Innovation is not easy, by any means. We knew this going into the project and are still uncovering details behind the innovation process at the close of the project. I think what stands out most in my mind with respect to our project is that we over-estimated the challenges presented by the constraints (both identified constraints and those we are just discovering now that the project is over). I think we were successful is generating thoughts around defining the problem. I think the brainstorming in conjunction with peer feedback helped flush out a great deal of insight on this matter – this process takes time. The solution piece required the most methodical planning, as we needed to develop concrete ideas that were obviously aimed at providing a solution to the problem, but also solutions that we would be able to implement and solutions that are viable. Implementation is undoubtedly the most difficult piece. I believe we did a good job of identifying the majority of individual and organizational constraints, but as the project timeline has come to a close, we have found that we may have underestimated the time required to best implement our idea. As for the outcome – we now hold a large stake in an idea that we are firmly support and are responsible for. We will need additional time to carry out steps required to fully implement the idea, and we believe that there were very few options to rush implementation without sacrificing the integrity and purpose of the idea. Even though the academic year is coming to an end, we feel justified that our idea was able to generate positive feedback and acceptance and look forward to pushing the idea even further next year.
Like many innovative projects, two of the biggest constraints we had to work within include time and money.
Like most of us, our project was not financed, nor was there enough time to alot funds in support of it. We were also on a bit of a tight time-line (like everyone else).
We focused out project on the CMC's management of its Interview Feedback Archives. When the CMC began maintaining students' post-interview feedback, they maintained the records in hard copy form. We were suprised that a digital system was not used (nor had it transitioned to one).
In our initial discussions with the CMC, we discovered that this was not a new topic, and they they were interested in a change to a digitial format. However, the systems they have in place do not support much customization.
We spoke with the IT department as well. At this point in time, no one on the staff is capable of writing the code necessary to develop what the CMC had in mind. The work would have to be outsourced - carying a price tag of $6000 or more.
I think that at times, organizations become fixated on the "ideal solution" and have a pre-conceived notion of how they are going to get there.
While our innovation is not the "ideal solution," it does move the organization closer to the ideal solution (at no cost) and benefits their customers in the fashion which they desired.
Innovation was challenging because it was difficult to come up with an idea that the company found feasible. This was interesting because we assumed that cost would be their biggest constraint which it was but they also had other major constraints that we had not anticipated such as knowhow. We proposed many on line suggestions because we thought it was important to have a greater online presence to meet their need of increased exposure to a younger demographic. Although this proved to be a challenge because the organization was not receptive to online ideas because of their fear of the unknown, so we kept pushing them with the idea of a facebook page. It was not until we explained that they currently have an unauthorized page and that in order to have control over facebook they needed to create a page or else they would have no control of the content of the page. We needed to get the organization past the idea of us doing random manual labor volunteer work for them and make them understand that instead we needed to have an innovative idea put into effect.
I am happy with the outcome of our innovation project, and believe that our client is, as well. We wanted to help Gilda’s Club improve their online presence and do so in a manner that could potentially help their fundraising efforts. There were so many paths we could have taken in this project, so it was interesting to experience the process of narrowing down a list of 303 ideas to one idea. That required coordination and “selling” on our part and trust on our client’s end. She was not receptive to the idea of developing a presence on Facebook, but we came to realize that that was largely due to the fact that she was not very familiar with Facebook. To me, this is where the biggest lesson of the process came in. I think that before starting this project, I did not fully understand the way in which lack of familiarity translates into fear and aversion. Our client had concerns about Facebook that made her not want to pursue that path, however we knew that each of those concerns could be effectively addressed through a solution that involved Facebook. Getting past this point meant that each side had to be patient and willing to listen. To me, encountering resistance with our client made the concept of “constraints” really come to life. Ultimately, the project was a great experience and a great opportunity to learn about the role habits and familiarity play in the implementation of innovative ideas.
