because ultimately the only person that will know if it’s great work or not is you.
—Ken Grier, creative director
The Macallan Scotch whisky distillery
Never-Ending Innovation on Innovation
We practice what we preach—never-ending continuous innovation of our training and tools.
We don’t claim to know all the answers. We regularly upgrade our best practices with: 1) ideas from users, 2) academic research discoveries, and 3) licensed content from commercial experts.
We are very disciplined in what we add to the Innovation Engineering curriculum and tools. Our upgrade process involves a small team of volunteers adapting and applying the new approach to their work. Their focus is an “engineering” mindset of finding the 20% who give 80% of the benefit. They are relentless in simplifying and streamlining new systems and methods. When innovation system improvements or tools are validated as reliable, they are incorporated into our best practices.
We aggressively embrace new methods, systems, and tools. As I write these words, members of the Innovation Engineering movement are gathered at the Eureka! Ranch to innovate on our project management system. They are using stimulus from experiences, academic research, and other systems to ignite ideas for how we can further accelerate development projects.
We believe that learning how to innovate smarter and faster is not a competition. We encourage our students, both on and off campus, to experience every innovation class and tool they can find. We have designed our innovation systems to make them work well with others. Within our community we have many organizations that have painlessly integrated Innovation Engineering with 6 Sigma, Lean, Lean Start Up, Design Thinking, Business Model Programs, and Phase Gate systems. We believe in collaboration. As Ben Franklin said, “We must all hang together or most assuredly we will all hang separately.”
Never-ending, continuous innovation on Innovation Engineering systems means that, while this book details the state of the art at this time, I anticipate that this book will be regularly updated with the latest learning. In the short term, you can keep up with new learnings by signing up to receive our blog. You can find it by going to innovationengineering.org/news.
The Organization of this Book
This book provides a beginning understanding of the six college courses that make up the Innovation Engineering curriculum. It begins with a discussion of the Innovation Problem and Solution. It then details how Innovation Engineering came to be born, developed, and validated. Chapters 3 through 8 outline systems for how to Create, Communicate, and Commercialize innovations. Chapters 9 through 12 review principles for how you can upgrade your internal innovation systems to be faster and more effective. They include a collection of four subsystems that are critical for enabling innovation: Alignment, Collaboration Cafe, Merwyn Rapid Research, and Patent ROI.
The book closes with a chapter on how to create an innovation culture within your team, company, or community.
How Could They Know?
As you embark on this journey, you will quickly see the world in a new way. Problems will be seen as opportunities to 19. A mindset of “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it” will be replaced with a never-ending passion for discovering ideas, methods, and tools for working smarter.
As your mindset changes, you are likely to find that your new thinking conflicts with others. You will become frustrated that they don’t embrace and celebrate your new courage and confidence to use innovation to work in smarter ways.
A fundamental belief within the Innovation Engineering community is that people are fundamentally good. We believe that the naysayers you interact with are not against change or Innovation Engineering. They just don’t understand it. They can’t imagine that innovation could be a reliable science instead of a random gamble. It was the same with Dr. Deming’s efforts in the 1980s. When asked if executives were doing enough to apply his teaching, his response would be loud and on the verge of belligerent:
Managers don’t know about it. How could they know? How could they know there was anything to learn? How could they? How could they? How could they know there was any other way to manage?
Quite simply, most adults think that ideas are magical and only randomly reveal themselves to so-called special people. How could they know that everyone can add value and make a difference if they are simply taught how to think quicker, faster, and more creatively.
How could they, or you, know? Until recently there were no courses available in system-driven innovation. The good news is that now you can learn how to use system thinking to enable yourself and your organization to innovate faster and with less risk. Not only can you learn it—you can master it.
However, before we get started, I want you to pause and reflect.
What Did You Learn?
If you attended an Innovation Engineering class on campus or off, or were working with some Innovation Engineering Pioneers on a project, you would hear this question often.
The question is designed to cause you to stop, think, confront, and explore what you’ve experienced from a “bigger picture” system perspective.
The best way to explore what you have learned, what confirms as well as what contradicts your preexisting thinking, is through conversation with your coworkers, family, or friends. Speaking what you learned out loud makes a difference. Research finds that when we speak our thoughts in a full voice so that our ears hear the idea, a different part of the brain becomes engaged, resulting in new levels of understanding.
The second best way is to have a conversation with yourself in writing. Write what you’ve learned in a journal, a notebook, or on your computer. The written word also has a way of bringing out truths that we aren’t at first fully conscious of.
Each chapter ends with a section called What Did You Learn? You are free to utilize this prompt or to ignore it. Research finds that those who do—who consciously reflect—will realize a much greater return on their investment in reading this book.
Rock & Roll!
Doug Hall
Springbrook, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
You Have Two Choices to Make
1. If you fully “buy in” to the need for Innovation Engineering, skip ahead to Chapter 3 and get started. If you have some reservations, the next two chapters are for you.
Chapter 1 outlines the innovation problem and why innovation is no longer optional.
Chapter 2 outlines the Innovation Engineering solution, history, and pedigree.
I’ve included these two chapters because it’s only with a total commitment to the new mindset of system-driven innovation that you will realize the potential of Innovation Engineering.
2. If you are someone who values the PEDIGREE behind what you are being taught, flip to the back of the book and read the Backstory chapter on Dr. Deming. It lays