People who feel supported are more productive, more creative, and likely to stay engaged.

THE FALSE BELIEFS OF INNOVATION CULTURE Everyone talks about wanting innovation. I've been in countless boardrooms where executives throw around words like "disruptive" and "game-changing" like confetti. But here's what I've learned after years of watching companies struggle: most of us are getting innovation completely wrong. I used to think innovation was this mystical thing that happened in fancy labs with bean bags and ping pong tables. I was dead wrong. >> We think innovation needs chaos and free space.  I once worked with a CEO who gave his team unlimited creative freedom. Result? Nothing. Innovation actually thrives with structure and clear processes. The best innovations I've seen came from focused constraints, not endless possibilities. >> We confuse creativity with innovation.  I've sat through hundreds of brainstorming sessions that produced brilliant ideas that never saw the light of day. Here's the hard truth: an idea without execution is just expensive daydreaming. Innovation isn't about having the perfect idea – it's about getting something real into customers' hands. >> We assume innovation requires massive budgets and years. One of my biggest mistakes was thinking we needed expensive consultants and multi-year roadmaps. The breakthrough came when we realized our janitor had a better solution than our $200K consultant. Time kills innovation faster than budget constraints ever will. >> We believe building innovation culture takes forever. I've watched companies spend fortunes on workshops and training, only to see the "innovation mindset" disappear the moment the facilitator left. Culture isn't built in conference rooms – it's built through doing. >> We think innovation labs are the answer.  I'll admit it – I was seduced by the shiny innovation lab too. VR headsets, standing desks, motivational posters. Our employees used it as a break room. The real innovation was happening at their regular desks. What actually works? Stop trying to create innovation culture. Start creating innovation opportunities. When we have a concrete idea, I pull together 5 people maximum. One week, clear budget, complete focus on one specific challenge. No meetings, no reports, no distractions. Why just one week? It forces decisions, eliminates overthinking, and it's budget-friendly. If they create something tangible – a prototype customers can actually try – we invest in another week. The goal isn't building culture. It's building something real that customers want to buy. Does this create lasting innovation culture? Honestly, no. But it creates something better: proof that innovation can happen, and hunger from your best people to do it again. Want to transform your entire organization? Be prepared to change more than you think you're willing to. Trust me, I learned that the hard way. ——— Chances your innovation strategy is broken are 94% https://lnkd.in/dexsVrw8 #innovation #innoweek #startupstudio

How can you grow innovation in an organisation that is tired and overloaded? No! Not by launching yet another innovation programme. Tired teams don’t need more. They need different. Here are 5 things to do: 1. Kill before you create You can’t grow innovation on top of a full plate. Make a stop list before a to-do list: which meetings, reports, projects and rituals will you end to free up energy for new ideas? 2. Protect small islands of focus time Innovation dies in back-to-back calendars. Block fixed “no meeting” slots or a monthly sprint where teams can work on one opportunity without interruptions. Guard this time like you guard client deadlines. 3. Shrink the ambition, speed up the learning Overloaded people fear “big transformation”. Instead, ask for tiny experiments: 1 idea, 1 customer segment, 1 simple test within 2–4 weeks. The goal is learning, not a perfect business case. 4. Change leadership behaviour, not posters Culture follows what leaders do on Monday morning. Leaders should ask: “What did we learn?” more often than “Did we hit the numbers?” and publicly reward smart experiments, even when they don’t “win”. 5. Make progress visible and human Tired organisations often are moving… they just can’t see it. Create a simple “innovation wall” (physical or digital) showing ideas, tests, and outcomes. Celebrate small wins with names and faces, not just dashboards. Innovation culture doesn’t start with energy. It starts with permission, space and small, real progress – especially when everyone is tired. #innovation #innovationculture #leadership #change #futureofwork #organisationaldevelopment

You think great ideas strike like lightning. Wrong. They rain like confetti if you know how to catch them. 93% of breakthrough innovations come from collecting small ideas over time. Not from one big "aha" moment. Here's your 5-step framework to catch more ideas: 1. The Collector's Mindset • Your brain processes 6,200 thoughts daily • Most people lose 98% of their ideas • Start capturing everything 2. The Connection Protocol • New ideas = 2 old ideas colliding • Research shows diverse inputs = better outputs • Read outside your field 3. The 3x3 Method • Write 3 ideas every morning • Review them 3 days later • Keep the ones that still excite you • Studies show delayed evaluation improves quality by 40% 4. The Idea Compound • Each captured thought builds on others • Small notes become big breakthroughs • Group brainstorming increases creativity by 71% 5. The Implementation Loop • Ideas without action die • Test one small concept daily • Build fast, learn faster • Innovation requires iteration Remember: You don't need to be a genius. You just need a bigger bowl. ♻️ Share this with someone who's sitting on brilliant ideas 🔔 Follow Kabir Sehgal for frameworks that turn inspiration into innovation