Having an innovative idea is a great thing but it entails only a small portion of the larger pie. Innovation meeting implementation is when great ideas can become profitable ideas.
Our group learned some valuable lessons while working through our innovation project. First, once an innovative idea is formulated, I think the most important part of bringing the idea to fruition is performing a detailed constraint analysis. Our project entailed some strong organizational and individual level constraints. And while I think we did a good job in identifying the constraints I don’t think that we fully understood their effect. I found that these types of constraints can completely derail implementation. The more an innovative idea encompasses constraints on the group, organization, and even societal levels, the tougher it becomes to implement an idea. Take for "ownership" for example. In our project we had to impress upon an organization (Owen) that there is a need for knowledge sharing. That can be a daunting task because it requires communicating the need at an organizational level down to the individual level. This brings me to my second point.
When an innovation project has a short rollout timeframe it is best to minimize the number of stakeholders. What we found is that as the number of stakeholders increases the number of barriers to implementations increases exponentially. I think we did a great job of avoiding these barriers by finding a supportive group to be the cornerstone for our implementation.
I agree with some of the feedback that we could have taken some extra baby steps in addition to the pilot of our idea; however, we were worried that given the nature of our innovation project small failures might have done more harm.
I am happy with the steps we took towards a full scale rollout of our idea. Although, if I had to do another innovation project with a short time to implement, I would ensure that it is an idea that has an individual stakeholder.
Overall, I was very happy with the final outcome of our innovation project. When we originally accepted the project, I wasn't sold on the idea that we could actually make the second floor of the library quieter. In my mind, this would involve significantly changing student behavior (which is always difficult). Once we began developing ideas, I came to the realization that many of our best ideas didn't involve students at all. Instead, a lot of the ideas were developed around changing the environment in and around the library. Ultimately, we decided to move the Denali printer from outside the library door. I believe this will significantly cut down on the traffic in and out of the library and also cut down on the noise coming from directly outside the library doors.
Being truly innovative was challenging for the project we worked on. Trying to develop innovative marketing tools for a 5k race was interesting because these types of races are very popular and there are many established marketing means. We found the bulk of our ideas, such as advertising at gyms, other 5K races, or health food stores were already used by the event planners of the Cinco de Mayo 5K. Another challenge we ran into is that some of our grander solutions had time and money constraints that made the cost/benefit questionable - such as certain online or blogging advertisements. One of the biggest constraints we ran into overall is that Emmit is essentially a one man team who has tapped out a lot of his volunteers, so our solutions really needed to be feasible with one person - so, manning booths because logistically difficult. I feel confident in the idea we chose to implement and feel excited that Emmit loved the idea has much as he did!
The brainstorming process of working with a group was really helpful for narrowing our ideas. I took this class because I've always felt I have lacked creativity. Working with a team really helped me gain confidence in that ability as well as learn how to build open ideas of others. The process used for our innovation project was really helpful in both realizations.
I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to implement our top idea for solving the table problem, but the second solution will do. IT's funny how seemingly simple ideas or solutions can hit serious roadblocks. We were able to come up with 101 ideas on how to solve the problem, but I don't think we put enough time into investigating the problems with the solutions.We knew money was a constraint and seemingly simple solution didn't require much. However, we didn't anticipate how the organizational constraints enough.
I really enjoyed the innovation project because I've learned to open up my mind when it comes to brainstorming. I thought I was pretty good at it but I feel like I am much better equipped to brainstorm in a more structured and productive way now.
Innovation is difficult but rewarding. I think the critical piece is understanding the need. If you thoroughly understand the need you can ask the right questions. When you ask the right questions you come up with the right solution. I think we were lucky with having a great project and a contact that was willing to sit down and fully explain the processes they followed and the problem they had encountered.
It was rather interesting for me to read that blog. Thanx for it. I like such themes and everything that is connected to them. I definitely want to read more on that blog soon.
