Getting Past "But": Finding Opportunity and Making It Happen

by Ruth Malan, Dana Bredemeyer

Innovation is a key to the competitive differentiation equation, and technology factors strongly in that equation. To find differentiating opportunities, we need insight into customer needs, what technology makes possible, and our position in the value network. In this Executive Report, we present a story that with charming acuity conveys key principles of innovation, and we relate the lessons to system development. Next, we share pragmatic practices for enhancing the effectiveness of system concept generation, elaboration, and refinement. The process pulses through cycles of divergence (opportunity generation, problem and solution finding) and convergence (decision making). We emphasize tools that foster ideation while creating alignment, balancing exigency with just enough design up front to orchestrate the socio-technical process of innovation.