In June, I had the pleasure to attend the EIASM International Product Development Management Conference in the UK. During the keynote, it occurred to me that we as innovation experts have a very particular view on innovation and I wondered if we are right. Are we perhaps blinded by our own expertise? The keynote by […]
While jogging through the woods in Holten, the Netherlands, the area where I grew up, I realized that going on an innovation journey is a lot like exploring the woods. Something I often did with my brother and our dog, when I was a kid. That is however not what I had in mind during […]
Learning by doing sounds easy, however, it requires preparation, guts, and practice to make it work. In an innovation project, there are many occasions that learning while doing is the only option. Years of schooling have taught us how to learn before doing, in the process, many of us have lost the ability to learn […]
Uncertain projects are notoriously difficult to manage. Ambiguous projects are deemed impossible to plan. Early stage innovation projects are uncertain and full of ambiguity. So how do you plan and manage that in your innovation project?
When I was doing value engineering workshops and other idea generation exercises for the projects of Fluor Daniel in the Netherlands, I felt like a kid in a candy store. I am sure it feels the same way for many innovation managers, till reality hits. While there are plenty of opportunities, you have no budget, […]
The world is full of opportunities, especially nowadays. Your talented and ambitious employees know that. When they approach you with one of their ideas, how do you know they are on to something or chasing just another shiny object?