Innovation is not easy, by any means. We knew this going into the project and are still uncovering details behind the innovation process at the close of the project. I think what stands out most in my mind with respect to our project is that we over-estimated the challenges presented by the constraints (both identified constraints and those we are just discovering now that the project is over). I think we were successful is generating thoughts around defining the problem. I think the brainstorming in conjunction with peer feedback helped flush out a great deal of insight on this matter – this process takes time. The solution piece required the most methodical planning, as we needed to develop concrete ideas that were obviously aimed at providing a solution to the problem, but also solutions that we would be able to implement and solutions that are viable. Implementation is undoubtedly the most difficult piece. I believe we did a good job of identifying the majority of individual and organizational constraints, but as the project timeline has come to a close, we have found that we may have underestimated the time required to best implement our idea. As for the outcome – we now hold a large stake in an idea that we are firmly support and are responsible for. We will need additional time to carry out steps required to fully implement the idea, and we believe that there were very few options to rush implementation without sacrificing the integrity and purpose of the idea. Even though the academic year is coming to an end, we feel justified that our idea was able to generate positive feedback and acceptance and look forward to pushing the idea even further next year.
ReplyDeleteLike many innovative projects, two of the biggest constraints we had to work within include time and money.
ReplyDeleteLike most of us, our project was not financed, nor was there enough time to alot funds in support of it. We were also on a bit of a tight time-line (like everyone else).
We focused out project on the CMC's management of its Interview Feedback Archives. When the CMC began maintaining students' post-interview feedback, they maintained the records in hard copy form. We were suprised that a digital system was not used (nor had it transitioned to one).
In our initial discussions with the CMC, we discovered that this was not a new topic, and they they were interested in a change to a digitial format. However, the systems they have in place do not support much customization.
We spoke with the IT department as well. At this point in time, no one on the staff is capable of writing the code necessary to develop what the CMC had in mind. The work would have to be outsourced - carying a price tag of $6000 or more.
I think that at times, organizations become fixated on the "ideal solution" and have a pre-conceived notion of how they are going to get there.
While our innovation is not the "ideal solution," it does move the organization closer to the ideal solution (at no cost) and benefits their customers in the fashion which they desired.
Innovation was challenging because it was difficult to come up with an idea that the company found feasible. This was interesting because we assumed that cost would be their biggest constraint which it was but they also had other major constraints that we had not anticipated such as knowhow. We proposed many on line suggestions because we thought it was important to have a greater online presence to meet their need of increased exposure to a younger demographic. Although this proved to be a challenge because the organization was not receptive to online ideas because of their fear of the unknown, so we kept pushing them with the idea of a facebook page. It was not until we explained that they currently have an unauthorized page and that in order to have control over facebook they needed to create a page or else they would have no control of the content of the page.
ReplyDeleteWe needed to get the organization past the idea of us doing random manual labor volunteer work for them and make them understand that instead we needed to have an innovative idea put into effect.
I am happy with the outcome of our innovation project, and believe that our client is, as well. We wanted to help Gilda’s Club improve their online presence and do so in a manner that could potentially help their fundraising efforts. There were so many paths we could have taken in this project, so it was interesting to experience the process of narrowing down a list of 303 ideas to one idea. That required coordination and “selling” on our part and trust on our client’s end. She was not receptive to the idea of developing a presence on Facebook, but we came to realize that that was largely due to the fact that she was not very familiar with Facebook. To me, this is where the biggest lesson of the process came in. I think that before starting this project, I did not fully understand the way in which lack of familiarity translates into fear and aversion. Our client had concerns about Facebook that made her not want to pursue that path, however we knew that each of those concerns could be effectively addressed through a solution that involved Facebook. Getting past this point meant that each side had to be patient and willing to listen. To me, encountering resistance with our client made the concept of “constraints” really come to life. Ultimately, the project was a great experience and a great opportunity to learn about the role habits and familiarity play in the implementation of innovative ideas.
