product development

Field Research Can Be Rough, but It's the Only Way to Design for the Developing World

Cliff Kuang — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:32:45 -0400

Entrepreneurs are increasingly turning their eyes to developing markets--because if you can provide places like Africa with products that are vital to the population, you can ignite economic and social development and profit at the same time. Everybody wins.

Is Your Startup a Nice to Have or Must Have?

Bernard Moon — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:56:42 -0400

With the downturn in the economy, numerous people are talking about
starting a new business or company. Whether it’s a technology startup
or new restaurant idea, I’ve heard of more and more people meeting to
brainstorm and working to bring their ideas to fruition.

Whether you’re in the idea generation stage or have already started to
build your new thing, you should take a breath and reassess whether the
concept still holds your initial level of enthusiasm. Can still
envision 30 million visits during the first month? Are you still as

10 Common Mistakes That Startup and Small Companies Make

David Lavenda — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:39:30 -0400

Young companies have small margins for error. Mistakes made early on can sink a company before its gets off the ground. Below is a list of 10 common mistakes made by young, small companies. In the list below, I use the generic term “product” to refer to either a product or a service.

Over the next few posts, I will expound on these ideas; for now, here is the list :

Design on a Dime: 3M to Produce Student Concepts

Cliff Kuang — Tue, 12 May 2009 10:54:13 -0400

Defining Innovation

James Todhunter — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:39:04 -0400

It seems for many something as simple as defining innovation can be
a challenge. Of course, it’s not that surprising. Innovation is one
of those words that are plagued with a surfeit of meanings. With a
quick look at Merriam-Webster On-line, we find:

Innovation: \ˌi-nə-ˈvā-shən\ (noun ) 1 : the introduction of something new, 2 : a new idea, method, or device : Novelty

Industry Focus on Innovation: Automotive

James Todhunter — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 09:46:31 -0500

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) recently published its 12th Annual
Global CEO Survey. In a special summary on the automotive sector, PwC
reports some interesting items. Some the key data points follow.

Innovation is Not Just for the Big Guys

James Todhunter — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 09:40:51 -0500

Yesterday, a colleague was telling me an exciting story of a company
that was embarking on a plan to break into an emerging market. The
company he described was a components manufacturer. Like every company
today, they are challenged by the current economic climate. Like
everyone else, they are concerned about the sustainability of their
business in this new business reality. However, rather than following
Lemming, Inc.

IT: Friend or Foe of Innovation?

James Todhunter — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:44:41 -0500

Innovation Accountability

James Todhunter — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:40:57 -0500

Dipping Into Your Innovation Gene Pool

James Todhunter — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:11:13 -0500

Nature teaches us that genetic diversity is a good thing. It creates the environment for change and drives evolution.

More of the Same Is Not the Same - It's Innovation

James Todhunter — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:33:43 -0500

A cool breeze brings welcome relief on a sweltering summer day. A tornado leaves death and destruction in its wake.

Field Notes – January 2009

James Todhunter — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:28:39 -0500

Companies globally are assessing their futures even as Obama takes the reins in the US. Economic forecasts are all over the map. Optimists are those that predict rough time through the third calendar quarter of 2009; pessimists are looking for three to five years of difficult economic challenges.

Innovation Directions 2009 – What You Said

James Todhunter — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:25:41 -0500

The year is still young, and the flow of economic news keeps providing new challenges every day. Innovation is the elixir that will keep the pulse of business strong. But how will that innovation manifest itself? This was the topic of our most recent Innovating To Win poll, and here are the results.

Linking Early-Stage Marketing and Late-Stage Marketing

Dan Adams — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:30:41 -0500

Last week we defined Early Stage Marketing as figuring out what the customers’ needs are… and Late-Stage Marketing as satisfying those needs by promoting our new product to them. Many B2B companies (my area of expertise) do a simply awful job of Early-Stage Marketing and then express surprise when their new product fails.

Innovation Goals – Brass Ring or Fool’s Gold

James Todhunter — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:02:38 -0500

Reading Seth Godin’s observation on goals, I had to smile. In a few words, Seth captured a key paradox of innovation. We want the freedom to think expansively and discover unexpected value, yet we want to know that our investments in innovation will be aligned with our mission and yield a high return.

Is Innovation Dead? Hardly!

James Todhunter — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:31:29 -0500

Well, Bruce Nussbaum of BusinessWeek appears to be in the process of rather firmly lodging his foot in his mouth. In two recent posts on NussbaumOnDesign, Bruce has declared that innovation is a notion that has been hyped to death and that the new emphasis should be on transformation. In ‘"Innovation" is Dead.

Wishing You an Innovative 2009

James Todhunter — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:24:22 -0500

We have just welcomed the New Year. Will 2009 bring as many surprises as last year? One thing is certain. This year will bring changes and with it opportunities.

Innovating Past No

James Todhunter — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:54:43 -0500

There is an old saying among great sales people. “The selling begins at no.” Designers, engineers, scientists, and other innovation professionals should remember that for them the innovating begins at no. Consider the following statements and what they mean to you.

Early-Stage Marketing vs. Late-Stage Marketing

Dan Adams — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:08:11 -0500

In last week’s blog, I described how marketing could be explained in three parts: Design (What does the customer want?), Development (What product/service would meet this need?) and Delivery (How can we get this product/service in the customers’ hands?). When time is short, I’ll often abbreviate this to describe marketing in terms of Early-Stage Marketing (Design) and Late-Stage Marketing (Delivery).

So What Does Marketing Really Do?

Dan Adams — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:22:04 -0500

For many years, I held various marketing positions in large B2B manufacturing firms and would be asked this question: “So what do you guys really do, anyway?” I found that mumbling or pulling out some helpful Dilbert cartoons really weren’t addressing this question well. So eventually I began describing marketing’s role in three parts: Design, Development and Delivery.

Three Reasons for Competitive Side-by-Side Testing in New Product Design

Dan Adams — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:00:00 -0500

In the last blog, we talked about a fairly rigorous way to understand competitive capabilities when designing a new product. The punch line was… you need to truly understand your customers’ needs before you can measure your competitors’ capabilities. When you do this well, three very good things happen.

Setting Innovation Goals

James Todhunter — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 09:55:56 -0500

Paul Williams, in his Think For a Change blog, talks about the need for leaders to start setting their 2009 goals for building the internal innovation culture. This advice is spot on. If you don’t have specific targets to shoot for, you won’t deliver any tangible results. However, there is one other sort of goal setting that is important to successfully establish a sustainable, high performance innovation program. That is specific innovation bu

Biomimicry Innovation Poll Closing Soon

James Todhunter — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 09:46:12 -0500

Our informal poll on biomimicry & innovation closes this Friday.

Last week I participated in a PDMA SecondLife panel discussion on green innovation. The event was very well attended with so many people asking to attend that some were turned away due to capacity constraints. Eco/Social-innovation is expected to be a major driver of product and business innovation in the coming years. How does biomimicry into your vision, or does it?

Thanks for the Nod, Chuck.

James Todhunter — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 09:39:10 -0500

As a blogger, acknowledgement is never expected, but always welcome. It is especially nice to get that acknowledgement from a respected and highly credible source. In the Innovation Tools Innovation Weblog post “10 innovation experts to whom you should be listening”, it was a very pleasant surprise to be named by Chuck Frey.

Thanks for the nod, Chuck.

Check out who else is on the list.

So What Can Your Competitors Really Do?

Dan Adams — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 10:57:34 -0500

When a team develops a new product, they often fall into the trap up making assumptions of two broad types: customer needs and competitive capabilities. And these are not independent. Here’s why: