Innovation starts with a problem
Quote: Whatever can be done will be done. The
only question is will it be done by you or to you? –
Thomas Friedman
Innovation is successful only when our customers or users are ready to change
their behaviour. And why should they? We will have to give them a strong
reason, why! So we have to start solving a relevant problem of the customer or
user.
Let us ask ourselves the question:
When was the last time I changed my
own behaviour? We are all
stuck in our habits: doing things in
same patterns. We as innovators, as well, do this. For years, we are go on
reading the same newspaper (with almost similar news!), magazines, buying the
same brand of tooth paste and soap, staying with the same bank or insurance
company and so on. The only reason for us to change is, if a new, simple and
attractive solution comes along that is relevant to our lives. Simply put,
effective innovation is all about matching relevant problems with simple
solutions.
We can approach it in two
different ways. One way is to create the
ideas and solutions first
and later try to match these to target groups with problems relevant to our solutions.
Or we can do it the other way first by identifying the relevant problems of the
target groups and then creating ideas and solutions to solve those problems.
But how and where to find relevant
problems? Watching the customers and
getting acquainted with them while they use our services or products is one
way, like what “IDEO Designs” do? Hire anthropologists or financial analysts
and let them to visit customers at their place / work and have the customers demonstrate
how they work? Observe how they use in practice and identify the inconveniences
they face, the extra clicks or moves they make, their waiting time, additional
material they use etc.
What about forming ‘focus groups’ in your organization and
invite the customers to share their experiences, difficulties, suggestions and ideas?
A focus group is a form of
qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their
perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes towards a product, service,
concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging. Questions are asked in an
interactive group setting where participants are free to talk with other group members.
Focus group is an interview, conducted by a trained moderator among a small
group of respondents. The interview is conducted in an unstructured and natural
way where respondents are free to give views from any aspect. Focus group is
also a survey method to collect the views of users on a software or website.
This method can be applied to computer products to better understand the motivations
of users and their perception of the product. Unlike other methods of
ergonomics, focus group implies several participants: users or future users of
the application.
Quote: Education
is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think => Albert Einstein
What about forming ‘focus groups’ in your organization
and invite the customers to share their experiences, difficulties, suggestions
and ideas? A focus group is a form
of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions,
opinions, beliefs, and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement,
idea, or packaging. Questions are asked in an interactive group setting where participants
are free to talk with other group members. Focus group is an interview, conducted
by a trained moderator among a small group of respondents. The interview is conducted
in an unstructured and natural way where respondents are free to give views
from any aspect. Focus group is also a survey method to collect the views of
users on a software or website. This method can be applied to computer products
to better understand the motivations of users and their perception of the product.
Unlike other methods of ergonomics, focus group implies several participants:
users or future users of the application.
Another effective method is Crowd sourcing,
which is the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by
soliciting contributions from a large group of people, and especially from an
online community, rather than from traditional customers, employees or suppliers.
This process is often used to subdivide tedious work or to fund-raise start-up companies
and charities. It combines the efforts of numerous self-identified volunteers
or part-time workers, where each contributor of their own initiative adds a
small portion to the greater result. Crowdsourcing is distinguished from
outsourcing in that the work comes from an undefined public rather than being commissioned
from a specific, named group.
The word "crowdsourcing"
was coined in 2006 and can apply to a wide range of activities. Crowdsourcing
can involve division of labour for tedious tasks split to use crowd-based outsourcing,
but it can also apply to specific requests, such as crowd voting, crowd funding,
a broad-based competition, and a general search for answers, solutions, or even
a missing person. Simply defined,
crowdsourcing represents the act of a company or institution taking a function once
performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined (and generally large)
network of people in the form of an open call. This can take the form of
peer-production (when the job is performed collaboratively), but is also often undertaken
by sole individuals. The crucial prerequisite is the use of the open call
format and the large network of potential labourers.
Quote: A
design is not finished until somebody is using it – Brenda Laurel
What about copying good ideas from different industries? Sometimes we think that our company has unique circumstances and we don’t have to emulate strategies that have proven successful in other industries. This could not be further from the truth. Many times, the best ideas are already out there; all we have to do is identify the ones that would work for our situation. Henry Ford got the idea for assembly line production for manufacturing cars from visiting slaughter houses that used a similar technique. Cattle and cars don’t seem to have much in common from the surface, but the strategy for efficiently delivering a final product to consumers is a great fit for both industries. Explore what industries could provide radical change ideas for your company?
Get out there and just do it!
Start with a problem!
Posted by Doshti.
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