ReplyDeleteHaving an innovative idea is a great thing but it entails only a small portion of the larger pie. Innovation meeting implementation is when great ideas can become profitable ideas.
ReplyDeleteOur group learned some valuable lessons while working through our innovation project. First, once an innovative idea is formulated, I think the most important part of bringing the idea to fruition is performing a detailed constraint analysis. Our project entailed some strong organizational and individual level constraints. And while I think we did a good job in identifying the constraints I don’t think that we fully understood their effect. I found that these types of constraints can completely derail implementation. The more an innovative idea encompasses constraints on the group, organization, and even societal levels, the tougher it becomes to implement an idea. Take for "ownership" for example. In our project we had to impress upon an organization (Owen) that there is a need for knowledge sharing. That can be a daunting task because it requires communicating the need at an organizational level down to the individual level. This brings me to my second point.
When an innovation project has a short rollout timeframe it is best to minimize the number of stakeholders. What we found is that as the number of stakeholders increases the number of barriers to implementations increases exponentially. I think we did a great job of avoiding these barriers by finding a supportive group to be the cornerstone for our implementation.
I agree with some of the feedback that we could have taken some extra baby steps in addition to the pilot of our idea; however, we were worried that given the nature of our innovation project small failures might have done more harm.
I am happy with the steps we took towards a full scale rollout of our idea. Although, if I had to do another innovation project with a short time to implement, I would ensure that it is an idea that has an individual stakeholder.
Overall, I was very happy with the final outcome of our innovation project. When we originally accepted the project, I wasn't sold on the idea that we could actually make the second floor of the library quieter. In my mind, this would involve significantly changing student behavior (which is always difficult). Once we began developing ideas, I came to the realization that many of our best ideas didn't involve students at all. Instead, a lot of the ideas were developed around changing the environment in and around the library. Ultimately, we decided to move the Denali printer from outside the library door. I believe this will significantly cut down on the traffic in and out of the library and also cut down on the noise coming from directly outside the library doors.
ReplyDeleteBeing truly innovative was challenging for the project we worked on. Trying to develop innovative marketing tools for a 5k race was interesting because these types of races are very popular and there are many established marketing means. We found the bulk of our ideas, such as advertising at gyms, other 5K races, or health food stores were already used by the event planners of the Cinco de Mayo 5K. Another challenge we ran into is that some of our grander solutions had time and money constraints that made the cost/benefit questionable - such as certain online or blogging advertisements. One of the biggest constraints we ran into overall is that Emmit is essentially a one man team who has tapped out a lot of his volunteers, so our solutions really needed to be feasible with one person - so, manning booths because logistically difficult. I feel confident in the idea we chose to implement and feel excited that Emmit loved the idea has much as he did!
ReplyDeleteThe brainstorming process of working with a group was really helpful for narrowing our ideas. I took this class because I've always felt I have lacked creativity. Working with a team really helped me gain confidence in that ability as well as learn how to build open ideas of others. The process used for our innovation project was really helpful in both realizations.
I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to implement our top idea for solving the table problem, but the second solution will do. IT's funny how seemingly simple ideas or solutions can hit serious roadblocks. We were able to come up with 101 ideas on how to solve the problem, but I don't think we put enough time into investigating the problems with the solutions.We knew money was a constraint and seemingly simple solution didn't require much. However, we didn't anticipate how the organizational constraints enough.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the innovation project because I've learned to open up my mind when it comes to brainstorming. I thought I was pretty good at it but I feel like I am much better equipped to brainstorm in a more structured and productive way now.
Innovation is difficult but rewarding. I think the critical piece is understanding the need. If you thoroughly understand the need you can ask the right questions. When you ask the right questions you come up with the right solution. I think we were lucky with having a great project and a contact that was willing to sit down and fully explain the processes they followed and the problem they had encountered.
ReplyDeleteIt was rather interesting for me to read that blog. Thanx for it. I like such themes and everything that is connected to them. I definitely want to read more on that blog soon.
ReplyDelete